Many CEOs can relate to the pressure and weight of payroll. Brock Blake, the CEO of Lendio, discusses the pressure that comes from fulfilling business loans to thousands of small businesses. In this episode, we talk about the economic impact of COVID-19 and the future of lending.
Many CEOs can relate to the pressure and weight of payroll. Brock Blake, the CEO of Lendio, discusses the pressure that comes from fulfilling business loans to thousands of small businesses. In this episode, we talk about the economic impact of COVID-19 and the future of lending.
in that moment, it was tens of thousands of business owners that are dependent on Lendio to get them the capital, they need to make payroll. So now it's not just my payroll. That's at stake. It's the payroll of every single one of these businesses, to the tune of two and a half billion dollars, that is at stake. Think about the impact of each business owner. They would have to go and tell their own team members. I can't make payroll because, we didn't get our PPP loan, and have that, you know, told 10,000 times now. All of the employees of each of those, you know, 20,000 businesses. And, you know, so how many people is that? so you start going through that math and all of a sudden now the pressure get, keeps increasing and you're failing like. Man this thing is going to crash and burn and, and, it's gonna ruin, not only Lendio and our reputation, but my personal reputation, career. I mean, there's just, there was just a lot
Ben Taylor:Brock Blake CEO of Lendio. I'm excited to talk to you today. Thanks for
Brock Blake:Yeah, Ben, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Ben Taylor:So I want to ask you why are startups so easy? Lendio is really easy. Wasn't it? You made all the right decisions right out of school. Let's talk about, the hard things about a startup and the easy things. what are some of the easy things about a startup?
Brock Blake:That's a short.
Ben Taylor:short list,
Brock Blake:There's not a lot of easy things except for failing, I guess, you know, making bad decisions and making mistakes. And, uh, all of that seems to come easy. but generally being an entrepreneur and building a business and a startup is very challenging It's about, endurance and being persistent and fighting every single day to, to, to live another day. and so, you know, I wouldn't say there's much about it. That that is easy.
Ben Taylor:I think that's the hope for young students cause they see bigger companies succeed and they want to do that too. So what advice would you give to younger kids in college that do have the entrepreneur dream and want to go try their own business? What advice would you give them today?
Brock Blake:Yeah. I mean w it is extremely difficult. the amount of fulfillment you get from building a business is probably unmatched in my opinion. And so there is a reason why it does appeal to me. So, sexy and, so, appealing from, young entrepreneur standpoint and really the best time to start a business in my opinion is when you're young. I think when you're young, you're one, you're a little bit naive. Um, the world hasn't put you into a confined box or told you exactly how things are supposed to be done, to You have really very little to lose. you're used to living off of. ramen noodles, macaroni cheese in a very, you know, inexpensive apartment. you've got all the energy in the world. And you, can shoot for the stars, and you can go big. And if fit for fails, then let's say you rack up,$20,000 in credit card debt. You've got the rest of your life to be able to pay that off. And that's not much risk later in life. You know, a lot of times you'll be married and kids and mortgage and, car payment and all these things, and the stakes are much higher. So now if you put it all at risk and you're going to lose your house and. Lose all those things or, you know, it's a challenging thing to do it later. Now there's pros and cons to doing it early or later, but in my opinion, I wouldn't trade being an entrepreneur for any other career. I've loved. not every single day, but I've the overwhelming majority of my time being an entrepreneur has been something I'm I love it's fulfilling. I'm very passionate about, and I would encourage other young entrepreneurs to go for it.
