All right, Value Nation Nation, we are back.
Happy New Year. Hope everybody had a great holiday
season. Really excited to be kicking off this
new year. You know, we took a little hiatus,
but we're back. We're back. And we got a big
one for you. Not only do we have a big guest,
he's also the big boss. This man became CEO of
Nationwide in October 2020. Since that time,
he's overseen four acquisitions and mergers with
other AMCs to help us grow the Nationwide family.
Yes, Charlie, I saw it. Four piece. Four. He's
also been doing the hard work, guiding this company
through what's been some of the toughest years
in the AMC business as a whole. When he's not
working, he enjoys an occasional round of golf
where I heard he's got a little bit of game.
I haven't had a chance to take money off him
yet, but maybe one of these days. He also enjoys
entertaining our company, partaking in our holiday
events that we have via Zoom. I have seen this
man in some very short shorts. Bracken, a nice
little afro wig, Jackie Moon, really good stuff.
But anyways, without further ado, here's the
man of the hour, our CEO of Nationwide Property
Appraisal Services, Sri Belamati. Welcome, sir.
Thanks, Charlie. I appreciate you guys having
me on. I'm excited. I've been seeing the podcast
for some time now and excited that I finally
made the cut to make it on. So that's good news.
No, it's awesome. Awesome to have you. We appreciate
you carving out some time. We know you have you
wear many hats for this company. So, you know,
it's it means a lot that you're investing some
time into this little side project that we've
created. You know, outside of the golf game.
I've learned this morning that you are... A little
bit of a skier. I am. Yeah, emphasis on a little
bit. We went out skiing out west and then went
through. It was fun. It was, you know, I think
there was snow like halfway down the mountain
or halfway up the mountain. The rest of it, I
think we found a lot of rocks and grass and stuff
like that. But it was pretty cool. I was excited
to do that. My goal used to be ski, have fun,
go fast, you know, that type of stuff. Now it's
like come back in one piece. Don't tear an ACM.
Don't have physical therapy. So I accomplished
my goal this year. So I'm excited about that.
I feel that. I feel that. Yeah. So you're not
a black diamond kind of guy. No, man. No, no,
no. Not at all. Those days are behind me. My
wife still likes skiing. She prefers it, I think,
still. But we both have the same mantra in the
back of our head. Just go back home in one piece.
So for those of you at home that don't know.
Our fearless leader is a MIT grad, correct? I
am. So as soon as I hear MIT, I just immediately
think of the movie Skull, like the little secret
societies, Ivy League types. So, you know, do
you wear like a special pinky ring or anything
like that when you're not like your day to day
stuff? So it's funny, like MIT is actually not
an Ivy League school. Believe it or not, it is
not an Ivy League school. It is. An independent
school has nothing to do with the Ivy League,
although because it's like right next to a lot
of the other Ivies and is a is a great school,
you know, has that same sort of reputation. Yeah.
And but I'll tell you, never didn't have to worry
about losing a bowl games the last couple of
weeks. We don't get any of that. So, yeah, I
enjoyed watching a lot of other bowl games. But
yeah, we we yeah, it's there is a. A lot of a
lot of super, super smart people. They're way,
way smarter than me. And it's impressive seeing
what some of those folks get to go through and
do. But, yeah, pretty cool. It didn't do there
was no like there's no like fraternities there.
There's no the secret societies are a little
bit up the street. It is, you know. So MIT and
Harvard have, we sometimes don't refer to each
other by name. It's the school up the street
is sometimes the way a lot of our professors
used to call it. And so, yeah, so that's where
a lot of the secret society showed up was there.
And we didn't, we didn't party that much, but
we would go there to party. They had a little
bit, believe it or not, a little bit better parties.
Not by much, but it was a little bit more fun.
I mean, it's still a prestigious place to get
an education. Great school. Yeah. Yeah. Thank
you. You know, phenomenal professors really learned
a lot. And it was it was a great place to be
and always enjoyed being there in Boston, except
for the winter when it was it was those winters
were real. And when it snows, their sewer system
is terrible. So. The snow stays for a while,
and it just turns to slush, and it's even worse.
