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Feb. 1, 2024 - Blood Money
48:00
Lamborghinis, Private Jets, and my Journey to Wealth with Steve Currington
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Welcome to the latest episode of Blood Money Today.
Today I have a very special guest, Steve Currington.
How are you doing, sir? I'm awesome, man.
Well, I'm great.
I'm great. Very nice to have you on the Blood Money Podcast.
You know, Steve and I met actually at the Clay Clark Business Conference in Oklahoma about a month ago.
And, you know, Steve is uber successful, very, very much has a way of doing things in terms of entrepreneurship, in terms of just a model on life.
And we're going to just dive into it and see what has been going on with Steve.
How are you doing, sir? What is going on in your world right now?
Oh, I'm just sitting here in Oklahoma in the cold, wishing I was in a warmer client like Las Vegas.
You know, when we were talking about this episode, I was like, hey, what should we talk about?
And we went through all sorts of topics.
The thing that was like really sounding sexy to me was like Lambos, boats, planes.
I mean, like just, you know, this James Bond picture you just painted me.
You know, tell me a little bit about that.
I mean, is that part of your lifestyle?
I mean, what's, you know, tell us a little bit about what you got going on.
Yeah, I kind of figured out over time, like, one that I'm not really good with...
I'm a very addictive personality.
So I better pick some good things to be addicted to.
So I did learn that alcohol is really not my thing.
So in 2016, I quit drinking.
And then I had to find a positive vice.
So I got into exotic cars.
So my first real cool car was...
I owned a Lambo before, but it was in like a...
An 06 Lamborghini Gallardo, but I really got into Lambos and Bentleys and Rolls and all that stuff in 2016 when I quit drinking.
So I had to find something positive to get addicted to, and then I added airplanes to that when COVID happened, and we were having all kinds of travel issues, as I'm sure most people experience, you know, having to wear a mask on the airplane and through the airport and all that stuff.
So I just... Kind of found through a lot of hard work and understanding and consulting and coaching that I like to fly by and drive.
And so basically everything that I work, I work seven days a week and I work from the time I get up till the time I go to bed.
And when I do things that are fun, I fly by and drive.
So I love going to Miami and going to Givenchy and getting me a nice...
$1,000 sweatshirt, hoodie.
And I love going to Dallas and going to the Louis store.
And I love, you know, just flying around, driving my cars.
We did that this weekend for New Year's Eve.
Went to Dallas, hopped in the Rolls Royce, ran around.
So that's kind of a thing. I got my airplane back here when I'm not flying.
I feel like I get this thing out here.
I just sit in my office and fly my model everything around.
Woo! Like I'm in the Bahamas.
Yeah, look, I'm in the Bahamas.
So yeah, so that's my thing.
I like, you know, I do mortgages full time.
I'm a mortgage lender is kind of my main business.
And my shtick has always been that I just try to bring Fun to a not so fun process because most people would rather get kicked right in the face than talk to a lender.
And so we just try to make it more fun and bring a little joy to people when they're going through the process.
So let me ask you, what do you attribute?
I'm sure there's many reasons, but I mean, you're very successful, it sounds like.
It sounds like you've been successful for a while.
I'd love to know, like, when was it that you realized, hey, I'm successful?
Like, I could buy myself Lamborghini or Lamborghinis.
And tell me about the journey of getting there, like how you got to that point.
I mean, I struggled for a long time because I just didn't realize what vices I had.
You know, I got in the mortgage business in 05, but I didn't really see massive success until after I quit drinking because I didn't realize at the time that it was Kind of a thing that was limiting my ability.
You know, I don't like to, like, label myself that I was an alcoholic, you know?
But because I didn't, like, you know, wake up and drink whiskey or, you know, get up and have a beer next to the bed or anything like that.
I just did it socially and I just, you know, some people will have, like, four beers or a beer and I would just have all of them or I would have, you know, like...
I'm just too much.
I guess I'm an addictive personality.
So if I had one, I would have 16.
So I think for me, whenever I got to the point where I could focus and not have a negative vice that's restricting me, then I did really well.
And I started coaching. I've had a business coach since 2008, Dr.
Steve Green, who was the Dean of the Business School at ORU, which is the Oral Roberts University here in Tulsa, the Christian College, was my coach from like 08 to 15.
He moved to Florida and went to work for a Christian magazine called Charisma.
And then we were just in different states, and just at the time, technology isn't what it is now, and we didn't really have a We always met in person, so it's tough.
So then I started coaching with Clay in December of 15.
