EP 90. From Politics to Property: A Conversation with Josh Emfield.

In this episode, we sit down with Josh Emfield, a real estate broker with a unique background in both the military and politics. Josh shares how his journey from the Army National Guard to real estate was influenced by his desire to bring integrity and service to the industry. Drawing on his experience in military intelligence and legislative affairs, Josh explains how he incorporates principles of trust, character, and negotiation into his real estate business. He highlights the importance of hiring veterans and first responders for their unwavering commitment to service and discusses the challenges and rewards of working with diverse communities. From offering free services to veterans and first responders to creative marketing strategies like themed listings and community storytelling, Josh's approach to real estate goes above and beyond, ensuring clients feel supported and empowered throughout their home buying journey. With a focus on solutions over excuses, Josh exemplifies a commitment to excellence and integrity in every aspect of his work.

Behind the Lavalava Foundation Sponsors:
Matai, American United Federal Credit Union, Pasifika Foods, Veteran Business Resource Center, Frontline Heroes, Warrior Revival, Top Gun Home Inspection, Natin But Grindz, Ladies in Bloom, All Pro Concrete Cutters, Eni & Hina Faleomavaega Foundation, Humana, Toko Uso Protection, Paradise Porch, Cyprus Credit Union.

988 has been designated as the new three-digit dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.

Transcript

 Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Lava Lava, podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the vibrant people and cultures of the Pacific islands. I'm your host, Michael Tan, and joining me today. It's my co host Milford Tiafala. Before we get started, a quick reminder to our listeners to follow, subscribe, and leave a review.

If you enjoy the show, today's episode is brought to you by Matai,  a luxury timepiece brand that embodies the essence of the Pacific islands. Now let's jump straight into it. Today,  we will be talking with Josh Enfield. A veteran and real estate broker. We will be learning more about his background and experiences.

Ta'alofa Josh. Ta'alofa. That's that right? So Josh, can you run us through where you're from, where you were born? Yeah. I grew up in LA County,  um, Huston Heights, Whittier, or my, my hometown's out there  and pretty much grew up there my whole life,  moved to Utah. Uh,  About 15 years ago, and so I've been here since let's go back a little bit.

So you  were, were you  born and raised there? Yeah, born and raised Southern California. left California for two years on a religious mission, um, out to Brazil  and then that's when I moved back to Utah. At the time, it was about a third or fourth the cost of living. But now we're not that far off from California, so.

So what, what made you What to go into real estate. So I've always had a passion for real estate. Um, even since I was a little kid, I loved the, the gay monopoly still do.  And really thought it was interesting how you could, you know, purchase properties and have residual income from that. And so that always sparked my, my interest. 

And, um, so I didn't jump right into real estate though, as a career. It took me some time to get into it. Although I always had interest in it. Family and my wife was a little concerned on working based off of commission.  And so she told me to get a real job. And so I did that first.  So, so our platform highlights veterans and obviously you, you are a veteran served in the air force.

Now you are in the army national guard.  Was that before real estate or real estate came after? So actually, no, I joined the, the army, Utah Army National Guard was my first service. And I, I joined,  um, before I got into real estate actually, and, um, I joined. Yeah, it's a 91 Delta or is it generator repairer because I was an electrician at the time.

It kind of had a good segue. It was actually by accident because I was trying to go into the MI or military intelligence since I spoke Portuguese and Spanish.  I was going to become an interrogator, but there's some mix up with my paperwork and I got this other position  soon after I went back and transferred back to interrogations.

But yeah, that was before I jumped into the real estate field. How do you think your experience as a military  veteran helped you go straight into real estate? Has any skills transferred over?  Actually, um, Um, quite directly for me, it did. Twofold. One is, um, working in a field where you're dealing with  such a, a big decision.

Usually it's the biggest investment, uh, an individual will make in their entire life, is purchasing or selling their, their property.  And, um, there's a lot of people out there that, you know, don't have as high of a character. And I've seen some concerns with that. But, so when I got in, I thought I would do things differently in the field, um, making sure.

That we were taking care of our clientele and taking on a common phrase in the military. We've got your six  or I've got your six. And so I've taken that slogan to heart in our operations. And everything we do comes back down to that is, do we have our client's six? Do we have their back?  Or are we turning into your standard corporation that's focusing solely on commissions? 