The slush is the worst. I can agree. Yeah. Being
in Cleveland, that was the worst thing. And it's
ugly. It's everywhere. So a little bit more on
you, and then we'll get into some of your great
takes on 2023 and where we're going. You already
mentioned you're a family man, which is great
for us as a company. You have a different appreciation
for. what a lot of the folks are doing, right?
You have about 25 years of experience in the
industry? Yeah, 25 years experience. I started
my days back in the 1990s, mid to late 90s at
the Appraisal Institute, way back when. So it's
been a while. Getting closer to 30 than to 25
now. So kind of moving in that direction, I guess.
And you kind of stumbled into real estate and...
You know, the appraisal world, without really
knowing much or anything about it, was really
fortunate to have a great mentor who was at the
Appraisal Institute there, John Ross, sort of
take me under his wing, teach me about the industry
as a whole, a lot of things that were going on.
And still a number of the people who are in the,
like, I would say. More in the administrative
slash political world, like the appraisal subcommittee
and those sorts of folks, appraisal foundation
and other places. Though I was there, they're
still around and really enjoyed being on the
industry side of the business. And then kind
of transitioned over to be a commercial appraiser
myself, actually worked for Standard & Poor's,
doing commercial appraisals all around the world
on all kinds of different property types from
cell phone towers. department stores in Scandinavia
and everything in between. It was really, really
cool and was really trying to learn from really
smart people and enjoyed that time. Thought it
was a real thrill and was a young man, wasn't
married and got to travel the world doing appraisal
work. And it was fantastic. And then kind of
moved on to a couple of other things, really
moved on into the investment and development
side of the business, working for and public
and private REITs. Really enjoyed that as well.
Got exposed to kind of being on the decision
maker side of the business and was doing that
on the commercial real estate side for a couple
of decades. Went through the financial crisis
of 2008 and nine while being in the development
investment side, working on multifamily and retail
and office and hotel and you name it and all
of that sort of stuff and really enjoyed it.
Got exposed to every. thing, you know, again,
from like a whole foods to a high rise, you know,
apartment building to condos to hotels and try
to figure out what's, what makes these things
tick in different markets and how do we get better
running those businesses? How do we get better
in terms of investing in those businesses and
developing them? And then in around 2020, kind
of, you know, around COVID, you know, found another
transition and it was really, you know, it was
It was a really big year for everybody, obviously.
You know, nobody knew what the heck COVID was
like. Like, I don't know, months or years or
whatever the heck it was. It brings back some
PTSD. Absolutely. You know, right down our office,
I remember telling everybody, grab what you need,
go home and, you know, we'll see you when we
see you. And that turned out to be a long, long
time later. But then I also wound up transitioning
out of that job and kind of put myself into a
spot where I said, all right, well, now that
I got to make some changes, what do I do? And
was fortunate to spend like the summer months
of COVID in 2020. just kind of hanging out with
my boys. They didn't enjoy it because they had
to be with dad and mom. And they're like, we
can't hang out with their friends. And so, but
I was like, all right, let's go throw a baseball
around or let's go, you know, run around and,
you know, whatever. And that was cool. And so
it was, it was fun that that first year kind
of getting reacquainted with family and kind
of, you know, resetting to kind of basics. Oh,
for sure. I think we all felt that at some level.
And me and Schwartz have joked, you know, from
time to time about what all of that was at that
time. And I think real quick, you know, we had
a lot of appreciation for more time with the
kids, right? And then quickly determined that
we were not teachers and that we were not equipped
to do our job as well as a full -time teacher's
job. So in all that came with that. You're right.
It's what may have been months turns into years.
And it's just a blur and thankful that we now
are where we are and through the other side.