And then it was in June of 16 that I actually went to Vegas for a mortgage conference and played craps till 7 a.m.
the first night I got there and lost a bunch of money and woke up at 8 p.m.
the next day in my hotel room with like 300 emails and 35 missed calls and I was like, what are you doing?
So I just said, I'm going to quit.
That was June 6, 2016.
And so from then, I would say to answer your question in a long way is when I really started seeing my career kind of launch.
I mean, I did well before then, but, you know, there's a big difference between making two or three or four hundred thousand a year and then making Over millions a year.
And I've diversified a little bit.
I'm in several different businesses that I have, some that are connected to mortgage, some that aren't.
And so, but it was that, for me, if you're that person that has that addictive personality, I had to find a Positive advice, something that was good for me.
And for me, it was cars. And surprisingly, I didn't get any trouble when I was drinking.
I never got any DUIs.
I never got anything. I've met more police officers and had more negative interactions just because I have a Lamborghini.
And half the time, I just get pulled over because of the car or someone said they heard it or it was loud or whatever.
So it's kind of interesting how that works, right?
I got a positive advice, never got in trouble before.
And then now I'm famous for getting pulled over.
Wow. It's amazing.
When I asked you about your successes, I mean, you quickly started talking about what had stopped you from your success, which is the drinking.
I mean, you know, when did you kind of make that a part of your story?
Because it is a very powerful testimonial.
And the second part of that question is, how do you find it is the strength?
Because I actually have a couple of friends that are wonderful people that are also Christian, that I have that issue and it really does kind of color their lives in negative ways.
So how do you find that strength to actually get off of, you know, alcohol and what it was doing to you?
For me, it was just a decision.
I mean, there was no like strength involved.
I just like thought, why am I spending Money to go get personal development and go to a conference that's supposed to help me and benefit me.
And then I get hammered drunk and don't remember what I did the night before and lose a bunch of money.
It's just ignorant.
At the time, the company that I worked for, I was a minority partner in a regional mortgage company.
And one of our partners had been sober for 20 plus years.
So I just called him and I said, Hey, I think I'm gonna quit drinking.
And he said, I think it's a great idea.
And so I just quit. Now, how I, like I said, I didn't really find the strength, but what I learned very quickly is that I had to divorce a lot of friends.
So I had to like, a lot of the people that I hung out with and a lot of the places that I went, I just had to stop.
So I used to pull out of my office and I could either turn left and go home or I could turn right and go to Ridge Grill.
And that was my entire focus for a long time.
I was like, turn left, turn left, turn left, just go home, go home, turn left.
And I would say, Vim, once I got six months of not drinking, it's never really been an issue.
I don't really have a desire.
It's not like I'm over here feeling for getting alcohol.
It doesn't bother me. But what I did, to give you a pro tip, When I would go to social events, people are a-holes, you know, just they are.
So if you are a person who drinks or has drank or hung out with people that drinks and it's part of your social thing that you're doing and then you stop, there will be a lot of people, if you're at an event and you're not drinking, that they'll be like, bro, what's the problem, man? Why aren't you drinking? Come on, man, have a beer, have a drink, have a drink, have a drink.
And that's why I say they're a-holes because instead of supporting your choice to not drink or to be sober or whatever it is, whether it's a life decision or you're just not going to drink that night, people are just weird like that.
They'll just be like encouraging you to do something that you've already decided you're not going to do, right?
And so what I did for several months is I would just go to the bar and get a tonic with limes in a cocktail glass with a straw.
And I would just drink that. And people just assumed that it was like vodka or whatever.
So I just didn't have to, once I started getting that a lot, then I just was like, can I get some tonic water with some limes?
And then I would just drink it and no one would ask.
And then they just assumed that I was getting drunk.
And then the other thing that really helped me is when I, in those early months, I was still kind of hanging out and doing some of those things.
People are annoying when they're drunk.
And I just can't stand it.
It's like, I was like, don't want to be around.
Anybody that's drinking.
For me, I share a lot on social media, but I mostly share, you know, Facebook and Instagram is like a highlight reel, right?
So they tell you, be careful because you're looking at someone's highlight reel and you're not seeing like the bad stuff that's happening.
And so I think for my own benefit, I started like sharing on Facebook and Specifically, like, hey, I'm six months sober.
And I got like a lot of people that messaged me or reacted to it or said like, congrats and me too.
And I've been sober for 90 days or I've been sober for 30 days.
And I had all these people reaching out and saying the same thing.
You're asking me, how'd you quit drinking?
I want to quit drinking. And so when I realized that I was like, wow, the problems that a lot of times I think we think are like our problem that's singular to us are actually more common than we think, right?
