How Matt Kantro is Redefining Settlements with Noble Title & Escrow

Summary

Podcast Summary: "How Matt Cantro is Redefining Settlements with Noble Title & Escrow"

The Determined Society with Shawn French features an insightful conversation with Matt Cantro, President and CEO of Noble Title & Escrow. Recorded at Iron Valley Real Estate in Norfolk, Virginia, this episode delves into Matt's entrepreneurial journey, his approach to business, and the innovative practices that set Noble Title & Escrow apart in the real estate industry.

---

1. Introduction to Matt Cantro and Noble Title & Escrow

Timestamp: [02:30]

Shawn French welcomes Matt Cantro to the show, emphasizing Matt's role as a stage sponsor for the "Determine Your Destiny Tour." Their rapport is immediate, setting a comfortable tone for an in-depth discussion about Matt's business ventures and personal philosophies.

---

2. Collaboration Over Competition

Timestamp: [04:20]

Shawn initiates a discussion on the mindset of collaboration versus competition. He highlights the importance of co-creating with others rather than viewing them solely as competitors.

Shawn French: “We live in a co-creative world... When we focus on the co-creation part of it... we think about what we're doing right here. Yeah, that's.”
(04:20)

Matt agrees, drawing parallels from his sports background to business dynamics.

Matt Cantro: “I think the difference between people that make it and people that don't are the willingness to walk through that door or recognizing that door.”
(22:25)

---

3. The Entrepreneurial Journey and Mentorship

Timestamp: [12:27]

Matt shares his journey, starting Noble Title & Escrow in 2020 amid the pandemic. He credits his grandfather, a retired veterinarian and his greatest mentor, for instilling in him the values of discipline and resilience.

Matt Cantro: “I wouldn't be where I am without him. Somebody opened a door for you at some point... You have to be willing to take those shots and not give up.”
(22:25)

Shawn echoes the sentiment, stressing the importance of recognizing and embracing mentorship in one's life.

---

4. Embracing Technology and Innovation

Timestamp: [29:11]

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on how Noble Title & Escrow leverages technology to enhance the customer experience. Matt explains the development of a user-friendly calculator on their website that preloads fees based on the property's location, simplifying the closing process for clients.

Matt Cantro: “We have the calculator on our website that has all of our preloaded fees in there... breaking it down pretty close.”
(31:12)

This innovation demystifies the often complex closing statements, making real estate transactions less intimidating for both buyers and sellers.

---

5. Building Trust Through Community Engagement

Timestamp: [35:14]

Matt emphasizes the company's commitment to community service as a cornerstone of their business strategy. By sponsoring local events and supporting organizations like the Eliza Hope Foundation and the Virginia SPCA, Noble Title & Escrow fosters strong community ties and builds trust.

Matt Cantro: “We started doing community service... That's where I feel like we have the power to be different and give back.”
(35:58)

Shawn highlights how these efforts not only provide value to the community but also position the company as a trusted and integral part of the local landscape.

---

6. Personal Discipline and Emotional Control

Timestamp: [42:00]

The conversation shifts to personal development, where Matt discusses the importance of discipline and managing emotions in business. Drawing from his experience as a hockey goalie, he parallels the mental fortitude required in sports with that needed in entrepreneurship.

Matt Cantro: “Emotion is passion. You can slip up. It's what you do after that... move on and grow from it.”
(46:22)

Shawn adds that true determination is about consistently executing one's process despite fluctuating emotions.

---

7. Defining Determination

Timestamp: [48:59]

In the closing segment, Matt defines determination as "the unwillingness to give up." He underscores that success is often built on the foundation of perseverance through setbacks and failures.

Matt Cantro: “Don't let that crush your spirit. Don't let that be the thing that beats you... create your own destiny.”
(49:02)

Shawn complements this by distinguishing determination from societal misconceptions, emphasizing that it's not about exhausting physical exertion but about unwavering commitment to one's goals.

---

8. Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Timestamp: [50:58]

Shawn wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to engage with Noble Title & Escrow, especially those in the Virginia area looking to buy or sell property. Matt reiterates the company's expansive licensing across Virginia, inviting potential clients to reach out.

Shawn French: “Stay determined.”
(52:28)

---

Key Takeaways

• Collaboration Enhances Growth: Emphasizing partnerships over competition leads to mutual success and innovation.
• Mentorship is Crucial: Guidance from mentors like Matt's grandfather can profoundly shape entrepreneurial paths.
• Technology Simplifies Processes: Implementing user-friendly technological solutions can significantly improve customer experiences.
• Community Engagement Builds Trust: Active participation and support in community events foster strong relationships and brand loyalty.
• Emotional Discipline Drives Success: Managing emotions and maintaining discipline are essential for long-term business perseverance.

---

Notable Quotes

• Matt Cantro: “Somebody opened a door for you at some point. The difference between people that make it and people that don't are the willingness to walk through that door.”
  (22:25)

• Shawn French: “When you focus on what you're doing right here... we're going to beat the competition nine out of 10 times.”
  (06:02)

• Matt Cantro: “Emotion is passion. You can slip up. It's what you do after that. Let it happen and move on and grow from it.”
  (46:22)

• Matt Cantro: “Don't be the common man. If you want to elevate and create your own destiny, you got to be willing to take those shots and not give up.”
  (49:35)

---

Conclusion

This episode offers a compelling look into Matt Cantro's approach to redefining settlements through Noble Title & Escrow. By blending technology, community engagement, and personal resilience, Matt illustrates the essence of determination in building a successful and impactful business. Listeners are left inspired to embrace collaboration, seek mentorship, and remain steadfast in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Transcript

[Matt Cantro]

I'm ready for my life to change.

[Shawn French]

ABC Sundays, American Idol is all new. Give it your all. Good luck. Come out with a golden ticket. Let's hear it.

[Matt Cantro]

This is immense world.

[Shawn French]

I've never seen anything like it.

[Matt Cantro]

And a new chapter begins. You're going to Hollywood.

[Shawn French]

Carrie Underwood joins Lionel Richie, Luke Bryant and Ryan Seacrest on American Idol News Sundays, 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone Paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate.

[Matt Cantro]

First 3 months only.

[Shawn French]

Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra.

[Matt Cantro]

See full [e-mail] everybody can say they're a self made. You're not. That's it's 100%.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Somebody opened a door for you at some point. The difference between people that make it and people that don't are the willingness to walk through that door. Are recognizing that door. You have to be uncommon. The common man goes nowhere. If you do want to elevate and you want to do your own thing and create your own destiny, you got to be willing to take those shots and not give up.

[Sharp French]

Sharp French what up? This one Luck. I let the pain inspire me. I put my all in. Everything I'm doing up until it's done, I mean for the entirety. I put it in overtime. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine cause I earned it. They watch and I know it's time I confirmed it. The whole society Determined determin.