Right. So what are we thinking here? You want
to dive into 2023 here, Mr. Charlie? Yeah, let's
do it. Let's do it. So, you know, as we say,
it's a wrap. You know, 2023 is a wrap. Finally,
we're looking out at 24 and beyond. So I'm curious,
what are you most proud about? with Nationwide
as a whole since you've come on board. I mean,
obviously besides Value Nation, because we're
kind of a big deal for the company now. Right,
yeah. For me, there's, well, it's sort of two
things. So big picture, what I'll start with
is, so since I've sort of been on, what I've
been amazed about with Nationwide, with our organization
and our folks is, I feel like the team works
together, not so much for me or for anything
else, but. because we work for each other. So
a lot of times I see people working hard. So
Mike or Charlie, if you all have a client who
needs something and you're reaching out to ops
to go through it, they're doing that and trying
to take care of that work and maybe staying a
little longer or going the extra mile to ensure
the assignment was done properly. And they're
doing it because they're doing it for you all.
They're not doing it for me. They're not doing
it for the appraiser or the client or anything.
They're doing it because as a team, we really
sort of believe in each other and want to do
the right thing for each other and take care
of each other. And I've seen that time and time
again where folks go through the extra mile to
try to help each other out and pull each other
through any problems or difficulties and things
like that. Because life is, in my mind, it's
just problems you're solving. You know, there
is no good or bad. It's just things get thrown
at you. And, you know, how are you going to go
through and figure it out? And it's what you
make of it. And if you do something positive
with it, you find happiness and you find joy.
And if you let it continue to keep beating you
down, then that... takes over. So I think that
that's really the biggest theme that I saw, and
especially in 23, after two really, really brutal
years, in 23, you know, resilience, right? I
mean, when you're going through a year like 23,
and you're trying to talk to your client partners,
and you're trying to talk to appraisers, and
you're talking to each other every day. was just
bad news, right? Like, you know, you might go
through and do something positive and might have
been able to help somebody. But for every opportunity
that you had, you had, you wound up getting two
losses. You were already starting with a strike
or two against you before you even got to bat,
you know, and that's just the way it felt every
day. And a lot of times it was people were working
as hard as they could, doing everything they
could. And you hated seeing friends in the lending
space and friends in the... EMCs and appraisers
who went through and said, I just can't do this
anymore. I need to find something else or I've
got to find another opportunity or whatnot. And
we really, we lamented those losses. But what
was really amazing about our team was we kept
picking each other up. I mean, I can tell you
how many times I talked to you all or talked
to others in the company when I was like, gosh,
I don't know how much more I can take of this.
And somebody would would pump me up. And that
was fantastic. And so that's, I would say, the
biggest overall theme of 23 was resilience. Because
I think we knew as a company, and we looked at
2000 and 2008, and those companies who really
grew and were striving to get better, would come
out on the other side of those sorts of challenges
and those sorts of economies, which for us, 22
and 23, is certainly in our industry, one of
those economies, you definitely come out stronger.
And we saw stories of that. We really practiced
that and we reached. preached investing in ourselves.
And we did a number of those things. So for example,
we partnered with and acquired Integrity Appraisal
out of Texas. Sean Thompson has a phenomenal
business, really great reputation business, great
person, great team, brought them on. He brought
on a number of fantastic clients and actually
just through the end of the year, got them integrated,
got them fully integrated into our business,
got those folks on board. We're all working together
as one team. servicing those clients in the exact
same way we service all of our other clients.
And that was fantastic. And I was really thrilled
to go through and do that and make Texas our
number one volume state, which is phenomenal
considering how big of an opportunity it is and
what sort of things we can do for a lot of our
clients. We also are doing a few other things
where we had started innovating on some products
and started innovating. on some AI. I mean, one
in particular that we've started talking about,
but we are going to spend a lot of time on early
here in 2024 is a product on AI implementation
we're really, really proud of called Bioshield
that really helps clients with bias language
or language that Fannie and Freddie deems to
be problematic. Razel screens for all of that.
And depending on what clients want, we can do
so much more with that in terms of certain comp
review, reviewing for other QC items, and being
able to put that into our product offering. Something
we hadn't been able to do before. And on top
of which, we've actually gone through and done
some studies and some research. And we found
we can actually help clients reduce their underwriting
errors by nearly 20%. helps their throughput,
reduces the client cost, and really helps bring
together, you know, align our interests and the
client's interests very, very closely. So excited
about doing that and doing more of that in 24.