So when I started kind of putting that out there and saying, hey, I'm sober this long, sober this long, I had so many people that were reaching out and saying, I want to not drink.
I want to be sober. I want all these things that you're talking about.
And I realized that I could actually make a Positive impact on some people just by sharing that part of my life and sharing that story, even though it wasn't highlight reel, even though it wasn't like, this is so cool, look what I've done.
And the really cool thing, Vim, is over the years, I've had, I can't even count the number of people That have seen my story and decided to stop drinking.
The girl that cut my hair for a long time, her and her husband, both are clean and sober now.
My friend Jeremy, who's over in Bentonville, him and his wife, he just hit his five-year anniversary on January 1st of this year.
He just shared it.
Him and his wife both, just as a family, decided to stop drinking.
It's helped him tremendously.
It's helped his business tremendously.
And I could just sit here for the next...
45 minutes and just start, I can go through my Instagram and Facebook messages and just show you all the messages from people that are like, hey man, thanks for sharing your story.
I'm like one day sober, you know, or I'm one week sober, I'm one month sober.
And so I get to then encourage them and say, hey, congrats, keep it up.
You know the other thing that's cool? I did not realize how many people don't drink.
There's so many people that don't drink, but when you're a lush, drunk, going to the bar every night like I was, all you see is the drunk people.
All you see is those people.
But when you end up running in different circles and you realize that My entire day at every event and anything that I went to was like, hey, when's the bar open?
Let's go get a drink, right? And when I started to not drink and I started to hang out with those people that weren't drinking, I realized there's so many people.
In fact, a lot of really successful people.
A lot of really successful business people, especially with exotic cars, because when I got my Lambo, my first brand new Lamborghini Huracan that I bought in 2017, I met a bunch of people.
And my friend James that I met doesn't drink.
Never drank ever in his life.
I think his dad or brother or somebody who was an alcoholic, so he just doesn't drink.
My friend who's a doctor, Frank, doesn't drink.
If he does, it'll be like...
Once a year kind of thing.
Most of the people that were at our little club that we kind of started here in Tulsa that were car people, that were driving Porsches and McLarens and Lamborghinis.
We do let Ferraris in sometimes, even though it's frowned upon.
All of those guys, a lot of them just don't drink.
It doesn't really mesh well anyway with driving fast, exotic cars and drinking because you're getting attention anyway.
You're probably going to Maybe get pulled over and then be drunk and DUI. But it was interesting to see once you quit drinking and once you stop hanging around in the circles of people that drink, there's a whole other world of people that just don't drink.
And it's literally not even become...
My wife's never been a big drinker anyway, so we have alcohol in our house.
I never really drank wine or champagne or anything.
That's pretty much what she drinks.
But we have date night on Tuesdays, and she'll have a glass of wine or a vodka drink.
Vanilla vodka and Sprite.
That's like her drink. And that's it.
If it was me, then I would have all of the vanilla vodka and Sprite.
I started out doing vodka with lime juice and tonic water to vodka with that lime juice and To putting limes in vodka, you know? And then I went from that to like Crown, and then I would drink Crown.
And my favorite place, Ridge Grill, Sammy, the bartender, great guy.
They would order maple crown, and they would take a piece of their candied maple bacon from the kitchen that they put on burgers, and they would put it in my glass of crown.
I had like a candied maple bacon crown.
It was amazing. But you know what?
It tasted really good, so I drink a lot of them.
I go back there occasionally, and here's what's funny.
If I go back to any of the places I hung out around, At 9 o'clock, you know, cool bar time.
All the same people. It's like a blast from the past.
It's like the same people sitting at the same spot in the bar, drinking the same drink.
And I think two or three years after I quit going to Ridge Grill, I went in there for a steak and just sat at the bar because I knew Sammy.
And he pulled that bottle of Maple Crown.
He goes, I still have this. You're the only one that ever drank it.
And it was like that way full because, you know, whatever time I decided to quit, he just ordered another bottle.
And then he's like, you know, like three years and no one drinks Maple Crown.
And I'm like, sorry, bro.
So anyway, that's been my experience with it.
So. Well, you had mentioned, I mean, I could see, by the way, why people are gravitating towards your story because you are a very kind of approachable dude.
And I think there's a kind of, you know, even though you're very successful, there is that you're like a regular dude, you know what I mean?
And if you could do it, I think a lot of people say, you know what, why can't I? Especially if it's going to lead to like me being successful, more focused, better person.
Yeah. Yeah, so people are assholes.
Let's talk about that a little bit.