Ben Taylor:I can definitely relate to everything you just said. Cause I started to start up much later in my career. So I was chief data scientist at higher view, managing team had a mortgage, had car payments, had kids and went to nothing. So I definitely recommend for young college students. It's easier when your burn rates lower. Your personal burn. Right. Um, one of the things I appreciate about the business that you guys are doing at Lendio is you have a pretty good pulse on the economy right now with COVID and what that's done with the stimulus package. Maybe, maybe speak to that. How has COVID impacted the small businesses in the U S
Brock Blake:Oh, man. it's definitely, polarized, in other words, you've got both ends of the spectrum. In some cases in, uh, in, in the larger case, you have millions of businesses that are struggling, that are going through a very difficult time, especially those that are retail or have anything to a travel or other, you know, restaurants or hotels and, and theaters and all of those types of businesses, have had a very, very difficult time. and it's not getting any better. It's getting worse. especially with the, the cases that are increasing and the additional restrictions around quarantine and things like that. So, there are a lot of businesses that are struggling, many that have closed their doors many more, that probably will, hopefully not permanently, but I'm afraid that that that will be the case with just far too many. On the other hand, though, there are quite a few small businesses that have, um, never had it better from a financial perspective the construction industry, you know, so many of us kind of locked up at home and work from home quarantine situations. We start to see, you know, a leak in the, in the shower or, you know, something that we don't like this or that, and we want to get it fixed. And so a lot of home remodels and we're home repair and. And other, pet projects that are happening. And, you know, some of the larger businesses, that are retail, like the Walmarts and Amazons obviously are having record, quarters, but that isn't a reflection of small business in main street. but the, I guess the other industries that are doing quite well are the, uh, recreation, the outdoor recreation, the RVs, the, you know, mountain bikes, the boat industry did really well. and so it's just been this really polar opposites to see what's happening in, the economy through all of this.
Ben Taylor:it's so strange that way. Cause it's almost the exact opposite of 2008. So 2008 really hurt anyone who was building. And now with this, recession that we're going through with COVID lumbers, triple the price, and everyone's doing remodeling is just the complete opposite.
Brock Blake:Yeah, it is so interesting. You know, when we, when we were going through our, some of our fundraising discussions, they would always ask about, you know, what do you think is going to happen in the next recession? And, and every time the, the modeling and the analysis was basically trying to model exactly what happened in 2008. and to your point, I kept saying. Every recession is so different. You can't just assume that, you know, basically what we learned in 2008 is going to help us for the next recession. So it's not going to be the same recession. I'm not trying to come across like, Oh yeah, I knew it or anything like that, but just recessions. the characteristics of them are so unique and so different and they affect the economy and our lifestyle in such different and, desperate ways that, uh, it's hard to predict.
Ben Taylor:Yeah, definitely. to kind of move away from COVID for a second, so it's been really satisfying for you to see your business grow and to get, you know, see these teams and these employees get added to your business. Has it also been encouraging to see the life changes that you're able to do for your customers? The customers that can secure loans easier or get better rates? Do you have some of those stories that you can share? With customers that have impacted you.
Brock Blake:No question. you know, candidly, that is what drives everything we do, our customers. And, and during this time, You know, mid-March we add the lender stopped lending, um, where we were high-flying and we were growing quarter over quarter and then, you know, overnight lenders stop lending and rightfully so they couldn't predict. Or accurately kind of assess risk, um, because they didn't know which businesses were in business and which ones were closed and so on. And, the world changed and every business owner in America was in a desperate kind of need for capital. And, we changed our mission from fueling the American dream to saving the American dream because we just. We felt the immensity of the moment and this pressure and this demand for capital and that to keep their business open. there were so many of those stories and I'll give you a couple, but. Let me just say that there, there were so many stories that were very, very personal to, not to me, but to each member of our team, when every member