But those were some of the highlights. I mean,
before we go into, you know, the future, like
I know OneCharlie is being modest here, didn't
bring it up, but STR Pro, I mean, this is something
this guy has hands in. That's something else
that we rolled out here in 2023. Why don't you
let them know a little bit about that? Yeah,
so short -term rental pro, we had clients and
this is, Mike, you're absolutely right. It's
a huge credit to Charlie. This is a great example
of somebody on the front end of the business,
somebody who interacts with clients like Charlie
does on an hour in, hour out basis. And Charlie
was hearing from his clients, from his non -QM
clients, hey, I'm trying to figure out how to
get an appraisal done. on an Airbnb property
that has a unit or a couple of units and is trying
to figure out what to do. And there isn't a great
form for that. As we all know, Airbnb has been
around for a while. The rental thing has been
around for a little bit, even before COVID, but
absolutely exploded during COVID. And it's the
type of thing that really people were trying
to figure out, it's like, fine, we'll do a couple
of those loans a month. Two, we've got a lot
of them, right? And you're sometimes doing 10
or more a month. And some of the larger firms
are doing well more than that. And so we put
our heads together with our compliance team,
with our product development team, with our tech
team. and came up with a form that actually goes
through, can pull rent comps together, can allow
those qualified appraisers to go through and
put this product offering out there. So we've
had it put together. We can QC it and we can
provide it. and a good turn time and at a very
reasonable cost. So you can get that through.
And I think it actually helps when you package
that loan and you're selling it off to investors,
you now have an appraisal that backs that up
very well, is done by someone on a qualified
basis, gives you all the information you're looking
for, and allows somebody to be able to underwrite
that loan, both from an internal perspective,
obviously, which clients do, but also externally
from a third party where you can verify the rent
comps and the income stream and really pull that
together. And I think that that's a huge credit
to Charlie. And we're actually exploring a number
of solutions like that going forward in 24. Yeah,
I'm with you. It definitely attributed to some
of the gray hairs that I have on my head, but
it's definitely near and dear to my heart. A
lot of my clients. And partners utilize the short
-term rental, you know, set in those loan programs.
So I'm glad that we were able to get it off the
ground and running. And then we found that, you
know, it wasn't entirely all on the form, although
that was what was really needed to streamline
and create one presentation. Figuring out the
data sets and where they were getting the data
from and helping kind of streamline that selection
process as well, which goes back to our team.
navigating all the different platforms and trying
to help these appraisers come up with the best
process, right? And the most consistent process.
Yeah. And, you know, another example of that
that we did early in the year was As Ace Plus
PDRs and as alternative products start to take
more hold within the lending community, we really
made a commitment to bringing in -house process,
technology, talent. We brought in -house Mike
Kirk, who I know you all have had on the podcast,
who is an industry veteran, has been around for
decades, much like myself, and really knows the
space and was one of the first developers of
forms like this going back over a decade, creating
those proprietary forms that are better than
what's out there. And it really addresses the
client needs because Mike was a client. He was
a chief appraiser for a bank. He was the end
user and said, this is what I want. Here's my
specs. Here's what I'm looking for. So we really
went through and said, okay, let's find out what
the client actually wants and build a product
that meets that expectations as opposed to a
form is a form. Let's give it to them. Let's
hope it works. we're working on getting more
people to see what those opportunities look like.
But I think those clients who've been working
with us on this stuff are finding that. On the
underwriting side, as well as from an investment
perspective, having those products as part of
their package when they're sending out those
loan pools, that really makes a big difference.
It really helps for investors to take a look
and understand what they're getting. And I think
that that's been really useful and meaningful
for folks. And that's what we're most proud of
is helping our clients be better at what they
do and having products that separate them from
everybody else that's out there. Awesome. Awesome.