I mean, at the Clay Clark Business Conference, one of the things I really liked is really like this, Clay and you, pretty much all the business people that were out there have a very cynical attitude in terms of the expectations from people, expectations from employees, you know, just idea of like, people are assholes.
Talk a little bit about that in terms of, you know, Building this business, how hard was it for you in terms of the people mechanism?
And what could you tell to somebody that is trying to build their own kingdom and, you know, little empire on how to proceed with building those relationships?
Well, I think I'm probably less cynical than Clay, but I would just say that You know, it's not easy to build anything, really.
And like you said, people are assholes.
They just are. And I'm not picking on anyone.
But I value genuine people over anything.
I just don't like fake.
I'm just like, be who you are, whoever that is.
Unless you're like a child molester and a rapist, don't be that person.
But whoever you are, just be you.
Be the genuine person that you are because I appreciate that.
I think a lot of people appreciate that.
And don't try to be somebody else.
That is not a license to be a total jerk to people and to treat people like crap and to talk bad about people or to do things that...
Aren't the right thing to do, right?
But I would just say, be genuine.
Just be who you are.
Because I think I am who I am.
Not everybody likes me. But in my market, just if you look at Tulsa alone, if I'm a mortgage lender and half of the people despise me, there's 50% of people that now are my market that I can market to.
And I think if I'm really, really, really amazing and I dominate I might pick up 10% of the market share in a market like this.
So if 50% of the people don't like me, big deal, because I'll take 10% of the 50% to do, right?
And I think people appreciate someone who's just genuine, who's just who they are.
And so as it comes to building a team and hiring people and firing people and growing a business, I follow a lot of Clay's principles, which, honestly, a lot of them come out of one of my favorite books, which might be back here because we train on it every week.
I gave a copy away.
But The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, and it talks about the Dream 100, which we do religiously, and then you heard at the conference, the group interview.
And so we're constantly hiring.
We're constantly interviewing. I've got someone coming in on Friday to shadow.
We don't always do a group interview only when we are hiring or have a position.
We're just always looking to add talented people to our team.
And what that does for me is it allows me to not be dependent On a person.
Because what I've found is people take care of themselves and I can't fault them for that.
Okay? So if someone no longer fits within the company or like, you know, we grow to a certain level that they just kind of can't keep up and that happens.
Okay? And they move on.
Okay? That might put me in a bad position, you know, a burden on me or a burden on my team because we have this person that handled a certain responsibility that's not there anymore.
So I'm not necessarily cynical about it.
I'm just kind of real world about it.
The real world is someone might quit tomorrow and they might be upset or there might be like a family event that happens or a sickness or like a, you know, they're moving away or something like that happens that might be completely unrelated to Them liking their job or fitting in with our team.
And I don't want to be in a position where I'm desperate to hire someone because they've got to fill a position.
So we're just constantly upgrading our talent.
We're constantly looking for new people to come on.
We're slow to hire.
We're quick to fire. And I just have kind of the attitude that I'm here running my business, but I can't really expect anyone that works here to care as much about my business as I do.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
It's not their business. It's just how human nature is.
They might be a really good team member or a really good employee, do their job, do all that stuff, but they're just not going to care as much as I do.
So all of my businesses that I have are very systematized in their approach to everything.
So we have processes, we have systems, we have training, we have things that are in place so that someone does leave.
I have a roadmap for the next person that comes in or I've got people because I'm interviewing all the time.
I've got people waiting in the wings that I've kind of talked to and vetted and I think might be a good fit, but maybe the timing isn't right for the ever me.
And then when the timing is right, I have that spot open or maybe I want to make a position because they're so amazing.
That's happened before. Then I've got that person to go in there and do that.
But I'm probably the cynical one that says I I don't really count on depending on anyone else.
Even with my right hand, I call my work wife, Casey, who's here at the office now.
We have a meeting every morning at 7.15 Central Time.
And we have an agenda. And we go through the agenda, and it has the action items that we have to cover every single day.
And we do that because we don't want to drift.
And if I didn't do that, Casey's great.
She's worked with me since 2016.
She's amazing at her job.
She probably has a job of five people.
But if I didn't meet with her every day at 715 and go over that agenda and go through those things, many of those things that we go over would just drift.
They just would because employees respect what you inspect.
And I have a very great relationship with everybody that works on my team.
And in that relationship, there's this understanding.
And the understanding is, I got to run a business.
And I think you're great.
And I love that you work here and you're doing your job.
And to the extent that that continues, everything's awesome.
But I will support you in every way that I can.