And so it's service versus is our, um, our focus.  

Hey, finally, somebody with the utilities experience, cause I was a, I was a electrician in the Marine Corps. So I know about them generators, man. That's cool.  They never were.  Yeah. so just a side question, a lot of,  My real estate homies are people I know they got into crypto. Are you big in the crypto right now as a  real estate person?

It's like a lot of real estate people in crypto go together. They do. I I'm well aware. I'm not heavily into it. I got a few buddies who are. I've actually sold a property via crypto, which was quite interesting. A very complex, um, look into that, but I can't say I'm well versed. I pay attention to it, but it's not, it's not my jam.

All right. And that's all I got for the moment. Trying to follow,  follow the schedule. I don't want to jump anything right now, but that's cool, man. Fellow fellow electrician. There we go.  So Josh, you seem to be in a. profession that's almost common, especially here. Well, it's at basically every state. how are you, you know, basically competing against others and what's making, what makes you unique, you and your team unique  versus those who are in the same profession as you? 

 A few things. One is I'm a broker and actually train agents. I do a lot of education. I teach CE classes to various agents.  And so when I, when I take something on, I really want to learn like in depth, you know, into that field. And so I actually, as boring as it may sound, I actually find contracts and law very interesting. 

And so because I'm passionate about that, it just, you know,  It allows for me to get more in depth and, and, and breadth of understanding of the real estate market and marketing, how to get properties sold. But the, I say one of the biggest things is, as I mentioned about military services, I actually focus on hiring veterans and first responders.

And the reason for that is because of that, that sense of character, you know, loyalty, duty, respect, honor, all those things that they teach in the military is super important where if I have an agent who is a veteran, a first responder, the one thing I know is that They will put their life on the line to help somebody else out. 

And so when I have that as a, a basis for the foundation  of working with somebody, everything else will fall into place. You can always learn, you can always educate, um, but you can't always change character. And so the people I hire is mainly focused on high character because  if you can say, hey, that person would give their life up for me, that means.

They're going to do everything they can to make sure I'm properly represented. And they're looking out for, you know,  as a fiduciary, they're looking out for my best interests rather than their own personal gain. Now, now you mentioned law, you were the director of operations in the U S house of representatives here in Utah.

What were some of your responsibilities, especially overseeing the, the. The military legislative affairs side. Yeah. So it's kind of funny. I kind of fell into politics again by accident. I was kind of frustrated with the situation when I joined the military where I didn't get my bonus and I was having some issues.

And I saw a lot of other veterans not getting the benefits that they needed. And I remember looking at, watching TV. I was almost graduated with school and I saw a congressman drilling, uh, grilling the VA  and trying to say, this isn't acceptable. And I just clicked in my head. I'm like, I'm going to go work for that dude.

I'm going to go and help these other veterans.  A couple of weeks later, I did an internship with Jason Chaffetz. They hired me a few weeks into that.  And so I worked with in the house representatives with him for about four and a half years. And then his predecessor John Curtis, I helped him start up his, his office and ran as the opera director of operations and deputy director for, for those two congressmen, and I did oversee some military and legislative affairs. 

And so that was helping veterans who were having issues with the VA or with the respective branch of service. You know, I remember like one guy, he got demoted  improperly. And so I got involved and made sure that everybody got the proper representation that they should. And although it was far in between and a few things that did occur, sometimes there was a misuse of power and position.

And so we helped make sure those, those veterans were well and properly cared for. So I did that for about six years working for the US House of Representatives. And mostly I was, it was here locally, but I would travel to DC and work on some, Some prerogatives and some legislative affairs in that as well.

And so  the thing that that's helped me out was understanding where people can go for help and making a lot of connections especially for veterans wanting to buy homes.  Cause if they had issues with their, their benefits, I knew people I could reach out to to make sure we could get that resolved quickly.

When I, when I worked in Congress, so I did did get to know a lot of people and. Different types of personalities. There are a lot of narcissists in politics, believe it or not And,  I, I did learn quite a bit in, um, reading people,  being an interrogator in the army, they teach you a lot of body language.