Building towards the future, baby. Peer it into
the eye, you know, looking ahead in that crystal
ball 2024. What are you most looking forward
to us as a company? You know, maybe not necessarily.
get as far out as market, but Nationwide as a
company, what are you most looking forward to
here in this coming year? Well, yep, Mike, really
good question. And, you know, I think from my
perspective, we kind of start with whenever we
think about what do we want to do with Nationwide,
as you all know, we have a strategic planning
process. We have an annual planning process and
we do that every year. And we bring the best
and the brightest in our organization together
to sit down and talk about that. That's where
we start with all of this. And every time we
start with that, our first thing. Before we think
about what are we going to do, we always try
to spend time understanding what is the client
going to do? What are our clients, what are our
client partners going to go through and do? What's
their process? And one of the big things I think
we were really talking about is that the clients
are consolidating. There's a huge trend out there
towards client consolidation. That's already
happened that I think is going to continue to
happen. And as we were talking about earlier
in the show, those... teams and those groups
who have invested themselves and have strengthened
themselves will absolutely grow tremendously
as the market starts to come back because they
made the investment, they made the sacrifice,
and that will absolutely pay dividends. I'm a
big believer in that. And so we're really proud
of those relationships. But what's also happening
with clients as this consolidation is happening,
the relationships between the AMCs and the client.
are also changing. Where those relationships
are occurring are changing. Sometimes, you know,
earlier on in the industry, much of that was
occurring somewhat at the local level, branch
level, things of that nature. Now, more and more
of those relationships are happening at a corporate
level, especially because one, they have to because
the companies are getting bigger and there's
other things going on. As that's occurring, what
we're also seeing is that the client demands
are changing. In particular, what they're looking
at is the compliance laws are really, you know,
they only go up. Right. Yeah. In our industry,
you know, whether it's mortgage, mortgage regulation,
appraisal regulation, you know, whatever you
want to talk about service regulation, the laws
never go away or they never get smaller. They
only add to them. They only add the burdens and
the requirements on there. Right. So you just
go through it's like, OK, well, you did these
25 things. Now let's add, you know, another 15.
And it's just every year they keep piling and
piling and piling and piling. And then, you know,
that's. we're at. And we're certainly in that
type of environment right now. And last year
was a great indicator of what we're seeing on
there. We're seeing agencies like CFPB and others
have focus on not only the mortgage industry,
but also the appraisal industry. So we're seeing
them go through and show up in different ways.
In some instances, I think this is actually a
good thing because it weeds out and gets rid
of players who really are are probably not helping
their clients and are, are not doing, uh, things
in a proper way and, or maybe, you know, shortchanging
them instead of going through and saying, hey,
we have to do the tough thing that will get you
where you need to go in the long run. And let's
solve for all of that. So I think that was a
big trend. Another big trend that I think that
was kind of interesting. I mean, there's a lot
of these companies or what I like to call tech
bros that were out there that kept talking like
a big game for years. And, you know, hey, we're
going to revolutionize the mortgage service industry.
We're going to revolutionize the AMC space. And
we're going to change everything about appraisals
and go through and do all of that. And I think
we saw that leading up to COVID and even in the
middle of COVID, you just had to slap a fancy
logo and a fancy name and people threw money
at you as a tech company. And we've seen it where
a couple of years later, a lot of those people
are gone and a new set of groups are coming up
and people are trying to figure out what do they
do? And clients are starting to figure out, well,
wait a second, their promises are one thing.
and their deliverables are two completely different
things. And what's interesting is they did do
a lot of good things because they pushed a lot
of folks who've been in the industry like ourselves
that have been around for a long time to innovate.
We as an industry, honestly, we need to innovate.
I think that that's a huge thing. Another big
trend for us this last year going into this year
and more, I think in 24, is there's going to
continue to be fewer and larger AMCs. of it is,
as I said, just because scale does matter as
your clients get bigger, they just don't have
time or need or desire to be dealing with 20
AMCs. That's just not going to be what they want
to do. And so it's hard to go through and say,
hey, I'm going to maintain a nice little regional
firm or shop and do that for my few select clients.
You can do that for so long until that's just
not sustainable anymore. So that's another huge
trend that I think is going to continue. in 24.
So, you know, for me, the bottom line in 24 is,
you know, innovate and grow or die. I think it's
as simple as that. If we don't do that, which
I know we are, and I'm very proud of what we're
doing there, we won't be where we want to be
and where our clients want us to be, where our
appraiser, you know, vendor team wants us to
be and needs us to be to sort of keep them doing
the things in the most optimum way that they
can. We spend as much time thinking about what
the client needs as we do about what the appraiser
needs and how can they best be serviced through
this platform and what we try to put forward.