of our team, when they're siblings who own a business, you know, knew they worked at Lendio. They came and asked for help when they're their neighbors, they're people from high school or college, or, from their church congregation or their community or whatever, they, everyone had all of these. Individuals that reach out to them individually kind of desperately asking for help to get a PPP loan. it, it was very personal. you know, my brother, my brother-in-law, my neighbors, my, you know, all these people, but some of the stories that I'll share, came from the, some of these that are non-personal. we had, a restaurant down in San Antonio, Texas who the owner's name is Dave sailor. And he was just this amazing man who, who. Takes their leftovers from the restaurant every single night and gives it away to the homeless. And he's got this kind of refuge, you know, path that he helps people in his community. And he's got this incredible relationship with, with the community that all know who he is and his name and. And he's just this person. You can just, you can tell it gives back and, and he reached out to us and, and was in a very difficult spot, his bank wasn't an offering PPP loans. and not only was it going to affect this fairly large restaurant, I mean, he has 75 employees and then he was going to have to do layoffs, but the rippling effect that it would have on that community because of the good that he does. And that community would have been significant as well. and so for us to be able to help him get that PPP loan, and he sent us this video of his story and told us about, you know, how much it helped him and how grateful he was those types of things, that's where it becomes, incredible is when you. It's not just a number. It's not just a loan. it is the life of an individual and the lives of his team members and the community that he's impacting. and so, you know, we could tell you story after story about customers like that. a mechanic up in Seattle, a, pet store down in, Atlanta, Georgia. Story after story like that, of how we've been able to help these business owners to keep the doors
Ben Taylor:open. That's so powerful you're not running a company to work on the next Snapchat filter. To, consume the attention of the teenagers, for worse, but you're working on something that actually changes real lives with real stories. So does your marketing team have an easy job then? Cause I imagine if I, like, if I'm a part of your marketing team and I have these stories, I'm like in a candy store, like, do I want this one or that one? Is that something they never complained about when it comes to customer stories?
Brock Blake:Yeah, you know, over the last few months We received about 7,005 star reviews and about 500 customer stories you know, thank you cards and, video stories and stuff like that. So there are some, that's some good, good content to be able to sh you know, tell the story of how we help, small businesses and, and, uh, so business other business owners can relate.
Ben Taylor:so correct me if I screw this up, but you, you and your co-founder won entrepreneur of the year for Utah this year, is that correct? Did that play into that or was that more about company culture or was it a combination of the two.
Brock Blake:Well, the thing about the EYI entrepreneur of the year and, and, it is probably the most legitimate kind of awards program I've ever been involved with because they have these independent judges and there's these, full essays, full private financials, they go through and try and assess your company culture and the impact you're having. I mean, it is. It is thorough.
Ben Taylor:So it's definitely not pay to play or like some of those awards where you kind of wonder, yeah.
Brock Blake:there's so awards where, you know, your name's entered or whatever, they might've drawn your name out of a hat and you were the winner, you know, this is not one of those
Ben Taylor:awards. walk us through it. How, what was the word process? How did you and your co-founder react? What does it mean for the company?
Brock Blake:it really is just a reflection of the impact we're having on the, these business owners. And it's a reflection of the, our team and. that they're bought into this mission the culture that has been created, as co-founders, you're the ones who started you're kind of leading the organization and your name's on the, the award. But, I sincerely believe it's just a reflection of how well. our team are working together to do something that's bigger than ourselves. so to me, it's a real honor because it, it's recognizing some of that great work that's happening in our, in our organization.
Ben Taylor:this next question will be probably be hard for you to pick, but if you had to take a second and think through it, What was the best day we've ever had at Lindia? was there a moment, was there a key hire? Was there a deal closed? Can you think of the best day you've ever had at Lendio you had to go out and celebrate or you couldn't believe it? was that moment? And maybe it's hard for you to pick one.