Communication skills, you know, ways to question people and, um, I learned quite a bit from both military service and politics  and, that's come into play also in real estate where  when we're trying to sell someone's property, everyone's trying to grab information and try to get the best deal. And so it's allowed for me to protect my clients and also teach agents on how to better negotiate. 

And to recognize their, their body when they're, you know, in communications with other individuals. So that way they can, you know, garner information, elicit information. And then come up on top on closing a deal. Are you, are you planning on going back into politics? I don't have any plans to go back into politics right now.

I've got, I got young kids at home and they're plenty busy and honestly they, they take priority, you know, family life, politics. It's a, it's a busy industry. You go to galas, you're out meeting and greeting people.  You know working in, in the political field, everything was always an emergency. And there's always urgent. 

So although I don't have interest as of yet, it may change in the future, but it would have to be when my kids are older and out, and I'd have to be pretty adamant about something that's going on and just wanting to make a difference at that point. Good. Cause I'm going to ask a follow up question. Uh, it's up to you as you want to answer it, but have you.

Come across because you mentioned the misuse of power, right? Have you come across any shady dealings or, you know, things like bribes or  just whatever you want information you want to release? Yeah. So shady, that's a, that's a broad term. I've never seen anyone get bribed, you know, personally I haven't.

But. When you're talking about shady I've seen a lot of people who are looking for their, their own interest, self interest, right? I think, now this is like a, a major issue with politics. We've kind of glamorized politics and made it sexy, right? And, and so a lot of people who go into politics are looking for that power, and that sense of authority to You know, use for their own benefit.

And so  what, what I've seen is we've created this, this monster where we've made something exciting and power. And that, that, that draws the wrong crowd. Um, that doesn't draw people who want to look out for the best interest and do service draws the people who want to use that for, you know, their next, next step and stay in politics long term because it gets financial gain.

As you can see, there's all these apps that show people and in crypto too, You know, follow them on their investments. If you follow any of the Congress, you know, men and women that are investing, you are going to turn out better than what the computer algorithms would be able to help you out with. So there's something pretty telling about that, you know, where they're unwilling to prevent insider trading that, you know, people who sit on committees are allowed to trade in those same sectors, which makes absolutely no sense, but yet we'll send people to prison who are, who are civilians. 

And for doing the same thing. And so you might, you might, you might be able to tell I had got a little bit distaste with some of the  ethics I see, uh, or unethical, you know, stances in, in, in politics, but, um,  what I would say is  we need to make politics boring again.  So we get the right people back into politics who really want to serve and give their, their best interest, um, which would be to the American people and not themselves.

Yeah. I tell my friends who are going into politics, once you go into politics and you run for an office, I no longer know you because I know that  you will become a totally different individual once you, you go into that profession.  And, and, uh, Yeah, that's, that's just, you know, Senator, the previous Senator Hatch said, no one leaves Congress a better person.

And I'll tell you, even though like I, I struggled with some of the stuff, it's there, you know, whether it's human nature, right? You know, to have that, that presence of people, you know,  you know, showing you and giving you opportunities and you're rubbing shoulders and it's no, I scratch your back, you scratch mine.

It is not a, it should be short term  because anybody, human psyche, it's going to affect you. And that's why I think, you know, we were talking about politics, but term limits, I'm actually in favor of term limits. I mean, they need to stay in long enough so they can actually get something done, but not too long where now they're corrupted.

So Josh, let's talk about your team. You hire. Veterans and first responder. Can you tell us why you do that? Yeah, I, I mentioned it briefly, um, the beginning how there's any industry that you know, I, I'd say it's a successful industry.

It has a lot of opportunity. You're going to get a lot of people who will take advantage of that industry. And so  there's I've seen it, I've experienced it. A lot of people have, where they felt like they weren't properly represented. By their real estate agent or by their lender or, you know, anything like that. 

And this really goes into any industry, I can't really pin it on one, but because it was an industry I was passionate about I really wanted to see a shift. And so when I, when I hired the veterans, really it comes down to is where does their character lie? If, if they're willing to lay down their life for their comrades and, and their, you know, the other patrons of the country.