[Shawn French]

What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Determined society. I am your host, Shawn French. Today, as you can see, we're at a different location. We're at Iron Valley Real estate here in Norfolk, Virginia for the determine your destiny tour. I'm super excited to announce today's guest. Before I do that though, if it's your first time listening to the show, please hit subscribe on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Go check it out. Leave a comment, leave a review. I want to know what you think. Today I have the president and CEO of Noble title and escrow here in Norfolk, Virginia. My man Matt Control. Nice to meet you, buddy.

[Matt Cantro]

Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me, dude.

[Shawn French]

I'M jacked to have you. You're just a handsome son of a.

[Matt Cantro]

Look at you off there. I'm going to get off and say it's Cantro. Just let you know, everybody messes up the first time. Say kind. I don't know, whatever somebody said, tell a marketing phone call.

[Shawn French]

Did I say Cantro?

[Matt Cantro]

What I say, no, it was some version of it. But you're fine.

[Shawn French]

Whatever, man. Hey, we're not perfect here, guys. We just keep moving. So I apologize for that, everybody.

[Matt Cantro]

I do know your name, guys.

[Shawn French]

I do know your name. It's fine. I've already up, guys. Here we go. But dude, it's so nice to meet you. You know, we're here for this amazing event. You're actually the stage sponsor, correct?

[Matt Cantro]

I am, yep. Cool.

[Shawn French]

So, you know, let's talk about the event first. About what led you to become a stage. That's a pretty big thing. Did you believe in the mission? What, what, what spoke to you?

[Matt Cantro]

So a little bit of everything going on. So Mike and I have known each other for going on five years now. Right around the time I was starting Noble, they were starting Iron Valley. They were talking about doing a title company. I needed business for a title company. So we kind of linked up. We've kind of grown hand in hand together. So pretty much anything Mike is doing, you're involved. We're, we're involved with. Same thing the other way. Iron Valley supports Noble pretty well.

[Shawn French]

That's awesome, dude.

[Matt Cantro]

So, yeah, just supporting Mike and watching him do his different adventures that he keeps coming up with and there's nothing that he does that he doesn't commit. 100.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, dude, I've noticed that about him. I met him in July and he's just. Yeah, he's my kind of people, man. What I think is awesome, because you and I were talking off air about, you know, social media, you know, instant gratification of society and everybody wants something now, now, now. And there's a lot of competition in the world. Right. And I fully believe we don't live in a competitive world. And this is something that a lot of people are going to listen to the show or watch it on YouTube. Be like, what the is he about to say?

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah, you got my attention right now.

[Shawn French]

We live in a co creative world and, and it's every, it's somebody's choice every single day. Are you going to compete or are you going to co create? And you and Michael decided to co create together. That says a lot about how he feels about you and how you feel about him. What are your thoughts there?

[Matt Cantro]

100. I think there's, there's different avenues of that. There's definitely the competition side of things.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Matt Cantro]

And I think that's an important. We're going to talk about, you know, Absolutely growing, I think in sports and competition is probably what fueled a lot of this. I mean, I think Mike has that competitive design also, but the collaborative aspect of things, you know, collaboration over competition. He says a lot. Definitely plays a role in business for certain things. There's definitely things that, for example, title companies can get together to benefit the industry. Yeah, we're all competing for agents, we're all competing against for the same people. But there's aspects of the industry and, you know, aspects of life where definitely you come together for the betterment of the industry you're in. And I see them do that a lot.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, I love it. And again, I want to clarify for the audience and even just with you, when I say we don't live in a competitive environment, I don't mean that there's not competition and there's not other people out there competing. What I mean is, is if we focus on the co creation part of it. Right. And we focus on the processes and what we're trying to grow in our businesses and our culture. Right. Within the business and our standards and everything like that. When we always rise to the standards and the processes, every single day we're going to beat the competition nine out of 10 times. Because you know why? We know they're there, we respect them, but we don't think about them. We think about what we're doing right here. Yeah, that's.

[Matt Cantro]

Block out the noise.

[Shawn French]

You have to. And it's interesting because in sports, you know, you grew up playing baseball and at 14 you specialized to hockey. Then you played college hockey up in Boston where you got your college degree.

[Matt Cantro]

And just low level, you know, club, just for the viewers out there, wasn't anything. No. Boston University.

[Shawn French]

You played. You played. Right. And, and, and you got to see three world championships, by the way.

[Matt Cantro]

That's pretty, that's pretty fun.

[Shawn French]

Cool, man. That's pretty dope.

[Matt Cantro]

But nothing like working at 18 and 6am for championship.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, exactly. Right. It's like, maybe I should go to class, but I'm going to do this anyway.

[Matt Cantro]

So they cancel class.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. So I just think it's really cool, like when you talk about that competitive spirit that you have as a young child and adolescent and going into college, how do you feel that competitiveness has helped you grow your business?

[Matt Cantro]

So I'll hone in more on the hockey thing. So I was a goalie.

[Shawn French]

Oh, really?

[Matt Cantro]

So one of those things was blocking out the noise. You know, be. It's such a bigger goalie. It's pretty mental. You're there by yourself. You are the last thing. You give up a goal. You have to be able to reset. So that plays into business, I think, where, you know, you're gonna. You know, you say you can curse on this show.

[Shawn French]

Go ahead, man.

[Matt Cantro]

You know you're gonna up.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

And it's being able to. Same thing when you give up a goal. It's being able to reset and go, okay, I up. That doesn't mean the rest of it has to get up. Yeah, you reset. Okay, here's what went wrong. Here's what I can do better, and you move forward.

[Shawn French]

I love that.

[Matt Cantro]

Blocking out the noise. You know, I always told people, it's like once you. Once you step on that ice, you can scream and yell from the stands all you want. It goes silent.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

I can't hear a word you're saying. I can't hear that. I'm so locked in. And that's, you know, with business and I talking about Mike. And so he. It's. It's being able to lock in and tune out the noise. The naysayers, people are saying, you can't do it. And there's a lot of people that said we couldn't do it. There's a lot of people that think told Mike he couldn't do it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

So I think that aspect of things definitely plays into it.

[Shawn French]

Dude. It's great, man, because, like, there's a lot of fuel. Right. Like I always say when someone tells me that I can't do something, I remember when I started, people laughed. Yeah, they laughed. They laughed at me, man.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

And I think some people still are, because now. But now they're mad because they were wrong. Right. But. Yeah, but I did not. I think at first it bothered me, Matt. You know, like, it really. It really, truly did. But then I realized that if I just focus on what I'm doing and what I'm building and the purpose of why I'm doing it, I'm not going to hear it.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

I won't hear it. And it's funny, you know, we. We hit it off. Off camera, and now we're, you know, having this great conversation. You were the last line of defense. You were a goalie. I was a catcher.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Yes.

[Matt Cantro]

I actually. I caught and played.