So I think we're going to be seeing, I think
clients are going to be seeing more product offerings
from us this year. They're going to be seeing
changes in our technology and our delivery from
us this year. They're going to be seeing more
operational innovation from us this year that
will allow us to deliver. things on a quicker
basis. And so those things are going to be what
we're going to be looking for as we continue
to go through and grow and be further out there.
We're going to continue to look for merger and
acquisition opportunities. We're going to continue
to look to grow with partners. One of the things
we've been very fortunate and we've been very
deliberate about is not about growth or partnering
or acquiring AMCs just to acquire them, we are
very, very keen on finding the right partners
because we want to bring people into our team
and our culture and our overall ecosystem. And
we want to make sure the clients are happy, the
team is happy, and that we can grow together.
And what we say, we believe in, and we will tell
you, we stick to our words and we're big, big
believers in that. And that comes directly from
me and everybody on our team believes in keeping
our word. Yeah. I'll say the acquisitions over
the last couple of years, you and the rest of
the executive team have done a fantastic job
of picking the companies with the right culture
that match well. It's not easy. You know, when
you get to a size like us and like competitors
elsewhere, they're trying to do similar things.
So, you know, hats off to you guys for that.
I know it's not an easy job and the integration
piece is not an easy job. And it's exciting,
I think, from a sales side that. you know we
want to continue down that path and uh continue
to grow it was mike moore and alluded to earlier
like we're all in uh from a sales team like that's
that's where we're going in 24 and that's with
you know through acquisitions and innovation
um and everything you've mentioned uh it's an
exciting place to be at nationwide you know as
we as we look forward whatever the market does
is going to do and we're going to do whatever
we can to give our our lender partners uh a better
value add, if you will, you know, in what they're
doing. Yeah. Our job is to be a value to our
partners. That's it. That's what we want to do.
We want to go through and create value for them.
In whatever way we can, in their underwriting
process, in their origination process, in whatever
it is that we need to do, that's where we're
going to go through and try to support all of
our partners in that way. We want appraisers
who want to work with us because we're efficient.
Those are all things that we continue to strive
for. And we don't have all the right answers,
but I'll guarantee you we'll listen and we will
keep chipping away at everything every year,
day in and day out. I think that's the difference
with what we're doing is that we're asking and
proactively asking and listening to what they
need. And like you said already, it's both sides
of the coin. It's the appraiser and the lender,
right? And we're trying to bring together one
solution that works for both sides. You know,
just going back to the STR form, that's one thing
we had to do that was talk to both sides and
figure out what made the most sense. to give
everybody more or less what they needed. But
listening and hearing what they need is going
to be how we're going to remain successful, I
think. Absolutely. That's awesome. Are you ready
for Rapid Rush Request? Yeah, let's do it. Is
it that time? It's about that time of the hour.
Is it that time? I think that took it easy on
you here. All right, so Rapid Rush Request, thank
you very much, sir. Short answers, as short as
possible. Okay. But obviously, if you feel like
you need to elaborate, we're never going to stop
you because, you know. No worries. Sometimes
things get in the way of scheduling appraisals,
so sometimes things get in the way of a quick
answer. Starting off here, Apple or Android?
Apple. 100%. No, nothing further needed. See
you, Charlie. This year's Super Bowl, who's winning?
I'm going to have to go with the Ravens. Figured.
Figured. Figured. So, two -part question. Favorite
golf course you've ever played and your dream
golf course to play that you have not yet. Had
the pleasure of attending. Wow. Really, really
great question. Well, I'll answer the second
part first. Would want to play Augusta. Have
never played Augusta. Favorite golf course that
I played would probably have to be, oh, would
have to be Black Wolf Run in Kohler, Wisconsin.
It's a bit of an older cloak course, but it was
right next to where they had one of the Ryder
Cups, the U .S. Opens, a while ago. And it's
a Pete Dye design, just beautiful. What was the
hardest course you took at MIT? Well, the hardest
course I took at MIT was urban economics taught
by the great Bill Wheaton. So Bill Wheaton was
of Toro Wheaton fame. He's a real estate economist,
much like Case Schiller. Those were two professors
from Penn or from Wharton, I should say. And
so Bill Wheaton and Ray Toro were two very famous
economists. And they taught me something about
real estate that I didn't even know was real.