And if you don't do your job, I will also fire you very quickly.
And I will not feel bad about it.
Because if you don't do your job, I have a responsibility to my customers, my referral partners, to my family, to all the mouths I'm responsible for feeding to make sure that the job gets done.
And if you're not doing it, it's not anything personal.
It's just like, hey, love you, but you got to go because it just it doesn't work.
And so we have that relationship.
I say that and I don't really take it lightly.
I just say that, hey, I love you.
I think you're great. And I will absolutely fire you and not feel bad about it.
If you don't do your job.
Now, that doesn't mean that if Casey misses something that I'm in here ranting and throwing crap and saying you're fired.
But, you know, a battery of issues start happening and then we're gonna have a discussion about it and then the next time it's just gonna be move on.
So that's kind of how I handle the The hiring, the firing, the growing, and a lot of that stuff I learned from Clay and through the coaching process with him.
Most of the things that Clay's taught me, I didn't implement immediately.
And then when I did, I was like, why didn't you do that like a long time ago?
You know what I mean? Getting the buy-in.
You've known Clay for a while, and tell me a little bit about one of the most critical things you've learned.
You've talked about some of them, but what are the list of critical things you think will actually change the course of your business in terms of profitability, growth?
Probably a lot of the marketing pieces, so I didn't really have a presence.
I mean, when I got in the business, I thought it was weird as a lender that the entire strategy, if you're a lender, was to go buy donuts and coffee and snacks and lunches and happy hours for real estate agents so they would refer you to business.
And no offense to any real estate agent that's currently watching this, but there's 7,000 agents just in Tulsa.
We're a million person, like our metros.
There are a million people. There's 7,000 real estate agents.
10% of them do it for a living.
Not bad people, but they're like a soccer mom.
Kids are grown in high school and they get their license and they sell one house a year or zero.
And I was like, why am I going to the masses and going to these 400 real estate agent Keller Williams office and buying donuts so that I could try to get One of the agents that might sell a house this month to refer me to business.
I want to go get the customer that needs the mortgage first, get them pre-approved with me, and then refer them to an agent that's full-time that I have experience with that does a good job, right?
So that was kind of my goal when I got the business in 2005.
and i did a decent job but mostly what i was doing them is just buying like i was running google ads and i was doing that so i would rank top at google and one of the biggest things i learned from clay was the value of reviews and so right now we're sitting at 800 reviews it's one of the things i track every day uh we were at 801 uh two days ago but google audits them sometimes and you lose reviews so we just constantly try to get three and expect we're gonna Maybe have two stick.
So in our Tulsa office, we're the highest and most reviewed lender within probably 500 miles.
The closest competitor is probably less than half of where we're at in reviews.
And because of that, I'm at the top of Google and Clay's helped me build a canonically compliant website that's on WordPress that Google likes.
And then they write SEO content for me.
And for a couple of years when I started out, I recorded my own podcast and I transcribed all the content from that podcast.
I made it to articles and we optimized it for search engine for Tulsa Mortgage so that I would rank for that.
And so those are two, the Google listing and then the search engine stuff that I've done with Clay has helped me tremendously because now I probably have more video reviews than any lender in Oklahoma or any state that touches it.
I have more Google reviews than any.
And when people call me, I don't have to sell.
They're just saying, hey, found you on Google, read some of your reviews.
Turns out people think you're amazing.
I need a mortgage.
I'm like, awesome.
I'd love to do your mortgage.
So that's probably the biggest thing.
Single item that I've learned from Clay and his team.
And the key to it is the consistency.
Because you can't just focus on getting reviews in January, or February, or April, or June, or December.
You have to focus on it every day.
So it's on our agenda. And every day, it has a date, and it has how many reviews that we're at.
And then I have a giant hammer, a virtual hammer, that I swing at Casey's head.
And I'm like, get more reviews!
And then when I feel like we're not getting the reviews, then I will reach out to the clients myself and I'll say, hey, you told Casey to give us a review, but you haven't yet.
Love you. Please leave us a review.
So we're kind of like a little bit crazy and addicted to it.
So we just want to make sure that we have that opportunity to get that review from every single customer if we can get it.
And that's made a massive, massive difference in our business.
So... You know, let's talk a little bit about, you know, obviously with the Clay Conference, there was a lot of talk about God and morality and, you know, just having kind of the right outlook on life.
Tell me a little bit about your relationship with God, if you don't mind talking about that.
You went to Christian school.
I mean, how does that play into just your daily of who you are and how you act, react to the world and do business?
I'm probably more cynical than most when it comes to that.
I grew up as a preacher's kid.