Are they willing to,  you know, take advantage of them  a lot less likely.  And so really like I, I see everything is if you get the right, the right character in place, you can mold their education.  You can teach them all the, all the pieces of it. This is what it means to be,  you know, a real estate agent. This is how you look into contract law.

This is, you know, what is a deed of trust versus how do I do assumable loans or seller financing? All those things are things that you can learn and be taught.  It's the character that is, it's very difficult to change somebody's, someone's character.  And so that's really the crux of what I've put into place. 

And when you've got  a group of individuals who work together, and you have each other's backs, like our slogan is, you know, we've got your six.  And, you know, we support each other. I love the phrase of rising tides raises all ships.  So everyone benefits when everyone works together, and there's no better way to do that than have a cohesive team that knows how to work with each other and not be selfish.

Now  I go to a lot of networking events and once in a while you come across some veterans, right? And then,  you know, from life experience that we built up for the years, we are able to identify  people who seem shady and those who are authentic. And recently I've been coming across a lot of our, mainly, mainly brothers or veterans who, who seem.

Iffy.  So, so what, what are some challenges that you've come across in your profession? Um,  Yeah, some, some of the biggest challenge that you've come across.

As in when you're saying working with veterans per se, per se, like how to distinguish over, yeah, over, over all in your career and as a real estate broker. Yeah, I think, I think this is a good question because, you know, there's, there's the, the, the concept of. Everyone's good, naturally, and they learn to be bad, or are they naturally bad and learn to be good? 

And  I kind of go on the side of things are learned, so people are naturally good. And so I give them the benefit of the doubt. So I would, I'd start off with trust but trust has to be earned and re earned.  And, and so  although I go into conversations and I'm, when I meet with people, I, I start off with  automatically, you know, trusting,  um, trust, but verify, you know, continually, you know, take what they say and then double check it.

There's, I worked with an individual and he actually was getting involved in the veteran community.  And  I was, I was trusting, but it's like, I wanted to believe that his heart was in the right place. And there's a couple of mix ups and mishaps and I was like, okay, I'm going to give him a second chance here.

But then there was another thing, and I just got to the point where I just said, I know the answer here but I was trying to give that second chance in place, but in all reality, um, and I, and I teach this in some of my body language classes, is that  we can perceive Something's off, right? This difficulty of labeling what exactly that means. 

And so, we break this down into, there's an, there's a difference between indicators and clusters, right? An indicator is one thing that seems a little bit off.  For instance, my wife will come to me and be like, Oh, hey, how was your day? I'm like, it was great. And I'll smile, but it's not like a real smile, you know?

So she can tell something's up. But then if I start doing other stuff, you know, that's one indicator, but if I do multiple things. It's a cluster. And so when you're talking with people and something seems off, it's like, well, they're talking to me a little funny. The vocabulary is weird.  And then the way that their, their eye movement is off  and you know, now they're, they're kind of like avoiding something I'm talking about.

Now you're seeing it's a cluster. from a conversation. And so it's no longer, well, that's weird. It's more like this person's off. That's your, that's your mind telling you, you can't trust this person.  Now we have trouble understanding what exactly all those things are. And you may not be paying attention to either looking down and left or up and right, all those things, but you're saying, I recognize something is off.

And roughly 65 to 75 percent of our communication is body language. And so we are very perceptive, you know, creatures. And so, going back to that, Michael, your question, that was a long, you know, diatribe. But your question was, how do you  work with that? Well, the one thing is, You've got to be more in touch with people in a personal, in person atmosphere  because we've moved everything to be social and on the phone and through text messages.

And you're creating  a  huge amount of miscommunication based off of a small portion of what we use for our communication. Roughly 30 percent is everything we're doing.  And we're leaving off roughly 70 percent of our communication because we're not in person.  You can be able to tell if someone's being forthright, if you're in person with them pretty quickly.

So going back to that, I like to meet with people. I like to meet with my clients, like to meet with potential buyers, sellers, agents,  so that way I can be able to tell for sure, is this person, person authentic? And sincere, or are they going to take advantage and be dishonest? So when I, when I first came to the us, one thing that I didn't realize as a Samoan or Pacific Islander is that when we were growing up, we were taught  not to look up at people or look at them straight in the eyes. 