Brock Blake:it really is hard for me to pick one. You know, as an entrepreneur, you have the highest highs and the lowest of lows. And probably, if I were to pick a couple time periods, when you land a big deal, whether that's a partner deal or, you know, you hit a major milestone of, growth or revenue or, you've closed around a funding. Those are all like fun milestones and things that you celebrate. probably the more meaningful ones would be. at Lendio in our culture. This is before we were all quarantined where, we hit a big milestone and as an organization we can celebrate, and we'd like to do some fun, crazy things. So. I don't even remember why we were celebrating, but this was happening within the last year. It was probably either in January, maybe it was December, but we brought in a mariachi band. and we had, you know, these party poppers that, that shoot confetti all over. and we brought a real one into this room and. no one knew why we were bringing them in. And all of a sudden came in off the elevator with this mariachi band and we started shooting, party poppers and stuff like that. So those are all fun moments. And then the other moment that I would say is, you know, I love it when we are able to get our company together for, you know, summer parties. And it's our, all of our team members in there. And their spouses and their kids. And, you know, we have some sort of outdoor party that we're doing. sometimes I'd like to just sit back and those, those parties and think, wow, this is, you know, the impact that we're having on all of these people that, this business is supporting all of those families. those are meaningful moments to just, you know, that I'm not celebrating out loud, but I'm just kinda taking it in and recognizing that, there's good happening.
Ben Taylor:just like we have the good, there's also the bad of that as well. Right? Like the responsibility and the weight of, taking care of those families. Is that something that can be really challenging for a CEO when you do have the downs and you do have to make hard decisions, have you had times in the past where, you've had to make really hard decisions or you've, thought about quitting or failing? Never, you've never had your parents say you're, making a mistake or older people that are more reasonable saying, Oh, you're going back to, this is easy. This is all easy. Never had a
Brock Blake:it's such a regular occurrence, you know, at the beginning of this, you know, I'm the youngest of six and all my siblings are all like, what are you doing? You know, go get a real job. And my parents never quite understood. And, the funny part about that is my job actually has been the most consistent, reliable job of everyone's over this time. But. you always have moments. I had moment during this whole PPP thing where I was basically in fetal position on the floor, like wondering if we were going to make it through, I've had moments where, early on, we had eight employees it was the payroll before Christmas and we ran out of money and I couldn't make payroll. And, where I had to ask people to work without pay. and we've had moments where I was for sure, confident that we weren't gonna make it through whatever that challenge was, or that we weren't gonna, we weren't gonna be able to manage cash where we've made it by the hair on our chin, like just like barely, barely, barely by a thread, made it through, difficult times.
Ben Taylor:how do you persist? Like when you're dealing with that vice, how do you persist? How do you, how do you make it through?
Brock Blake:Well, we had a moment. I'll just tell my most recent one. We had a moment during all this PPP where there was a very large set of customers, that had been approved for a PPP loan. And I wasn't sure if the lender was going to actually be able to fund the loans, And I got some news. I can't give all the details, but it was, and this was like two and a half billion dollars worth. and so I got this news one, one night late and, it was just devastating to me, because of not only all of the lives of the individuals. And so many of those individuals were, again, all of our friends and family and, and others, but. So many more, thousands and thousands of business owners that I was worried we were going to let down. And then how was that going to impact all of our team members? Would they lose hope and how would that impact Lendio and our brand and, would there be negative press and, you know, you start going through and thinking about what are all the rippling effects of this this information. And it's hard to process. and if you know, if you start thinking, and this is where I was, you know, my wife knew I was, devastated. She knew I was completely sick to my stomach and I was, I was on the floor. not because I was necessarily a floor crying at that moment, but I was just on the floor just taking it in, laying on my back. and the more I thought about it, the more pressure I felt and the more emotional I got, just feeling, the weight of the world on my shoulders. And so a couple of things happened. The first thing is that right? I have an amazing wife. And she went to my family and we're people of faith and asked all of my family to pray for me. And some of them even chose to fast. And I started getting text messages, flooding in saying, Hey, I'm not sure what you're going through. but I want you to know that we're praying for you. you know, you start to realize I am not in this alone. you know, I reached out to my team and my board giving them the news and now you have this circle of trust that you can depend
Ben Taylor:on
Brock Blake:and so that was extremely helpful to pick me up off the ground. Then the sec, the second thing is that I'm, you know, as an entrepreneur, everyone has different traits and skills and weaknesses or whatever, but one of the things that, people have talked about as well as my strength is this ability to see around corners and be strategic and fit pieces together and solve problems. And I'm an eternal optimist. So to be able to take that moment. And now, as soon as I get over feeling sorry for myself. And I start focusing on. what is the problem and how do I solve it then all of a sudden I get invigorated again, and I get excited. And I, you know, I start thinking, okay, if I piece a postpaid and see together, I think we could solve this thing. I get into solution mode and that's where, I don't panic, honestly. but, we just started attacking the problem and that's where S it starts to become fulfilling and more exciting again.