[Shawn French]

Amazing. We got a bromance going on in here. So it's like behind the plate, you know, in the sec. Like, dude, I remember one time at Alex Box Stadium, the old Alex box tore it down and turned into a parking lot. Midweek game. Even in our midweek games, we had about 8,000 people there at a college baseball game on a Wednesday playing, like, Shreveport or some crazy stuff or. Or Loyola in New Orleans pop up behind the dish. All right, I missed it. I missed it. They're not easy. Like, pops. Like, those are not give. Those are not giving.

[Matt Cantro]

Basket off. You got to find it.

[Shawn French]

You got to find. You got to, you know, backspin wind everything, right. You got to make sure you get your back to the, you know, the field and be in a good position. And the amount of. Oh in the whole stadium, it's like, I'm going to tell you, I could block a lot of things out. I could not block that out. I heard that. Man, that was loud.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah, yeah, that's. That's what, you know, talking about that, though. That is. You were talking about business, people laughing and stuff like that. And. Yeah, that's, you know, you up. You can hear that noise for a second. It's okay. I think that makes people human. Like, people laughed. Us. This company was started. Both of these companies were started during the pandemic.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. You started in 2020. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Yep. Let me talk about the start later on or whatever.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, we'll get there. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Of course people laughed. And then you tune it out. And then we started doing stuff and gaining traction. And then we brought on Sarah, who's our director of business development, and she's came out with these ideas and things. She'd come. She had come from other title companies and worked in the industry and had these ideas, and we started doing these things. And then social media, we'd see other title companies doing the exact same thing. Oh, well, we started putting a closing graphic up. Then this company is doing it, and we were doing spotlights and this company was doing it. And at first, yeah, I was like, these, like, we're sitting here coming up with these ideas. They're seeing it on social media. Let's just block all these people. So they can't. We can't block everybody.

[Shawn French]

No, you can't.

[Matt Cantro]

So it got to the point where I let that noise get to me. But then it was fuel. Tune it out. Well, if they're copying us, we're on their radar now and.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Matt Cantro]

Doing something. Right.

[Shawn French]

That's the thing. It's like the initial thing. Right. That you did is you reacted. And I've done it too.

[Matt Cantro]

I'm like, why is human nature.

[Shawn French]

Why are they copying, man? Go get your own stuff. And then I'm like, wait a second, they're copying. And, and I guess there's a quote out there. Like, you know, what is it when someone copies you? It's the best form of flattery. Or something like that. Yeah, something like that. And I.

[Matt Cantro]

And now it's like serious form of flattery.

[Shawn French]

Thank you. Thank you. See guys, he's, he's on it, man. He's on it. So that's my point is like, I want as many people to copy me as they want. And in fact, I'm at the point where I will give them all the secrets. I will tell them exactly how to grow their show. I don't care.

[Matt Cantro]

Here's the playbook. You gotta be willing to do the work.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, here's the playbook. About five or six things. Go for it. Have fun.

[Matt Cantro]

You gotta be willing to do it.

[Shawn French]

Hey, stay consistent. Right. And so consistency is big. Right. In sports and entrepreneurship especially. I want, if you can, I want you to walk everybody through the, the start and the launch of noble title and escrow in 2020 and how you guys have led, leaned on tech, technology, innovation.

[Matt Cantro]

I graduated 2011. There wasn't a whole lot of stuff going on.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Went through a minor, you know, economic crisis.

[Shawn French]

Oh yeah, that thing.

[Matt Cantro]

So didn't really know what I was going to do. I had a marketing degree, left Boston because I wanted to make sure I wasn't a stand up party.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Party city.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Came back, didn't really know what to do. I enrolled in a management program at a bank and a couple days before that program was supposed to start, they canceled the class. So they'd realized that they were training all of these people in this management program and didn't have anywhere to put them.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

So they were training them and they were going to other banks. So like, all right, now what? And the biggest mentor I've had in my life is my grandfather. He's no longer with us, but he was a retired veterinarian. My entire life he would be day trading, trading in the stock market, watching cnbc. And he had a photographic memory. We would, he'd watch CNBC all day long with the ticker at the bottom. And we call him up just for fun, like what was, what was the last price of whatever? And he rattled him.

[Shawn French]

You just remember it.

[Matt Cantro]

So I started getting into that as I got older and he was in real estate Rental properties and building. And I said to him at one point, this is before college. I was like, hey, I want to get in real estate. He goes, go to college, get a degree if that's what you want to do. When you get out, I'll help you get started. Well, here we are, fast forward. I'm out of college. I have no idea what I'm gonna do. This management class got canceled. I was like, kind of want to do stock market. I kind of want to do what you do. And this was when you could buy foreclosure properties. $0.25 on the dollar. So there's this property he'd been trying to buy forever from the bank. And he kept bidding on it, kept saying no. And finally we go and look at it and we spent $42,000 on a townhouse in North. Now I graduated three months ago. I have like 500 in my bank account. He made me sign a note to him for $21,000 for my portion of it. So. And that was one thing I credit. And I've taken that into business and yeah, stuff, you know, he treated me like a partner and like a business like businessman, not a grandson. And when we were in the office, valuable lesson, man. And that taught me a lot. I remember going to sleep and I was like, how the am I gonna pay him? $21,000. I have 500 to my name right now. And then we started day trading and taught me the ropes a little bit, kind of about it. And then he's very old school.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

And then I started self teaching options trading and charting and all that. And that little killing time before I figured out what I was going to do turned into a full blown day trading.

[Shawn French]

Come on him.

[Matt Cantro]

And I find millions of dollars worth of stock at a time, in and out.

[Shawn French]

That's wild.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah, it was an interesting time. Yeah. I had probably more money than I should have when I was 24 years old. Didn't know to do it. Bought a lot of stupid things, I bet.

[Shawn French]

Dude.

[Matt Cantro]

We did that for a while and he ended up getting sick. And around 2019 it stopped being fun. So I was by myself. It was him and I in an office all the time. We argued like business partners. That punched a hole in the wall one time.

[Shawn French]

Oh, wow.

[Matt Cantro]

And it just got to the point where like Monday morning I gotta turn this computer on, look at flashing numbers. I was like, I can't do this anymore.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Like I'm good at it. I just don't want to do it anymore. So I stopped doing that. I Was building houses, too, at the time, flipping houses. And so what am I to do next? And I was having lunch with one of my friends who's a real estate attorney and another friend. We started talking about title, and they're like, there's. There's some money in title. I was like, I never really thought of it. Kind of wanted to go to law school. My dad was a lawyer. My brother's a lawyer. My dad told me to kill me if I went to law school. So there's also no jobs for lawyers when I graduated. Yeah. So. All right, well, that's kind of close to law. Teetering on there. It's interesting. So started looking into it more, and then Covid hit, and I was locked in my condo with nothing to do. And I got introduced to Mike and Eric, and they're like, we're starting Iron Valley. You know, part of the package with them was title company. I was like, well, I've actually had some conversations, and we've kind of already started mapping it out. Instead of giving them, you know, the parent company or whatever, whoever you're going to do it with, because they. I know they talk to a couple people. Let's do it ourselves. It may take longer to get set up, but let me do it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, sure.