So. That's, that's one of our, our ticks that I don't know if you notice about us Pacific Islanders when we talk, we kind of look to the side instead of looking straight at you. Did you notice that before? Yeah, actually. And you know, you have to bring that into conversation is understanding your audience, your cultures, right?

Every culture is slightly different. And this is actually one of our trains too. We talk about, uh, distance, space, right? Yeah. Different cultures feel more comfortable being closer or further apart. And then eye contact is one of them. And in some countries, you can stare at them directly. But if you start someone for too long, you're gonna feel like this person's after me , I don't feel comfortable, they're gonna attack me.

Right? That's absolutely true. And so really in your, in conversations with people, um, there's culture that you have to take into account. There's also neurological uh, deficiencies or, you know,  um, things like autism. Or ADD,  where autistic people don't like to look people in the eye  as well.  And, and some people, if there's tapping, it could show that they're nervous. 

It could show  that they have ADD,  and they don't like to sit still. And so those are all just indicators. So again, when people try to make basis off of one or two things that are going on, They're going to misdirect their understanding of a relationship or that conversation.  It's when you tie multiple of those indicators together.

So maybe you're looking down at Michael because you're trying to show respect, right, from your heritage, right? So that's one indicator of mine. It's like, well, maybe he's timid.  But then I see that you're, you're obviously not because you've got a bunch of podcasts and you're talking to people.  So now I can kind of understand the culture and I know where you're from.

So those are all parts of those indicators to better understand that relationship rather than focusing on one or two. I've seen people say this all the time. If you fold your arms, that means they're closed off and they don't want to talk to you. They're upset. Well, I'm always cold, so I'm always folding my arms because I need more body fat and I live in Utah and it's always freezing in the wintertime.

So, you know, those, those certain things, but being aware like you are, being aware will help you understand like, oh, maybe I'm looking down and maybe they're getting the wrong, you know, signal. So now you can, you know, correct that and show in other, um, manners to show that you are confident and capable like you are.

Now, are there any programs or? Any opportunities that you want to announce or especially if you have any for you in your real estate? Yeah, so we we actually do something special we focus about 60 to 70 percent of our clientele are veterans or first responders and When we work with a veteran first responder and we're helping them purchase a home We actually won't make a commission on the sale of their home, so we do it at no cost.

So they,  they decide what they want to get done on their home, but we do all the heavy lifting, hard work. We're very good at advertising. We know how to do video content.  We create websites, all that stuff.  But it's a way of us saying thank you and giving back to the veteran community. And so, so essentially, you know, they're selling their house for free.

Um, when they purchase a home with us, how about before buying, do you offer any incentive with incentives for buying?  Yeah, we, we have a fun thing when they, when they purchase the home, um, just to show our, our support for Patriots is that we actually will install a flagpole.  Um, a large flagpole and then, uh, we purchased a flag that's been flown over the U.

S. Capitol and we installed it for them at, you know, just as a home welcoming gift. So,  and then, uh, as you may know, or maybe, um, or those who don't know, when they work with us as an agent, you know, we negotiate the sellers to pay us a commission. So again, they still benefit, um, they get full representation and it's, it's, it's far better than going in alone and not knowing what you're doing.

And  We're good at negotiating. So all of our clients are giving us five star reviews. So that's what we stick to. Now, can you tell us about some community outreach, some organizations that are, that you're involved with? Yeah. So I, I do volunteer as much as I can. I, I've worked with that cave VBRC, a veteran business resource center.

I volunteer with them, help, you know, collaborate with them on some of the events that they're doing. I do reach out to a lot of non, or a lot of business owners to see how we can help. Highlight their business as well as we put together a successful business. We try to help them understand how to set your Google cam or how to do some marketing or even just sharing their, um, their company on our page.

Just something like that. I also I've worked with Heroes Haven uh, continued mission. I've done a couple of things with them. Fly poles for cause. Um, I'm also on the board for warrior rising. Um,  It's a large organization nationwide that helps veterans start their businesses.  And so, um, sometimes I get pretty busy but it's, it's for a good cause.

