021: From Baller to BANKRUPT. How did Bill Lyons get his MOJO back?

Background on Bill Lyons:

Bill Lyons is the Founder & CEO of three companies in the real estate industry: Griffin Funding, Revestor, and Lyons Realty. Griffin Funding was named the 83rd fastest growing company in the nation by Inc 500 in 2017 as well as the #1 fastest growing mortgage company. Bill is focused on carving out a large segment of the $11 Billion online real estate advertising market and the residential investors that make of 25% of the real estate market. He built his former company, from zero to $20 Million per year in revenue with $3+ Billion in transactions inside of 36 months. As President & CEO, Mr. Lyons managed a $6 million per year online marketing budget offering opportunity to well over 250 employees.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[0:50] He owns 3 companies inside the Real Estate Industry:
- Griffin Funding, a mortgage lending company in 4 states.
- Lyons Realty, a boutique real estate company in San Diego.
- Revestor, a service for home buyers and real estate investors to find homes-for-sale by the highest potential returns.
[1:27] He started being an entrepreneur in high school.
[3:05] He read Robert Kiyosaki’s, “Cashflow Quadrant“.
[3:43] He got into the mortgage industry because he doesn’t want to be like other people whose after is just commissions.
[4:25] He started his own company in 2003.
[5:09] His company started from $0 to $20million.
[5:30] At the age of 30, he lost everything due to recession.
[11:59] “This is entrepreneurship, it’s not a game for the weak.”
[12:55] Everybody wastes 10% of their money.
[14:13] Every company you build, you have to have an exit strategy.
[16:13] In 2011, he started Revestor.
[16:28] He had a couple of investors but self-funded the business by doing mortgages on the side.
[20:25] His biggest challenge today is to get all the company working together.
[21:27] In 2012, he started his mortgage broker company and built it to $5.2million in 4 years.
[23:50] “I wanted to hire somebody that was a good communicator, that I could teach the business.”
[30:35] They buy their own leads.
[31:02] They spend between $50,000 to $70,000 a month.
[31:31] It was challenging for him to hire the right people in San Diego.
[32:49] “Don’t be a $30,000 dollar a year millionaire.”
[36:24] He doesn’t want to grow to 300 people again.
[37:52] It doesn’t worth the risk if your target is less than 20% to 30%.
[44:32] “As soon as you think you know everything, you know nothing.”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch & Good to Great by Jim Collins
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Jura E8 Automatic Coffee Machine
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Ringcentral text messaging feature for Sales Floor
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Capital