[Matt Cantro]

And run with it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

So I, with nothing to do, cram for the title exam, did it in two weeks. Took it in this office, actually, because Noble didn't have an office yet, and then hit the ground running.

[Shawn French]

It's amazing, man.

[Matt Cantro]

There was growing pains, dude.

[Shawn French]

And that was an interesting time because I don't know how it was up here in real estate, but in Florida, it boom.

[Matt Cantro]

So we had absolutely no idea. I remember sitting there, getting a license, getting everything started and going, okay. Kova just shut everything down. How do you tour houses? How do you like? This is either going to be a huge failure. I spent a bunch of money to start, or it'll work, or who knows? And then, yeah, nobody. Nobody saw what happened coming. And then the market just took off. They started recruiting agents. We're in here all the time for trainings and stuff, and started meeting agents and doing closings. And next thing you know, we're at, you know, 25 closings a month, 30 closings a month. Now we're up over 100 every month. And it's just wild to look back and go, that was almost five years ago.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's amazing. That's, like, consistent growth.

[Matt Cantro]

Right?

[Shawn French]

And. And I. I want to. I don't want to over look, the. Your grandfather. Like, I appreciate that because I lost all my grandparents when I was younger. Right. And you know, I mean, look, man, like nothing is better than a grandparent dude.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah. I credit him with. I wouldn't be where I am without him.

[Shawn French]

Zero chance.

[Matt Cantro]

And I was gonna say I might get emotional if I talk about him, but no. He was my grandfather, my mentor, my best friend.

[Shawn French]

Your sparring partners.

[Matt Cantro]

Like we. Yeah. I mean we would drive around looking at properties together. We would trade, we would do. I talked to a lot. A lot of real estate. I have a couch in my office. A lot of agents treated as a therapy couch. Try to then always listen, but try to give them that wisdom. In those conversations that I had with my grandfather and it's like, yeah, you argue, but we also, him and I. My view on like, because they'll talk about certain teams and partnerships and working with people and contracts and paperwork and like, like if you have to worry about a partnership agreement with somebody that you're going to go into business with. Probably shouldn't be invisible.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Especially to start off.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Matt Cantro]

Different when you get to bigger companies. Yeah. Doing that kind of stuff. But like you're getting into real estate. You want to team up with somebody if you don't feel 100% comfortable being in business with that person that they're not going to screw you over. It's probably not the right person. My grandfather and I never had anything in writing. It was understood. No matter what he did, 50% of it was mine. No matter what I did, 50% was his and dryed on a lot of.

[Shawn French]

Shit, I bet, man.

[Matt Cantro]

But we're always. But I backed him, he backed me.

[Shawn French]

And it's valuable. You know, I think everybody. For the audience. I just want you guys to listen and to this point is look back in your life about that one mentor that you had. It could have been a grandparent, could have been a friend or, or your parents. It's like the, the value that they bring is truly tremendous because you know, there's been mentors in my life that I don't think I would be where I'm at. Even the adversaries. I wouldn't be where I'm at right now if those things didn't take place. And I always like to value the past. Right. Instead of, you know, I guess bringing shame about the past of the stupid.

[Matt Cantro]

I used to do or got to embrace it.

[Shawn French]

I embrace it all, man.

[Matt Cantro]

Embrace your screw ups. Else you never learn from them.

[Shawn French]

It's part of the growth Journey. Right. And, and if it. And I think a lot of times when people fail where they get egg on their face and go, oh my God, look at me, poor me. This is victim when they really need to look at it.

[Matt Cantro]

And this is down a rabbit hole talking about today's society and mentality.

[Shawn French]

But we could. Right? But this all gives insight to who you are and how you built your company. And, and, and the thing is, is when we focus on the past and the mistakes that we've made and the failures that we've made in our businesses, you know, no matter how big or small, we start to realize like those are the moments that we grow into these amazing entrepreneurs. It's not the wins that take us there, it's. It's all those micro failures, you know, in between. Right.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah. And I, I equate like I go back to sports a lot in, in business and that team mentality and having like I come from hockey. That's a sport where if somebody, somebody hits one of your players, somebody runs your goal, you go to bed. Like we self police. We have each other's back no matter what. And I think in business, especially with partners, that's something you got to do then also like the conversations I have with people, I find myself mentoring people more often than I intend to. Nobody got to where they are without help.

[Shawn French]

Y.

[Matt Cantro]

Everybody can say they're a self made. What you're not.

[Shawn French]

That's.

[Matt Cantro]

It's 100%.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Somebody opened a door for you at some point. The difference between people that make it and people that don't are the willingness to walk through that door or recognizing that door.

[Shawn French]

Yep.

[Matt Cantro]

You got to be willing to take a chance or notice that somebody's trying to extend out hand to help you.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, man.

[Matt Cantro]

If you have this mentality of it, I don't need any help. I can do this on my own. You're probably never really going to make it. At some point. Somebody's going to help you along the way.

[Shawn French]

I love that dude. It's a great point because as you're speaking, I'm thinking of all those moments when I was super immature in building the show, saying I was doing this, I did this all in me. I think there's a big component of me, but it's like there have been people strategically placed in my path every single stage. And it was up to me to embrace that. But they created space for me. Right. When I met Michael Little and Tim Lewis, when we were hanging out with Eric Thomas in Traverse, Michigan, I was just going There to meet a friend. I was going there to meet Eric.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

And here they come in and we just said like, hey, are you meeting ET as well? Yeah. And we sat down and this whole event was birthed, like, so for me it's like, no, I didn't do everything together. I didn't do everything on my own. Like, he and I built something and then he ran with it. And here we are.

[Matt Cantro]

You are doing it on your own. It's noticing those people along the way. Like I said, it's like Mike is doing this on his own. I was doing noble, like, but there were strategic people to help me do it on my own, if that makes sense. Like, you know, those people were put there. You put yourself in positions to run into those people to execute. To execute to. Yeah, yeah.

[Shawn French]

I mean, dude, it's. It's all about, you know, having great relationships and leveraging those relationships in a respectful way. Right?

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

And doing things together. But I, I always say, like, you know, you're only as good as your circle. Everybody says that. And if you have a powerful circle that just are a bunch of get done type of people, you're going to, you're going to excel because of that. Right. But I want to go back and I want to, you know, I want.

[Matt Cantro]

To say to that point though, yeah, if you have that mentality, your circle tends to have that mentality because you tend to attract people that are like minded. Like I. My group of friends right now, one of them, the real estate attorney, I've known him since we were four. Wow. We went to school together. Didn't talk to him for. We graduated high school. Didn't talk to him for probably 15 years almost. I was at a baseball game one day and he showed up to an event I was at and I went, what are you doing here? And he goes, what are you doing here? Started talking. He's a real estate attorney. Yeah, well, I was in real estate. You know, friend of mine lived condo below me, plays hockey. He's a Navy pilot.