Ben Taylor:And do you think as a founder that makes you stronger? you hit these impossible, you know, the dark days as you have them. I bet. If you went back in time, you'd laugh at your old dark days. You say that wasn't hard, right? Like,
Brock Blake:And it makes you stronger. It makes you more, I wouldn't say numb, but the things that get you down the stakes become a lot higher. And so the challenges of the past were like. You know, that's not really that big of a challenge. We'll figure that out. I don't know how you're going to stress about that one, you know, and now all of a sudden the challenge is like that one was a two and a half billion dollar challenge, with, thousands of customers safe and the company's reputation. So what was at stake was significant. and so I do think going through those things. helps you as an entrepreneur to grow and be
Ben Taylor:better. definitely. you said something that was really powerful, that kind of clicked for me in that was a lot of founders feel the weight of their employees. So Mark Newman almost missed payroll three times at higher, view's got 400 employees. And for you, I feel like your customers in a way or your employees like the number of people that depend on you is not just your employee account. It's much larger than that. So I, can't relate to that pressure, but I can relate to it in kind of a really small amount.
Brock Blake:Well that moment, it's not always like that, but in that moment, it was because, think of, tens of thousands of business owners that are dependent on Lendio to get them the capital, they need to make payroll. So now it's not just my payroll. That's at stake. It's the payroll of every single one of these businesses, to the tune of two and a half billion dollars, that is at stake. Think about the impact of each business owner. They would have to go and tell their own team members. I can't make payroll because, we didn't get our PPP loan, and have that, you know, told 10,000 times now. All of the employees of each of those, you know, 20,000 businesses. And, you know, so how many people is that? so you start going through that math and all of a sudden now the pressure get, keeps increasing and you're failing like. Man this thing is going to crash and burn and, and, ruin, not only Lendio and our reputation, but you know, my personal reputation, your career. I mean, there's just, there was just a lot
Ben Taylor:there Brock one of the things I wanted to make sure I asked you is how do you balance the stress and load of the business and the responsibilities of being a father and a husband? this is a sore spot for a lot of CEOs. They can't balance the two.
Brock Blake:Well, this has been a priority of mine, from early on in my career. and it's not something I want to say that I'm expert at, but it is something I'm passionate about. early on, as we were actually raising money and we had a term sheet from a prolific, venture investor from the Bay area. we were about to accept the term sheet and he flew into town and we were out to lunch and. He was asking me about, my life outside of work and, at the time when he had a son and a daughter and. I talked about how important they were to me. And he said, well, talk to me about priority of your family compared to work. And I was like, well what do you mean? He said, well, you know, in my history with the CEOs that I've worked with, I've really found that, either are a successful CEO or you are a successful father. husband or father, but it's really challenging. I've never seen anyone do both. They kind of have to choose one or the other. And if for you, which one would you choose and he's like, you can't do both. And In that moment, it just made me sick and just angry. and I was a young entrepreneur and I've seeking, you know, can you not do balls? Is this, do I have to choose? And, In that moment also kind of said, I'm not going to,
Ben Taylor:can you hear all that back
Brock Blake:I'm so sorry.
Ben Taylor:a little bit? It's not a big deal.
Brock Blake:Gosh, dang. Gimme one second.