And that was a lot of fun. It was hard. It was
a lot of math. It was a lot of learning things
that. I just had never tried, never even knew
about. That's sweet. That's cool. That's awesome.
Speaking of MIT, though, can you count cards?
I can count cards up to a point. And that point
is after my second drink. I can't do it. All
right. A couple more here. Just a couple more.
Yeah. Your dream foursome on the golf course.
My dream foursome on the golf course. Tiger,
my brother, and my oldest son. Yeah. Is your
brother as good as you? My brother is a one handicap.
Oh, gosh. So he's really good. Sure. You're like,
oh, this is demoralizing for me. Yeah, exactly.
I'm like, I need 260 just to get to the fairway.
Let's do here. Who is the one member of the sales
staff, if you have to really narrow it down?
One member of the sales staff who has caused
you the most gray slash lost hairs? over the
past couple of years you've been here. Oh, man.
This is the tea right here. You had to know I
was going here. Yeah. Well, I'll go with your
boss, Mike Moore. Yes. Let's throw him under
the bus. I like the cut. I'm good. I like that.
I like that a lot. We don't need to go into why,
but Michael, you know. No, no. We all know. You
know, Michael. You know. All right. And we're
going to close out with this. Why Nationwide
in 2024 and moving forward? Why Nationwide? Elevator
pitch. Why Nationwide? Because I think we focus
on doing the right things for our clients. You
can't always just say, hey, we'll do whatever
you want. And man, is that a hard thing to be
able to explain? You know, when a client says,
just do it this way and call it a day and move
on. and to try to explain, hey, here's a better
solution for you, and to try to have a little
bit of a longer conversation takes a lot of effort.
And eventually, I find, though, and I think our
team does a great job of getting there, we push
to do the right thing for the client. So that's
the single biggest thing. The second thing is
innovation. If you're not partnering with folks
who are going to take care of you and who aren't
going to move with you forward, They shouldn't
be your partners. So that's why Nationwide, because
our goal isn't to be the best provider for you
today, but to grow with you and be the best provider
that's going to move you into a place you don't
even know exists or you don't even know you needed.
So that's our job is to is to make you better,
even though you don't even realize what you need.
Awesome. I'm in there. I'm sold. Very well said.
Very well said. Yeah. Yeah. Is that your last
one? Yeah, that was it. That was it. That's it.
You have survived the rapid rush request. We
got the report on time. Awesome. Awesome. Hey,
well, I appreciate you guys having me on the
podcast. This is fun. This is pretty cool. I
definitely want to do it again. Hopefully it
won't take another year. Maybe you guys can find
some time in your busy schedules. to squeeze
me in. We'll have death schedules preformed.
Keep hearing it. You know what? I'll, I'll, I'll
find, I'll find Jordan or I'll find Mike and
I'll, I'll, I'll Mike more and I'll see if I
can't twist their arm. There you go. Have your,
have your people call our people. We'll get it
worked out. Oh, really, really appreciate you
taking the time with us today. I think a lot
of great info. just about for all the listeners,
right? Where we've been, where we're going, and
what we hope to be able to provide to anyone
we're not working with already. So with that,
that's a wrap for episode numero uno for 2024.
Schwartz, we've made it a long way. I'm really
proud of ourselves. Yeah, is this the third calendar
year we've been doing this? Because didn't this
start in 2022? I guess, technically. Didn't it?
Yeah, technically. And we haven't been shut down
yet. I don't even know how that's possible. Sri's
made it. Now that he's on it, I think, well,
we'll see where this goes from now. Shut us down
now that you're part of the problem. Yeah, as
long as I go viral, we're good. In a good way.
So for all you faithful out there, ValuNation
Podcast, we appreciate you listening. Make sure
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Oh, yeah, and YouTube to see Schwartz's outfit
of the day. That's true. Don't forget that one.
You might see.