My dad was great. He was the associate pastor of a big church in Houston.
I was in church every single time the doors were open from the time I was born until even all the way through high school.
I don't hate church or anything like that.
I have a great relationship with God.
I just don't like the direction that the commercial church has gone to.
You probably know this.
They're just businesses. People figured out that they can run a business where...
Could I make a quick little thing here?
This is just a little shameless plug about a post that I did, but I felt very strongly about it.
I'm just going to throw this out at you.
I was hanging out with a friend of mine who was actually a Scientologist, and we had a deep eight-hour conversation.
After that conversation, I actually made this post.
And I think I made this post because I was so critical about other Christian church and the leaders of the Christian church, stating that one of the best Christians I met this year is a Scientologist.
That was my statement. Because everything that came out of his mouth was so Christian, so much more Christian than what the Christian pastors were telling me.
Who a lot of the time, I mean, I don't even know what they're talking about because they're talking about a vengeful, nasty God, not love thy neighbor.
But, you know, sorry to interrupt.
You just wanted to throw that in there. No, no, you're good.
Like, I joke about it.
Today I had a guy come in to the office that was doing some prospecting and he has an insurance agency and he was bringing us donuts, right?
And his father-in-law is a real estate agent with AAA that I've used forever and he's retired now.
And so this is kind of like my joke with people.
I said, what's John doing?
He said, well, you know, he's doing some ministry and he's doing this and he's doing that.
And I was like... He's a Christian?
I never would have guessed that the way he lives his life.
That's funny. When people say I'm going to church, I'm like, really?
You go to church? I never would have guessed that the way you live your life.
So it's kind of like my joke, but I'm kind of not joking either because I'm just like, I don't judge people.
That's what I learned through my addiction and through that stuff is that people are judgy and judgmental.
I'm just not a judge.
I don't care. Whoever you are, be that person.
Okay? And that's cool.
But I don't like you. I won't hang out with you.
But I'm going to just respect the fact that you are who you are.
But I don't really...
I don't like disingenuine people like I said before.
And I'm not like, you know, the...
Altar call on Sunday morning, but, you know, the night before you were screaming at your wife and, you know, probably on the way to church, you know?
And then when you get out of your car, you put your mask on and you're like, everything's great!
You know, we're in love!
And then you get in the car and you're cussing your wife and you're doing that thing.
And listen, at the end of the day, people are humans and we make mistakes, okay?
So I'm certainly not being critical of like just how people operate, but I've met more nasty people Vindictive, rude, judgmental a-holes at church.
Me. That's just my opinion.
So I don't need to go to a building with a bunch of people to speak to my God or to have a relationship with Jesus.
So I just... I just don't as much.
I mean, my parents quit going to church when I was in like junior high because they felt the same way.
My dad and mom both still had a great relationship with God.
And my dad passed away in 2021, but my mom still does.
So there's not, but just don't, like I think the formal church, I like the more smaller community church.
You know, Clay goes to Sheridan Church, which is Pastor Jackson Lawmire.
I like Pastor Jackson Lawmire.
He teaches from the Bible, right?
So it's good. But just, I just don't, It's just not me.
It's not like I... I don't have a problem with the church.
I just don't...
I don't know how to say this if that's kind of bad.
I just don't respect it.
I respect the game.
Cool. Good job. You figured out that you can get up on stage and you can deliver a message that people like and then they write checks that are going to the kingdom and then you spend it how you want.
Cool. Great for you.
You know, there's a guy in Tulsa that started a charity that is an amazing charity that helps a lot of veterans.
It's awesome. And he probably pays himself $3 million a year.
And some people get pissed and they're like, he pays himself too much.
Like, he created it.
He gave $100 million last year to somebody.
So, I mean, what would you rather him do?
Dissolve it? Make zero, give not a hundred million, give zero.
I mean, they're like, so I respect the, you know, you got it set up and you're doing those things.
But just for me, I find that I want to tithe my money into places and people that I know it's going to go directly to help somebody and it's going to go to do that thing and not to your...
A mega church pastor that's...
Listen, by the way, I don't disagree with him having a jet or anything like that.
I think it's great. Yeah, you got to get around and figure things out.
That's fine, but it's just not my cup of tea.
I'd rather go to the Remnant Church on Thursday night that Clay has over there at the Thrive Time show with Pastor Leon.
I told him today, we're going to call you Pastor Lean On, and then we're going to lean on you all the time.
So that's my thing.
That's my whole view. And that's probably why I'm probably more cynical than most when it comes to Christianity in general.