Ben Taylor:It's on topic. Okay. I'll just leave
Brock Blake:Yeah, sorry about that. So in that I, first of all, knew that he wasn't the right partner. We decided after he left that we were not going to accept the term sheet. But secondly, I just said, I'm going to dedicate my career as an entrepreneur. Like I am going to set it out to prove that you can be a successful father, husband, and father and successful CEO, and be great at both. And I'm confident I haven't hit that milestone yet, but I am very passionate about it. And it's really just a, it is a matter of. what are priorities? How do you make time? And you know, so you, there's other things you have to sacrifice, other personal pursuits or other things that may take up your time. but it is a priority for me to be able to spend time with each of my kids and to be able to have a date night with my wife on Friday nights, and to be able to do those things that and involve them into the, in the company and, it is a challenge. no question. We, we also go on, you know, regular family vacations and, I have to work when I'm there. I'll wake up early and I'll work in the mornings and then spend the afternoons with my family. But, you know, do those things. That you have to sacrifice, you have to work at it,
Ben Taylor:but
Brock Blake:to try and not only manage your schedule at, at the office, but
Ben Taylor:also with your wife and kids. I think that's really good advice actually taking those vacations because I think a lot of CEOs, they just don't understand how that would be possible. one of our other guests, the CEO of AtScale, he was recommending take a week-long vacation after every quarter. Kind of restart the quarter.
Brock Blake:I wish It was more methodical like that. to be honest with you, I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow, but I, for me. it's been since July, I've I've been coaching football, and so I go to the office. Early. And I'm the head coach of the ninth grade freshmen football team and which requires, you know, six days a week, two to three hours in the evening every night. And it's a lot of sacrifice, but it also has an name. You know, I get to spend a lot of time with my son, but I don't get to spend as much time with my daughters during those few months. And to be able to take a vacation and go down and spend some much needed time, my daughters and, kind of, you know, during this time it's, you do your best. And for me, there's it's hard to balance it all, but, it's just where your
Ben Taylor:priorities lie. do you think you get some strategic insights or clarifications around the business when you are able to take a vacation? So when you're out doing something fun with the family, do you feel refreshed when you come back where you can be more strategic or not make as many mistakes in the startup?
Brock Blake:No question. and I asked that's actually, one of the things that I've talked about quite a bit is I feel like there are a lot of entrepreneurs or others that never take vacation. I just can't, there's no way I can get away from it. They feel that responsibility. And I actually feel like. That I'm a better entrepreneur when I have more balance in my life, for me, I wake up in the morning and I do, you know, a personal, you know, scripture study slash meditation time. I need to get a workout in the morning. and then when I'm actually at work and the hours that I'm spending at work, like my efficiency, it may be less hours, but they're the most effective hours. Like it's, I'm just, you know, you just cranking and every half an hour of the day is planned. And so it's yeah, get in and get out. And, They're very effective. and then, you know, like you said, when you turn your email off, you turn your phone off and you're able to. go on vacation and get your feet in the sand and, do some of those things. we go to Lake Powell every year and go off grid I don't have email or phone or text message. And I can just, spend time with my family. And now all of a sudden, your mind. when it's not forced to, you know, be solving problems, it chooses it's, I don't even know how to explain it, but it makes me more effective in really thinking through new ideas or new ways to solve problems. And so for me, it's definitely made me a better entrepreneur to, have balance with
Ben Taylor:family And some time off. That's wonderful insight because I think young entrepreneurs, I was laughing at the beginning cause I was thinking, do entrepreneurs grow up? Because when you're young, it's about the hustle. It's about the ego and the money. And then when you get more sophisticated and you focus more on family, have you noticed that with some of your other friends where the ego's not really there? The idea of hustling is not really their family becomes a higher priority or have you noticed that with yourself?