[Shawn French]

Dad's sick.

[Matt Cantro]

We just. And it was like his dad did certain. And his mentality and his drive and Igor, it was the real estate attorney who I've known forever. His drive and then meeting Mike and you just tend to. And another good buddy, Seth, like had his own oil company, brokerage company, like different industries that all kind of. You had to be your own self. Motivator.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

You had to. He was an oil broker. He worked for himself and went sick. Similar to my grandfather. It was him and his dad, you had to get up in the morning and make happen. Yeah. Didn't make any money. And that's the mentality that you have to have to succeed in business. Like I used to have people tell me, oh, you work for yourself. You day trade like you don't feel like working, you don't have to work. So yeah, if I don't feel like, if I don't work though, I don't make money. I don't make money.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

So. So it's not like, yeah, I get to do whatever I want. Like yeah, yeah, I played golf sometimes.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, I watched a little Netflix, maybe.

[Matt Cantro]

I made a couple trades in the morning I was 85 degrees and sunny. So I'd go play golf at 2 o'clock.

[Shawn French]

Why not?

[Matt Cantro]

But I still woke up, I still was up to look at the pre market. I was looking at charts. Like to this day I haven't day traded in six years. I still have seen me see on my TV all day.

[Shawn French]

That's so crazy.

[Matt Cantro]

I can't break that habit.

[Shawn French]

Is it nostalgic for you like with your grandfather, does that bring.

[Matt Cantro]

It's a little nostalgic. It's a little, it's still somewhat relevant to the industry I'm in too. Like I talk to people all the time about the ten year Treasury.

[Shawn French]

Yes.

[Matt Cantro]

A lot of real estate agents and they have absolutely no idea why that is important. Like well, that's the most closely related thing to mortgage rate.

[Shawn French]

Exactly.

[Matt Cantro]

And if you don't understand that, then I think I saw the stats came out. There's 7, 700 agents roughly in this area. Half of them do business, half of them do nine. And then you got the top that actually do a bunch of business.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Matt Cantro]

If you want to separate yourself and you want to succeed in your field, those are those little things that you need to learn. That's initiative. Yeah, yeah.

[Shawn French]

It's added value.

[Matt Cantro]

Learn your craft. And I've heard Mike preach that numerous times in trainings at Iron Valley is like hone your craft, Learn your craft. Learn the things that make you different that are going to grow your business. Yeah, everybody can read whatever real estate book on how to sell 100 houses or whatever. But like that's what worked for that guy.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Doesn't mean it's going to necessarily translate to. And every, every city is different. But if you understand how things work, have those lunches, you know, with brokers and lenders and title and understand each. You don't have to be an expert. Right. But understand it.

[Shawn French]

But I think Also too, like, to your point about that is it's important to understand it. Not just from a knowledge standpoint. It's important. It's important to understand all of it. So you can be dangerous enough to send people that way. Yeah, like, you know, enough.

[Matt Cantro]

Enough to say, this is. But let's get talk to. But let me get you in touch with that.

[Shawn French]

Yes, exactly.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

It's how you. It's how you build a massive business. Right. And you know, I'm reading a book right now called Go Giver.

[Matt Cantro]

All right.

[Shawn French]

It's a really good book.

[Matt Cantro]

I gotta get better at books. I think school traumatized me with books and, like, I had to read them. So I'm not better reading books.

[Shawn French]

Don't get it twisted. My buddy David Waldy sent it to me, all right, Randomly just, you know, kind of out. I say, hey, what's your address? I send it to him and in comes two books and one of them is Go Giver. I'm like, hm, beautiful. So I'm like, I have to read this. But typically I'm not a big reader either. You know, I probably should do it a lot more, but my mind, like, if I'm at home and just sitting there, I feel like I'm not doing anything. So after my workout, if I can squeeze it in before the kids wake up or on a weekend or something like that, I'll. I'll crack it open a little bit. But.

[Matt Cantro]

But yeah, I actually get better about reading.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, do me too. All right, you heard it. Matt and I are going to read more.

[Matt Cantro]

That's my goal for 20, 25.

[Shawn French]

Read more. That's easy.

[Matt Cantro]

To be fair. Yeah. If you started 01 books, boom, crushed it. Yeah.

[Shawn French]

100% improvement.

[Matt Cantro]

All right.

[Shawn French]

It's freaking fantastic. I want to talk about your specific company and because I know when I did some research on your company, there's a lot of talk about technology and innovation, Right. How has that played a part in helping the consumer not be surprised by closing statements, etc. And how has it made those relationships for you better?

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah. So I have to definitely give credit to Sarah, Business development Director of business development. Having been in the industry, she kind of came up and showed me these ideas, and it's crazy because I had bought six rental properties before I bought my own house.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Matt Cantro]

And to me, I had to relearn real estate because to me, closing was a transaction. Like it was. There was no emotion to it.

[Shawn French]

Interesting.

[Matt Cantro]

Even when I bought my condo, I just. I signed some documents. Yeah, done. Like, yeah, there Was no emotion. There was a fleet, no removal. Yeah. It was just. Oh, I, I've done this plenty of times. Yeah, sold. Whatever. So then I kind of took a step back and realized, okay, that's not the experience or most people.

[Shawn French]

No.

[Matt Cantro]

So most people are nervous. Most people are scared. It's a lot of numbers. You don't come from a background with numbers and finance and money. You don't understand how it's intimidating. And the last thing you want is to show up at closing and you get a closing disclosure. It's five pages long, it's got everything broken down and the prepaids and the taxes and all that and absolutely no idea what any of it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. What is this?

[Matt Cantro]

And it's the first time you're seeing it because the lender sent you a, you know, three weeks ago sent you. The one he has to send you that had nothing like the real numbers on it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. It was like thousands of dollars lower.

[Matt Cantro]

You know, we can talk about the rules and Dodd Frank and all that stuff.

[Shawn French]

Dude, I want to. Yeah. Because there's nothing worse than like as a, as a, you know, as the buyer or the seller. Like, okay, I'm, I. If it's a refi. I'm getting this much back at closing. Like I'm getting. Oh, okay, cool. It's 70 grand back at closing. And you need that 70 grand for something.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Maybe a down payment on another home. And then you get your final closing statement and you're getting 40 and now you're like, oh my God. Well not. That's pretty extreme.

[Matt Cantro]

So.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah, they're not that.

[Matt Cantro]

But technology wise, one of the big things we have is the calculator on our website that has all of our preloaded fees in there. When you put the taxes in, depending on what city you've said the property is in, it knows if it's quarterly or semi annually, you know, prorated taxes. It can break down pretty close. We. I find that most people use it for seller net sheets to see how much money they're going to make. Right. Within. Unless you lie.

[Shawn French]

Which lot of people.