And, and I, I really do enjoy helping veterans,  you know, make that next step.

So let's say, um,  or actually for all the  The people out there looking to  purchase a home or sell a home right now, do some kind of business and they're looking for a real estate broker.  Oh, why should they choose your company over, you know, some of the competitors within Utah? Um, yeah, that's a good question.

So what, what sets us apart? I've, I spent thousands of dollars on listings is one thing. And we, we don't just get the house put on the MLS. We, we build a separate CRM for it. We have QR codes, text for more details. We get professional photography, virtual tours. We actually create commercials too, for the listings, depending on, you know, what price point that property is.

And these aren't just like a walk through the property, like. Some of them are pretty corny. Like, we did, like, one, one veteran we sold a house for he lived near Hill Air Force Base in Layton, and we said, all right, we're gonna just blow this out of the water. We did a Top Gun theme,  and we, we wore, you know, outfits and stuff, and threw in some, some scenes from Top Gun and just made it super corny and, you know, interesting.

So people were getting engaged on a personal level. While doing that, we were highlighting the community. We A lot of agents, which I still don't understand why they haven't grasped onto this, they focus on just the house. That's, that's like half of the work. We focus on the community because they're going to imagine, what am I going to do here?

How do I imagine my family? So we help them see, well, my kids will be doing this sport or my husband will be doing this activity at the rec center and I'll go to the near Costco or target. And so you have to create that story. So that's what we do. We create the story. So people will fall in love with the whole experience of that house and the future memories that they're going to make.

Okay. And so we really bring in a lot of the human psyche and negotiations in, into our marketing pieces there. But, um, from that, from that one listing, we had tons of people show interest, tons of people at the open house. I think it was like 34 different people come to open house and we timed it just right where you had the F 35s flying right over the house.

And so we, we kind of made it like an event type thing. And so we really were very creative thinking outside the box.  And when it comes down to it when it goes back to service,  uh, they're going to get an answer when they call us and text us. We're not going to be like, uh, I'm going to avoid that call.

That's been our number one, you know, thank you that we get from people. Like, you're so responsive. Was, was there,  like the thing that they say, they say you're responsive and I trusted. What you said.  So what sets us apart is we'll go above and beyond and I can guarantee that what we do for this team, nobody else does on their listing.

So you got me. So I almost want to just go out and buy a house right now, 

but that's another point too. Like I do specialize in assumption loans too. This is a complicated loan where if you're a veteran and you want to buy a house and that person has a V loan on it, you can actually assume their low interest rate. So instead of having a 6%, you know, or 7% on the current rates, you might be able to, you know, knock it outta the park with a high two or low 3% interest rate.

And so I know the, the, the legal aspects of that. I've worked with title companies and everything and, and making that happen. And so  when, when a problem arises, I find, you know, my thing is what's the solution? Not an excuse. And so there's a problem, we're gonna find a way over or through that problem.

Rather than say, Hey, sorry, can't get through it. And so yeah, we're, we're solution oriented.

Now, Josh, we like to ask our guests,  um, this question, but do you have any questions for us? Yeah. I'd love to, to understand what got you interested in doing the podcast. So, um,  Milford and I are the original founders of the podcast. I started when I pitched the ideas to  my group of friends. We were playing Call of Duty.

I wanted to kind of talk stories and talk topics that basically covered men's mental health. Topics that were considered taboo in the Samoan culture  and, you know, the fatherhood and stuff like that. Um, mainly because when we were playing Call of Duty sometimes during the game or after the game,  We will start talking,  having deep conversations.

And I wanted to have  that same conversation, but on a public platform to share to people, because a lot of people can relate to what  we're going through. It's, it's relatable because there's veterans out there. There's men out there who are fathers, there are  even Pacific Islanders, but it doesn't matter your, your background, but it's relatable because we are just your regular Joes.

And, and I wanted to kind of bring that out. It started off just having normal conversations and we kind of, I would say elevate and it turned into something. I would say bigger because we never, I never thought that two years ago,  starting it, we would become a way bigger platform doing, you know, dinners and  having celebrity guests and, you know, all these things and even forming a nonprofit and never thought that we would be doing that.