Brock Blake:Well, for sure with myself, I don't know about others, but I remember early on in my career, it was like, You know, you read the entrepreneur magazines, you see the guy on the front cover, they just sold their business and you're thinking, Oh, I'm going to do that. I'm going to build this. I'm going to sell it. I'm going to drive off in the sunset, the Lamborghini, and you know, everything of, short-term thinking and it's, I'm going to build it to sell it. And I've had such a. Kind of change of heart. It's not about building it to sell it. It's about building a 100 year business that is enduring, that is sustainable. That has an impact on the lives of people that leaves a legacy. And, I'm going to be an entrepreneur. If I sold this, then you know, I'd probably take a week off my mind would be thinking about what's the next problem I'm going to go solve. And so I'm going to go be an entrepreneur again. So for me, it's, a lot more. I changed my approach and from short-term energy hustle into, and during legacy sustainability, building something that, can really make an impact on the lives of others and be around a long time. Now someone comes and gives us an offer. We can't refuse, you know, we'll consider it that time. But the way I think about it is let's build a business that we can take IPO or whatever that is sustainable
Ben Taylor:Over the long period. kind of reminds me of the working smarter, not harder with the hustle, you just can work really hard, but how many mistakes are you making quantity? Isn't quality. And I've definitely been there where you work the long hours and the quality's not there, but you're hustling. so what is it about the BYU soccer team and them just turning out entrepreneurs? is that where people are, like, how many entrepreneurs have spun out of that soccer team?
Brock Blake:How did you
Ben Taylor:make that connection? Listen to one of your old episodes. I think you're talking to Clint or there's some to those interviewing you. And last time we talked about Garrett, Garrett, came from the BYU soccer team. That's random. So H how
Brock Blake:it is, you know, it's random about that. It's totally true. You know, I think part of it is that there, are about a dozen, entrepreneurs from the BYU soccer team. When I played my few, that years there that are very successful entrepreneurs. And there may be more than that, out of a class of. You know, let's call it, 50 people and to have that many very successful entrepreneurs
Ben Taylor:it's
Brock Blake:surprising, honestly thinking about all the other careers they could take. But I think as part of it is, at BYU, they didn't have scholarship. It wasn't a division one program. We were a club program. And all of us wanted to be there at BYU. We wanted to play soccer, but we didn't have all of our school and all of our food and all of our housing and everything else paid for. So not only did we have to go to school, you know, and do all of our credits and keep our grades up, but we also had to work. to pay for our school and our books and our housing. And then we add a part-time job in soccer that, that required, you know, 20 plus hours a week, where we were working out and competing. And so that mixture, that combination of that environment of. all these things that we have to be able to maintain and being very competitive, but being like, we have to think outside the box, you can't just fit it all in. I think bred this thinking of, being scrappy and being entrepreneurial and being competitive and being, you know, resourceful and some, a lot of those attributes that are. That lead to, entrepreneurship. it's amazing to watch, the players that I've played with
Ben Taylor:and the number of companies that have come out That's incredible. And maybe that's proof right there that soccer players are smarter than football players. You got the data, right? You've got the data to back that up.
Brock Blake:I'm a football coach
Ben Taylor:Oh, that's right. Oh crap. Oh no,
Brock Blake:take you up on now. And
Ben Taylor:under the bus.
Brock Blake:baseball will throw a baseball under the
Ben Taylor:Those guys are lazy.
Brock Blake:Yeah, it was lazy baseball players.
Ben Taylor:yeah, that's funny. I didn't mean to offend your entire football team there'll be very successful. So Brock You had something unusual happen to you When You were in--college, you actually won an entrepreneur cash prize. Walk us through that story.
Brock Blake:I did when I was at BYU and I was, you know, trying to make ends meet. a friend of mine told me about this entrepreneurial program where if we, it was kind of like the TV show, the apprentice at the time without the Donald Trump saying you're fired and without all the camera and the glitz and glamor, but it was. They add a hundred college students apply and the 20 of them were selected and you would go through this eight week bootcamp. every week, there was a theme, you know, it'd be a marketing theme and do a four-hour education, classroom style. And then they were like, Hey, this week's competition. Is go, you know, market for an event and get as many people as you can at that event. And come back and report next week. And then there was a sales competition and you have to go sell as many water bottles as you could, and then
Ben Taylor:come back and report to the
Brock Blake:week and all these
Ben Taylor:different So that's pretty applied.