[Matt Cantro]

People do forget that they modified their loan and there's 100,000 on the back end they got to pay off. Or solar panels.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Don't buy solar panels by the way.

[Shawn French]

Solar panel, that's a good one.

[Matt Cantro]

It's a UCC lean. You're gonna have to pay it off.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Matt Cantro]

Great way to quickly ruin equity in your house. But yeah, that giving the ability to have agents have Access to that so that when they go on a listing appointment or they're talking to their first time buyer, they can go on that calculator, put all that information there and have a, have it able to present and break it down for the client line by line to show. Okay, this is where this goes. This where this is. This is how you know where your earnest money deposits go in. This is what you're gonna have to bring. We can try to negotiate that, you know the seller.

[Shawn French]

That's impossible.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah, just showing people, making it less scary.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Matt Cantro]

For the end user and giving agents tools to use to better their business so that we can get business.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, exactly.

[Matt Cantro]

And then we've got, so we've got the calculator, we've got a portal. So once you go under contract, we have the contract. Clients have a portal and agents have a portal. Agent, portal. Once you send one deal, your portal's there forever.

[Shawn French]

Wow.

[Matt Cantro]

And every deal you do is in your portal and you can see where it is in the process. Title search, things like that. Our wire instructions are in there. You send money through it and the client has their portal where they can see where we are in the step, you know what step of the process it's in. So EMD submit through our website. Just things that make it more convenient because nobody wants to drive around a EMD check at 6 o'clock at night and drop it off in a drop box or have to come to that.

[Shawn French]

What's an EMD chat?

[Matt Cantro]

So earnest money deposit.

[Shawn French]

Okay, gotcha.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah, yeah. You know, you got to have consideration. So it, yeah, old school. Used to be everybody to wet sign contracts and get a check and you had to bring it to either the, you know, real estate brokerage or the title company, whoever's going to hold it. Now everything's just online. Yeah, it's super pure. You got to verify through your bank. Everybody gets a receipt. So it's just making things, making things easier for the client and the agent is what I wanted. Our slogan is simplified settlements or settlement simplified. That's the idea. To make it not so buttoned up, like scary.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

We are not, we're not an 80 year old lawyer that's coming in and be dry and boring and exactly my like. And I do most of the closings. I probably do 90% of the closings.

[Shawn French]

That's awesome. How many employees do you have there?

[Matt Cantro]

We have, we just got two more. So I think we're at nine or ten. That's awesome. But I think that goes back to the Whole day trading thing where I sat in a room by myself for nine years. I like to sit across from people.

[Shawn French]

Oh, absolutely.

[Matt Cantro]

It's fun. Like seeing that excitement that I guess kind of I was numb to when I did it. So seeing, you know, that 20 year old kid buying their first house. Never family, never owned houses before, but they've got the chance to do it. Or I did a closing for a guy that was 60 some years old, never owned a house, was his first house and first house.

[Shawn French]

Wow.

[Matt Cantro]

Broke down in tears after closing. Like, that's the fun side of it. That's the doing things, helping people. That's a big part of our business too. Title companies and things around here. You know, people sponsor events and do stuff all the time. We started off that way. I looked at what people were doing, I was like, all right, what we got to do. And I realized everybody's doing that.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Like there's nothing. We're not doing anything different.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Matt Cantro]

I was like, we're fortunate enough to be in an area that is so transient. There's so much real estate activity going back to what you and I were talking about before. Competition. There's always competition.

[Shawn French]

Of course there is.

[Matt Cantro]

Tuning those out. You know, there's enough agents in this area for everybody to succeed. Let's do something different. So we started doing community. Community service. Started doing more outreach stuff. We do an autism event every year with one of the agents at Iron Valley. We're going on our third year doing that.

[Shawn French]

It's amazing.

[Matt Cantro]

So that's gone from a little thing in the. We have a backyard area at the office, little thing there, to a local bar in the area that has a giant outdoor space linked up with the Eliza Hope Foundation. It's a local autism center here. We just had the mobile mammography unit, Sentera Hospital in our parking lot this week. That was Sarah. But doing things that we did the. The Virginia spca, we've done two years in a row. So we've gone to their gala, been a sponsor of that. Giving back. You know, we still do all the normal stuff too.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

That's where I feel like we have the power to be different and give back.

[Shawn French]

That right there, though.

[Matt Cantro]

And if that gets me business, it gets me business. But it's not. We're giving back.

[Shawn French]

But I want, I want the audience to marinate on that for a second. Like, you know, push pause and really think about what Matt said. And for me, when I'm listening to it, it's like the opportunity to set yourself apart from you know what everybody.

[Matt Cantro]

I don't know how you don't hit this thing. Every time I hit this microphone, I don't know where it's supposed to be.

[Shawn French]

It's like, I don't know. Yeah. I was just like. I'm saying I don't know what to do with my hands. It's interesting because, you know, while you're, you're creating this trust within the community. Right. And of course you're not there pitching the people when they're there getting their, you know, mammograms or, or autism event for three years running. But it solidifies you in a community. And it, and it, it shows everybody what the culture and what the people are about at your company. And then of course, when it comes time, they're like, hey, I'm buying a house. I need to call Noble Title and escrow to see who I should use for a realtor representation. And I know, I'm just going to ask that.

[Matt Cantro]

That actually happened. Exactly. That actually happened at the event the other day.

[Shawn French]

See, but that, but that's awareness. That's eyeballs. That's providing the value. And it's funny because I was scouring your Google reviews. Not one under five stars. Come on.

[Matt Cantro]

That's gonna be that goalie superstition right there.

[Shawn French]

I just it up. I'm sorry.

[Matt Cantro]

It's been a good run game right now. Hey.

[Shawn French]

It's been a good, it's been a good run. You're gonna get a bunch of one. But no, I just think that in like seeing what the people are writing and that's.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah. Is empowering and that's the approach that I've taken. We're very. Sarah and I are very on the same page on this non sales sales approach.

[Shawn French]

Love it.

[Matt Cantro]

Because I am that person. And I'll give the example. There's a Xerox representative that comes by and he was coming by the office and we already have Xerox.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

And he would stop by unannounced and asked to talk to me. Like I'm not that guy that says I'm always. I have a very open door policy for agents. Anybody that needs to talk to me. I legit have an open door policy. But I also live and die by my calendar.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Matt Cantro]

And we are closings. And I'm. The last thing I'll ever do is if an agent shows agent clients show up early and I don't have a closing before them. I'm going to do that closing. Then I'm not going to make you wait for your 2:30 appointment. You're there. Let me get you in and out. You want to buy this house, you don't want to be in my office.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

So Xerox guy walks in the office. So I go up front, introduce myself. I said, all right, you know, thanks. Like, if I need anything, I'll reach out. You showed up the next week, I was like, man, I told you if I needed something, I'll reach out. Well, turns out we needed a new. We opened a satellite office. I needed another printer because that printer was going up there. Guess who I didn't call him. Because all you did was annoy me.