My rules are be a good person, do the right thing, stick up for the people that need to be stood up for, and don't lie, cheat, steal.
I mean, just like the golden rule stuff.
It's not hard. You know, and you don't have to carry around your Bible and, you know, point at it to people and judge them in order for them to, you know, you can say there's just different ways to go about it.
And I think that a lot of people are just super that I mean, to me, that's the biggest thing.
There's so many judgmental people that look down their nose.
Because, listen, listen, my whole, like, I didn't even tell you, but I was on meth in 2005 before I got into the mortgage business.
So I had meth. Oh, wow.
I was 140 pounds and addicted to meth and, like, was a debt collector, hated my job.
Everything was bad.
Then I got fired from my job, got in the mortgage business, and started back, like, you know, at zero.
And so I... I lost my train of thought of where I was going with that, but I'm just saying, like, I have had, like, so many things that have happened to me that, I was talking about judgmental people, and people judge.
And dude, listen, Vim, if I was a youth pastor, or a pastor, it would be my testimony.
I would be on stage talking about how God delivered me from my addiction problems.
And it would be so acceptable.
But in the business world, In the business world, it's like, I'm pretty sure he was an alcoholic.
I'm pretty sure he was addicted to methamphetamines.
Can you believe that? But if I got up on a stage with a pulpit and I like read off a scripture and then said, God delivered me from addiction, it would be a great thing.
And that's kind of the part where I'm like, you know, I don't like judgmental people, so just don't judge.
I'm curious, kind of going a little deeper in terms of society and stuff, what are the biggest concerns that you have going forward as a country, as a people, as a culture, with everything that's going on in the world?
Are you concerned about things or are you generally optimistic?
I'm a little concerned.
I got in trouble a little bit by General Flynn because I got on a podcast with Clay and General Flynn was on there.
And I was like, Clay just said, hey, you're a business guy.
Like, what do you think of all this? And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm just kind of running my business.
And I literally said this.
I said, if there's like a meteor that's going to hit Earth in 28 days...
I'd rather just not know. I'd rather you just not tell me.
And then like the day that it's going to crash, I'll be like, okay, this sucks.
And then I deal with it.
And so I just don't want to get into that.
General Flynn said... I'm serious. What did General Flynn say when you said that?
Obviously, it's like, wait a minute.
Steve went from this big of a man.
Yeah, I went from this big of a man down to this big of a man.
And I was like... He was like, oh, so what you're telling me is that we're at war right now, and we've all grabbed our gun, our muskets, and we are running toward the enemy, and you're going to cower in a hole.
Okay. And I was like, oh, okay.
And he was like, you got to get in the game, bro.
And I was like, okay.
So I think my outlook is I have to – I've told Clay this on several occasions.
I have to be careful because I'm like a – I care deeply about people and about my job and my business.
In general, I just do.
We all carry things around in our heart and our head.
I just have to be careful because it's a mindset.
I think Clay does a very good job of getting really, really bad negative information and then still getting up and doing his thing and operating his businesses.
And not being affected by it.
I have to be careful because it affects me.
And then I'm like, then I'm a different person.
And then I'm not really running the programs like I should.
So I have to know about it.
I want to know some things, but I don't want to be right in the middle of it.
And that's why I haven't really been like, I went to the Reawaken America tour that was in Tulsa, but I haven't went to the one that was at Doral because I like to go to Miami.
But I haven't really gone to any of the other ones, and it's not because it's not a great day, and I think they're giving great information.
It's just, I'm with Clay all the time, so I know a lot of the stuff.
And I just have to, over everything, protect my mindset, because as long as I am here, I'm going to do whatever I can to make things better for everyone around me.
And I can't do that if I'm mentally in a bad place, because I internalize those things that are happening and it bothers me.
And so I try to know but also stay a little bit clear of some of those things so that it doesn't whack me out and the people that I'm around.
Wow, that's a very kind of smart thing to say because we take it a little bit for granted, you know, in terms of what we do here with the America Athens Network.
We're constantly inundated with this stuff.
And then we go out and we party at nighttime and have, you know, do regular things just to like let off some steam and stuff.
But people, I think, that are deep into it and it's a lifestyle, very much like Clay, it's kind of, we take it for granted because we're a little bit desensitized, I think, you know?
Yeah. Clay's a wizard when it comes to it because he just has a way of You know, sitting at his desk for 17 hours and pulling clips together and getting all this information and putting it into bite-sized pieces where people can digest it from different things and not, you know, making him want to go jump off a bridge, you know, because I honestly think like there's so many, you know, so, I mean, he's getting sued by Dominion right now.