Brock Blake:it was awesome.
Ben Taylor:Yeah. That's amazing.
Brock Blake:An actually higher view. Came out of that, that,
Ben Taylor:that same program,
Brock Blake:the Hutu partners, Ryan money, or the concept around it, so anyways, at the end of the eight weeks, and those 20 of us went to this bootcamp, five were selected and give them$50,000 to go start a business and they could use it for any business idea. I can go buy a business, I could start a business. I could do whatever. so I was fortunate to be one of those five winners and that really kinda got me on
Ben Taylor:feet and it helped
Brock Blake:me to, to
Ben Taylor:start my entrepreneurial career. did that check, was it a convertible note, were there strings attached or was just a check?
Brock Blake:No, it was a convertible note. Well, it was a debt facility. but went through with your business and it failed, you didn't have to pay it back. But if you did well and you succeeded, then they, you know, they encourage you to pay that back. So I was able to pay that loan off. the nice thing is if it had upside, then you paid it back. But if, you know, either it removed the risk and it was, a lifesaver for me as someone who wanted to be an entrepreneur or didn't come from a wealthy family, And needed to figure out how to, you know, jumpstart my career right out of college and make it happen. I almost bought it. I almost bought a ice cream store. I almost bought this, you know, there's a few businesses that I almost bought. But anyways, it was
Ben Taylor:a true blessing for
Brock Blake:To, start
Ben Taylor:my career. One of the thoughts I had listening to you is I think a lot of times people want to know what the secret sauce is or how you made all these decisions. But really a lot of it is luck, right? Like right time, right place. You're here. You're not running an ice cream store, but in another parallel universe, you're running an ice cream store right now.
Brock Blake:better. Be lucky than good. Right.
Ben Taylor:Yeah. So this podcast it's called the more intelligence tomorrow. We do like to think a lot about the future. So what do you think about when you think about a more intelligent tomorrow? What are the future technologies that your kids need to be thinking about or that you need to be looking to with your business? What's lending going to be like 10 years from now?
Brock Blake:Well lending in the future will be you'll have access to capital because the capital is basically monitoring your financials and you'll always know exactly how much money you're qualified for whether that is uh, you know, a mortgage, a car payment or a business loan. the data will become so ubiquitous and it will be. Available that, it's called in my opinion, always on application. I'll always be able to see, okay, at this moment, I'm eligible for a a a hundred thousand dollar loan, you know, I can draw on it at any time. but you know, as your credit score decreases your your eligibility might decrease or is it increases or whatever it may increase, but it'll, it'll be ever-present and you won't have to go through what is traditionally known as an application process today. Like today I want to go buy a car. Okay. I need to go and fill out that application. I need to submit it. They need to go through a bunch of these credit checks and things like that. That won't be the case in the future. You know, that's something and more intelligent future for the, for low lending. but I sure hope that one of the things that I hope for the future and it doesn't have anything to do with technology honestly, is I hope that when the vaccine comes and we're out of this pandemic, that. there will still be the personal relationships as much as I love doing everything over zoom and everything else, you know, the personal relationships that come by being in person and being able to, give someone a hug and, be able to build a relationship of trust and have personal experiences together and all those things That's the, that's actually the part of, of life that I hope doesn't get replaced and that we can get back to. And, and,
Ben Taylor:it's not replaced by all this technology that, exists today. There's definitely something very human about a handshake or a conversation over dinner compared to zoom where it's only as much as it is. Well, Brock I really appreciate your time. I, I've had a lot of value out of this You delivered a lot of really good content for our listeners and for young entrepreneurs as they think about this journey. So Really appreciate you being on
Brock Blake:My pleasure. This has been fun conversation.
Ben Taylor:I've enjoyed it and appreciate you helping me out. Okay, man, I don't want to make you late for your date night.
Brock Blake:that's right. It is
Ben Taylor:Let's go.