[Shawn French]

Because you didn't follow instructions.

[Matt Cantro]

Exactly. So my thing is, I'm not going to. I'm not going to hound you. There's lots of people out there that will.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

And if that's what works for you. It does. Like, I'm quality over quantity.

[Shawn French]

Y.

[Matt Cantro]

And not everybody likes to hear that. Yeah, I rather grow. Grow slow. Have agents that close with us or send their clients our way because of genuine connection. And we think the same, we operate the same. Yeah, it'd be cool to make a.

[Shawn French]

Million dollars a month, wouldn't it? Yeah, but.

[Matt Cantro]

But that's not real. Yeah, like, I like where I can sit, talk to the agents, the clients, like friends. That's that connection where I know, like, if there's a problem, they're not just going to drop me for the next guy that called because they're going to take them for a beer.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

They're going to call me. And most agents that we work with, I give them my cell phone. Yeah, of course, if I'm awake, I will answer.

[Shawn French]

It must be wild, bro. It may be.

[Matt Cantro]

Hold on.

[Shawn French]

You don't have a. Shut off.

[Matt Cantro]

This is what I tell people. If I'm awake, you'll most likely get a response. And it might be, hey, I can't talk right now. You know, give me a call tomorrow morning. And you can't do anything entitled at 11 o'clock at night anyways.

[Shawn French]

No, you can't.

[Matt Cantro]

But there's sometimes that people have an issue accessing the portal or have an issue sending their EMD. If I'm awake, what does it take 5 minutes of my time to answer the phone and be like, hey, yeah, what do you. What do you need? Unless I'm in the middle of doing something. If I'm in the middle of doing something.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, honor. Honor your boundary. Right. But if you're doing nothing and you're sitting there and it's 9pm like, if this person needs something, you can do it. Why not, right?

[Matt Cantro]

Hurt me. It doesn't take anything away from me to be there for these people.

[Shawn French]

It's funny, my wife always makes fun of me, dude. She goes, you always feel like you have to respond immediately. And I'm like, but if I'm not doing anything, why not? Like, why?

[Matt Cantro]

Because for me, if I don't respond though, and then I have 10 other texts and then I. And I can't have a notification on my phone. No, it drives me. Absolutely.

[Shawn French]

We're so much alike, dude.

[Matt Cantro]

I'm so happy with that, dude. As soon as I have to clear notification. So if I do that, that means I clicked on your text so I can clear the notification. If I don't respond, I'm gonna forget, dude, same. And so, I mean, I finished. It's like, example. I still play men's league hockey now.

[Shawn French]

Oh, cool.

[Matt Cantro]

I played last night. Game was at 9:40.

[Shawn French]

Oh, Jesus.

[Matt Cantro]

Took it off the ice around 11 and I had a text and I was like, hey, just got done playing hockey. Give you a shot in the morning. Yeah, just acknowledge them. That's all. That's really what people need.

[Shawn French]

That's value.

[Matt Cantro]

Value. And like, I'm. When I say I'm there, I'm there.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. I think it's important.

[Matt Cantro]

Standing by your word and, you know, is important, so.

[Shawn French]

Absolutely, man. You get any fights now?

[Matt Cantro]

We're not allowed to fight. There are fights from time to time.

[Shawn French]

Okay.

[Matt Cantro]

There hasn't been. There was. Hasn't been one in a while. There was one in a handshake line a couple years ago.

[Shawn French]

Seriously, Tell me about that.

[Matt Cantro]

I don't. I don't even know. It was. There was a penalty towards the end of the game. So men's league hockey, there's always a handshake after every game.

[Shawn French]

Okay. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Most people can let it go and. I don't know. I was behind this guy and it was the guy in front of me that him and this other guy had a little issue. And the other kind of handshake line just punches the guy in front. So then they start going and then everybody started grabbing. This is 11 o'clock at night. Like, this is. This is men's league hockey in Norfolk, Virginia. Yeah, I saw the foot we talk about all the time. I have a screenshot of the game summary still. And it's like, misconduct, misconduct. It was like six of us and there's just a little fight breaking out. And I, like, I started going with this like, Guy. And I was. I grab, like, I had him, you know, by the jersey, and he had me. And I looked at him and I was. I was like, it's 11:00 at night. I'm not doing this.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. Like, I got to do work. Is that what you said to him?

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

I was like, hey, bro, I don't want to start.

[Matt Cantro]

We started.

[Shawn French]

And I was like, what are we doing? What are we fighting for?

[Matt Cantro]

I was like, you and I had beers in the lobby, like, last week.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. What are we doing?

[Matt Cantro]

And that's the funny thing, too about men's league is like, you leave it on the ice. I think that's. That's also. That's something I think people can apply to business is like, the ability to leave something where it is.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Like, I've had arguments. Goes back to my grandfather, like, punched a hole in the wall.

[Shawn French]

Like, that's wild, man.

[Matt Cantro]

With your grandpa, like, the day I. I'll never. I mean, we were selling the house, so. So you. And it was a back room in that. In their house was our office. It was his office forever. And then it became our office. And you walked in and right on the wall when you walk in was all my. Me and my brother's heights from growing up. So all these marks have been there for.

[Shawn French]

Right, right.

[Matt Cantro]

20 years at this point. And yeah, he wanted. Well, it was Nvidia stock. Now, if I'd held Nvidia stock, what it is now, I'd be on an island, probably not talking to you right now.

[Shawn French]

You might be.

[Matt Cantro]

But it was going down. And his famous thing was, it'll come back. Right. That's not how it works. Like, I'm very analytical, Gary. And that drives Mike nuts, by the way.

[Shawn French]

It would drive me crazy, too.

[Matt Cantro]

Very lawyer mindset, because that's what I grew up around. I look at every negative to support what I'm like, here's everything that could go wrong, so let's plan that way. And yes, it drives me nuts, too, sometimes, but that's just the way I think, so I can't change it. So I'm sitting there reading charts, analyzing. I'm like, we got to get out. Like, it's breaking its trend. He's like, nah, it'll come back. And I was like, you want it? It's your trade. And I punched it. And I went to leave and I punched the hole in the wall right next to the lines. And he's just like, I ate my words. This stock came back, like, two days later, and we ended up Making money on it.

[Shawn French]

That's okay though.

[Matt Cantro]

He was always right. He was always right.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

But I was young and dumb and.

[Shawn French]

That'S a good mistake. Right. And it just shows you. Right. It shows you that patience and that discipline that it could be down also.

[Matt Cantro]

That's also what I tell people too. Like in that unofficial mentor role that I somehow find myself in from time to time. It's okay to have those slip ups and ups.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Like I've gotten very good at it lately of tempering those outbursts.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

It took a long time. Again, I came from a sport where, dude, you do something wrong, you sit down for two minutes and then it's over. Yeah.