I mean, like, come on, what are you supposed to do?
They're like huge. Think public, so I don't think there's any secret about that.
But, you know, there's just things like that that, for me, I just try to, I don't want to be ignorant to it, but I just want to make sure that I'm protecting my brain and my mindset so that I can continue to help the people that are around me.
That's awesome, brother. That's awesome.
Is there anything we didn't talk about during this podcast that's worth discussing before wrapping it up?
Shameless plug. My name is Steve.
Home Loans 50 States Currington for a reason.
And the way that I buy Sears aircraft, And Lamborghinis is by closing mortgages.
That's my main business that I do.
And so if you know anybody that needs a lender that likes to work, I work seven days a week.
I always answer my phone. I got a phone call from a salesperson that was just now.
I had to send Casey, my production manager, a text and say, hey, will you call Brent?
Because I am just on it.
I get excited when the phone rings and I love helping people figure out how to get approved.
Right now, I don't know who listens to your podcast, but if you're self-employed and you're having trouble getting approved because you don't volunteer to the IRS, the millions and lots of money that you're making, and you like to be creative and legal with the way that you take deductions, and therefore when you go to a lender, they can't approve you because you don't show a lot of income, call me.
I work for Cross Country Mortgage.
We're in all 50 states. We actually do more Used to be called subprime, but it's what they call non-QM loans now.
So that's your bank statement programs for self-employed people, like one day out of bankruptcy, one year 1099s.
Basically, any product non-demand that is available out there for mortgage, we have.
But one of the areas that we focus on is just with self-employed people.
I have a lot of self-employed people and veterans.
We do a lot of VA loans all over the country.
So my son, actually, right now in 14 minutes, will be closing on his house in Virginia.
For his first VA loan, he's in the Navy.
And so if you're a veteran, you know a veteran, or if you own a business or know someone that owns a business, or just generally anybody that needs an amazing mortgage lender that happens to have more reviews than probably most in the country, then call me.
I always answer my phone. 918-281-5475 or just Google Steve Currington and you'll find me.
Amazing, brother. Amazing.
Thank you so much for coming on the Blood Money Podcast.
This was very informative.
When a guest comes on, you should send them like a stack of, you know, those $100 bills that you can get from Amazon that aren't really real, but they look real.
They're like the movie kind, but pour blood over them and then send them.
And then you're like, welcome to the Blood Money Podcast.
That is brilliant, actually.
What a marketing gimmick. You know, there was this thing with the Sopranos back in the day where they used to have in New York, they used to have this hand hanging out from the back of a trunk, and on it was a tag that said Sopranos.
That's how they advertised Sopranos.
That's awesome. And it kind of blew up.
Yeah. Yeah, so start sending blood money to people, okay?
Like, I want you on my podcast, and I'll turn this fake money into real money if you come on.
How's that? That's awesome.
Well, thank you, man. Thanks for having me.
And if you haven't checked out Clay Clark, then do that at StartTimeShow.com.
I think that's where you and I met.
So obviously, I want to give props for making the intro.
So thank you. For sure, for sure.
And we're actually going to have Clay on the podcast here in a few days.
We've had him a bunch before, but we're going to do one where it's really, you know, this one's going to be about Clay and his incredible comedic ability.
Because what I realized from just hanging out at that conference was, I mean, the man's funny.
The man's like stand-up comic funny, like top 10, potentially decided to dedicate his life to it.
Because I haven't laughed that much at any business conference.
He brings me up there just for rebukes because I will say the inappropriate things.
That he doesn't say, or that like Aaron, when Aaron's up there, Aaron doesn't say, but I am who I am.
And yes, I'm a Christian. I love Jesus.
And I also love the F word.
And I also love inappropriate stuff.
So I'm constantly saying inappropriate stuff.
And he'll be like, that's your first rebuke.
And, but that's, that's literally like my whole reason for being up there is just, I'm sitting there like, all right, what else can I say that's inappropriate?
And then it adds a little bit of humor to the party.
So. Some of the most funniest things were when there was a gentleman that works with you guys that was pretending to be a character from Napoleon Dynamite in front of General Flynn.
The guy is losing his mind.
Yes, that's hilarious. Yeah, that's Carter.
Carter's funny. Awesome.
Awesome. Awesome. So we're going to talk about all of that actually on the Clay Clark episode that's coming soon, next few days probably for the viewers out there.
Thank you so much for joining us for this Blood Money episode.
Make sure you go to americahappens.com and enter your email address so you're subscribed to our network and I will see you on the next episode of Blood Money.
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