So what started out for me personally to help me because of,  uh, instead of doing counseling with a VA, this helped me more.  So it was mainly for my mental health, but you know, everyone  has their own reasons and the guys supported what  I wanted to start. So that was my reason. So what about you T?

It's pretty much the same thing he said. We're a bunch of funny dudes and I just want to, you know, keep hanging with the, keep hanging with the brothers. And it's always good to stay in touch, you know, even though we can not speak for a while and then see each other and act like nothing, you know, there was no time in between. 

And that was mainly it just to keep in touch with the close ones. I got to say, I appreciate what you guys are doing because I think it's, um, it could be, you know,  U. S. culture, but in lots of cultures,  the men don't like to talk as much until they're asked, right? And when you, when you're asking them questions, it gives them the opportunity to open up.

And it's, it's crazy what you think. We all go through trials and struggles, but we're all stoic, you know, in our faces. And we act as if nothing's affecting us, but, you know, inside we're all,  we've all got our struggles and our trials. And, and just like you said, Michael, being able to talk about that just  gives somebody else a form of connection, you know. 

And it does alleviate some of the stresses you feel.  It's not just that your trials are overcome, but it's like, Hey, I'm not in this alone. It's like going back to your military service. You know, embrace the suck. You know, we're all laughing about, you know, the drill sergeants and how they, you know, until they kicked their butts or, you know, Oh man, this is so bad and these MREs, Oh, six days straight, you know, whatever it might be, but when you have somebody else to go through a trial together, together, it changes it.

And so I appreciate what you guys are doing. And I think you guys are definitely making an impact. No, I want to express our gratitude and appreciation. To you, Joss, for, for joining us today, uh, I know you are a very busy individual with the amount of things that, that you are doing out in our community.

And, and we want to thank you for your dedication in supporting our brothers and sisters, the veterans out there. Do you have any final thoughts or shout outs for today? You know, I think I'll just end on this, it's just like, guys  and gals, like, if you're going through a struggle, it, it, there's, there's people who understand, and you're not alone,  and, you know, we're in this together, don't, don't ever hesitate, reach out to Michael, me, or Milford, anybody that's within your, your reach, really, people are, are open to listen, and you'd be surprised to understand how, you know, How much more willing they are to connect with you and share similar struggles.

And so thanks again, Michael and Milford for having me on. And, uh, hopefully, you know, anything I've contributed helps your audience. But, uh, thanks again for that. You guys do um,  and so  I love, love the philosophy and what you're about. Like,  you know, and coming from you, like, I really believe it.

You know, you can, you can hear some of these. Key words and terms and phrases from people, but like, like, I don't know, I don't know if you really about that, but, but from you, you know, like you've been speaking on authenticity. If you're not, I feel it through the computer screen. I appreciate that bro.  So, but, um,  thank you for coming on and it's awesome that you live that philosophy and it is so obvious and your attention to detail when asked about what sets you apart.

And there's no doubt that that sets you apart because I know a lot of people within this industry. You know, I don't do business, but I know a lot of them and I know how The character, like you spoke on,  I mean, you know, they may be good people when it  comes to clientele, you know, they're, they're not attacking it in the same way, whether it's attitude or passion or, you know, compassion for that. 

So, but  it's awesome. It was great to just listen and, and hear you speak, because like I said,  you know,  I'm just hearing truth right now. And I didn't really have any questions because any questions that will pop up, we're pretty much already answered. So it's awesome. Great to know you. Great to meet you.

Now, Josh, before we close, where can people find you and what's your contact? Yeah, they can just look up Josh and Philip will see it anywhere on Google or the M field team, and you can also look up, jump into a better home. It's one of my, my fun things. I love playing basketball, like dunking and jumping's, you know, my, my catch, catchphrase.

So, that's the one caveat. You buy or sell a house with us, I'm gonna make you take a jumping picture. That's our, our go to. So, so  if you don't want to jump, don't, don't, don't give me a call. So  now thank you for, for chopping it up with us, Josh, and thank you to our listeners. We really appreciate you for tuning in to this episode of Behind the Lava Lava.

I hope you enjoyed our conversation. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow, uh, drop a comment, leave a review. This is Michael Tan and the team signing off. So far, so well.