[Shawn French]

You go to your timeout. Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

You know, two minutes and then you're free.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Slapshot quote. But it's fine to have emotion. Emotion is passion. You can up, you can slip up. It's what you do after that. And like you leave it in the past. Let. Yes, it happened.

[Shawn French]

Yes.

[Matt Cantro]

And like you said before, can't look at that and go, oh, what was me like? Yeah, I up own it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

And move on and grow from it. And that's where I've got. Like today there was an issue in the office. Somebody pissed me off, woke up, it was like 8:00. I'm already getting an email and don't threaten my business. Say you're going to do something that I know is an empty threat and I just start it.

[Shawn French]

Just.

[Matt Cantro]

I'm on like four hours of sleep. I've been talking last night. I'm tired.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Not how I want to start this morning. Of course not 24 year old me would have fired off an email right away. Yeah. I was like, no, no. Like, let's have coffee.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, it's. Yep. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

You know, it was something that when I worked for the minor league hockey team, I always tell people there's two people that I was more scared of growing up than my dad. And one was a coach, almost the gm and they terrified the living daylights out of me. I still know them to this day. They're awesome. They're. We have very different conversations than when I was 15 working in the locker room, man. But they're. My grandfather was one big mentor and they were another. And that was like, don't act on emotion. You have to, you have to process things. If you act on emotion most of the time that initial reaction is going to be wrong.

[Shawn French]

My wife tells me all the time, you need to think about this. I'm like, no, this is How I feel. This is it.

[Matt Cantro]

So my mom used to tell me.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. And she goes, she goes, well, I, I'm like a toddler sometimes, dude. I'm not going to freaking lie to you. I think she will tell you. She will.

[Matt Cantro]

I still have the sense, sense of humor of a 14 year old. Fine.

[Shawn French]

Trust me. My, my, my sense of humor is pretty, pretty twisted. But, you know, that's the thing, is that you think this through, you know, no need to figure this out. Now. Take a deep breath, wait a little bit, and then proceed and respond how you, how you feel you really need.

[Matt Cantro]

And that's a big, big thing in business.

[Shawn French]

Yeah, man. Well, look, dude, it's. I, I've really enjoyed having you on the show, talking about your company and your mindset and your disciplines on how you built this whole thing. I think it's an interesting story and I know the audience has gotten a ton out of it. I want to ask you one more question before we shut this bad boy down. What does determination mean to you?

[Matt Cantro]

The unwillingness to give up said.

[Shawn French]

What does that look like?

[Matt Cantro]

I think it looks like what we've talked about over there. I don't know how long we're in here.

[Shawn French]

45, 45 minutes. Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Know all that stuff that we've talked about of. Yeah. You're going to get that egg on your face. Yeah. You're going to up. Yeah. You're going to stumble. Don't let that crush your spirit.

[Shawn French]

Damn.

[Matt Cantro]

Don't let that be the thing that beats you. You know, hockey guy Herb Brooks is one of my, you know, the 1980 on ice.

[Shawn French]

Oh, dude, that's awesome.

[Matt Cantro]

The background on my computer is. You have to be uncommon. The, the common man goes nowhere.

[Shawn French]

Yep.

[Matt Cantro]

Don't be like. And some people that, if that, if that's what you are like, you know, if you're okay doing that, cool, fine. I'm. That's your path.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

If you do want to elevate and you want to do your own thing and create your own destiny. Yeah. You got to be determined. You got to be willing to take those shots and not give up.

[Shawn French]

I love it. And, and, and for the audience, you guys always hear me say, discipline is not. And determination is not this gritty, fighting, scratching and clawing social media definition of being determined. Right. It's not running 17 miles every day. That's just idiotic on your body.

[Matt Cantro]

I would say. And what you just said, I would say discipline and determination are not the same thing.

[Shawn French]

No, they're not.

[Matt Cantro]

Those are completely. You can Be undisciplined and determined.

[Shawn French]

Sure.

[Matt Cantro]

May not make it as fast.

[Shawn French]

Right.

[Matt Cantro]

But you don't have to be again, you don't have to do 17 miles a day or whatever. Like let yourself have some grace.

[Shawn French]

Exactly. I think it's just super important for everybody to understand what determination means. That you are getting up and doing the work, executing your process, even when your emotions are telling you not to. Your emotions at any point in time, when you're building something, you can feel them, lean into them, but still move forward a little bit. Your 100% isn't going to be the same every day. Right.

[Matt Cantro]

And that's actually, that's something I've learned too in business and that I tell people now that you could have told 25 year old me and I never would have listened. Is that there's. It's okay that if that day you don't have it.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

Take a break. Like I like go play. And I like. Today I was stressed out beyond belief. How the whole stuff going in the office. I was doing this podcast. You're the first podcast I've ever been on.

[Shawn French]

You've crushed it by the way.

[Matt Cantro]

I was like, I have absolutely no idea what I'm gonna talk about. I hate talking about myself. Now here you got me talking about myself 45 minutes. Imagine that you're like that therapist.

[Shawn French]

I know I'm really good.

[Matt Cantro]

More often probably good for me.

[Shawn French]

I'm really good at my job.

[Matt Cantro]

But like I went and had a cigar. That's not advocating for smoking. Smoke is bad. Yada yada, yada. I love cigars. I gotta dip in right now.

[Shawn French]

I'm so jealous. I quit a long time ago. I'm so.

[Matt Cantro]

Yeah, I was gonna say baseball. Hockey. Yeah, I quit for a while. But that cigar and people like that hour and a half of having a cigar. We had this conversation at the shop. It is a disconnect from reality. It lets you reset, you let yourself.

[Shawn French]

Yeah.

[Matt Cantro]

100.

[Shawn French]

You have to, man.

[Matt Cantro]

If you go 100 every day you will burn out. And I did it with day trading. It cost me relationships, it cost me whatever. Give yourself a break.

[Shawn French]

I love it, dude. I love it. And we're going to end on that. To everybody that has listened to this show, go check out my voice company. It'll be in the show. Notes, click on. Just learn a little bit more about them. And if you know buddy in the Virginia beach area that's buying or selling a house, noble title and escrow, please hit them up. And until next time, guys, stay determined.

[Matt Cantro]

Real quick. Oh, we are licensed in all of Virginia. So we can close anything in Virginia.

[Shawn French]

Anything in Virginia. Let's go. I said Virginia beach, but whatever. But, yeah, the whole damn state.

[Sharp French]

Yeah.

[Shawn French]

Call my boy.

[Matt Cantro]

You got questions? Reach out.

[Shawn French]

Yeah. See ya.

[Sharp French]

Sharp French. What up? This one? Luck. I let the pain inspire me? I put my all in? Everything I'm doing up until it's done? I mean for the entirety? I put it in overtime? I'll be working? Just know I'mma go for mine? Cause I earned it? They watch? And I know it's time I confirmed it? A whole society determined?

[Matt Cantro]

Determined.