Brian McRae walked away from a comfortable W-2 job to chase something more fulfilling—control, freedom, and impact. What followed was a leadership journey rooted in service. In this episode, Brian shares how he transitioned from the mortgage world to building a coaching and mastermind business that thrives on authentic relationships.
He didn’t advertise. He didn’t pitch. Instead, he launched a free monthly event focused on giving away practical strategies—like handwritten notes—that made attendees feel seen. Within three years, 60% of his business came through that event, and he never once asked for referrals.
Brian shares the "Ezra Principle"—study, practice, teach—as his guiding framework. He also talks about how building community led to the creation of The Boardroom, a mastermind group for financial professionals looking to lead with heart, not hustle.
His story is a masterclass in leadership through generosity and consistency. If you want to grow by helping others win, this episode is your playbook.
Want to learn more about Brian McRae's work? Check out their website at https://www.briankmcrae.com.
Connect with Brian McRae on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/briankmcrae/.
Key Points with Timestamps
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00:01:08 — Brian’s background: From mortgage banker to mastermind leader
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00:05:17 — Leaving the W-2 world for more control and freedom
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00:06:24 — Discovering the power of a relationship-driven business model
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00:08:00 — Launching his first event: 15 attendees and free lunch
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00:11:12 — From restaurant kickouts to standing-room-only crowds
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00:13:05 — Building a brand around generosity, gratitude, and handwritten notes
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00:16:01 — The Ezra Principle: Study, practice, teach
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00:17:08 — How handwritten notes made one attendee the #1 home inspector
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00:19:47 — 60% of Brian’s business came from the event—with no selling
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00:21:49 — Long-term leadership through deposits, not withdrawals
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00:24:37 — Should you give away your “secret sauce”? Brian’s answer: Yes
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00:28:47 — How collaboration—not competition—built his community
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00:29:08 — The Boardroom: A mastermind for financial professionals
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00:31:33 — Holding each other capable: Building visions together
Transcript
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment in my career.
00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on this show.
00;00;51;10 - 00;01;08;15
Craig Andrews
Today I will welcome Brian McRae. He is the founder of Accelerate Coaching and Consulting. He also runs a mastermind called The Boardroom and is for financial advisors, CPAs and other financial professionals.
00;01;08;15 - 00;01;24;19
Craig Andrews
Brian started off in the mortgage business and decided it was time to have a little bit more control over his life, and he sort of stumbled into a coaching and consulting business, and in the process, he was able to generate a ton of leads for his business.
00;01;24;21 - 00;01;33;11
Craig Andrews
And so now he teaches others how to do that. And other business leadership lessons. Brian, welcome.
00;01;33;14 - 00;01;40;14
Brian McRae
Well, Craig, it is a pleasure. It's an honor. And thank you for the invite. I'm excited to be here.
00;01;40;17 - 00;01;49;25
Craig Andrews
Absolutely. Well, and you know, then somewhere more towards the end, we're going to be talking about masterminds. We should probably tell folks how we met.
00;01;49;27 - 00;01;50;27
Brian McRae
Yeah. Well,
00;01;50;27 - 00;01;51;17
Brian McRae
you know, there's,
00;01;51;17 - 00;01;59;27
Brian McRae
a guy by the name of Aaron Walker who started this little movement called Iron Sharpens Iron and mastermind groups. And, I know,
00;01;59;27 - 00;02;06;02
Brian McRae
I know big A pretty well. And I know Derrick Champagne very well. I was in a mastermind with them and,
00;02;06;02 - 00;02;07;20
Brian McRae
for years. And,
00;02;07;20 - 00;02;11;14
Brian McRae
anyway, Derek and Derek and they reached out to me and asked me if I would,
00;02;11;14 - 00;02;14;07
Brian McRae
be willing to come in and talk about,
00;02;14;07 - 00;02;15;17
Brian McRae
faith in the workplace.
00;02;15;17 - 00;02;19;21
Brian McRae
And so we had a conversation. I think you were part of that. And then,
00;02;19;21 - 00;02;25;07
Brian McRae
just like so many events, you meet people and have good conversations after you had a part of an event. And,
00;02;25;07 - 00;02;27;09
Brian McRae
you know, we connected and,
00;02;27;09 - 00;02;33;09
Brian McRae
it was like I said, it was it was an honor for you to think of me, to be, you know, to to share a story with your audience.
00;02;33;10 - 00;02;34;23
Brian McRae
So thank you.
00;02;34;25 - 00;02;48;20
Craig Andrews
Well, you know, I love one of the things I love about podcasting is I get to talk to so many different people who've learned some amazing lessons in life. And so I get to sit here and, you know, in 30 minutes,
00;02;48;20 - 00;02;54;25
Craig Andrews
you know, learn just things that lessons that people pay big money,
00;02;54;25 - 00;03;01;02
Craig Andrews
to learn from. I mean, I had John Hewitt, the founder of Jackson Hewitt Tax Services, on the podcast.
00;03;01;04 - 00;03;06;18
Craig Andrews
I'm sitting there talking to him for about 30 minutes. I'm like, I mean, this is great. He's he created,
00;03;06;18 - 00;03;07;02
Craig Andrews
not only,
00;03;07;02 - 00;03;08;22
Craig Andrews
Jackson Hewitt, but also,
00;03;08;22 - 00;03;20;12
Craig Andrews
Liberty Tax Services, the only two national competitors to H&R block. And I get to talk to him for a half hour or so. That's why I invited, you know, it's like I get to learn from my guest.
00;03;20;12 - 00;03;22;23
Craig Andrews
It's a really, really cool thing.
00;03;22;25 - 00;03;26;12
Brian McRae
Well, this might be a short interview, then. So.
00;03;26;14 - 00;03;28;01
Craig Andrews
Well, no, anything I don't.
00;03;28;01 - 00;03;32;08
Brian McRae
Have anything on like that compared to Mr. Hewitt, but,
00;03;32;10 - 00;03;33;01
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well,
00;03;33;01 - 00;03;33;28
Craig Andrews
here's something funny.
00;03;33;28 - 00;03;34;16
Craig Andrews
My,
00;03;34;16 - 00;03;49;28
Craig Andrews
somebody who works for me. Basically, you have to get through her to get get on the podcast. Unless you get a direct invitation from me. And she rejected the CEO of a $1.6 billion company. Wow. And,
00;03;49;28 - 00;03;56;07
Craig Andrews
so we we have one of those teachable moments where I was like, hey, let's just bring the number down to 100 million.
00;03;56;07 - 00;03;56;11
Craig Andrews
If
00;03;56;11 - 00;04;11;18
Craig Andrews
at the CEO of any business doing 100 million or more in revenue once come on the podcast, the answer is yes. I don't care, you know, unless it's in like, the cannabis business. That's one place I don't go. But, you know, pretty much any legal business,
00;04;11;18 - 00;04;15;03
Craig Andrews
and some illegal businesses, as long as they record themselves.
00;04;15;03 - 00;04;16;19
Craig Andrews
I'd be interested in what they learn.
00;04;16;19 - 00;04;20;13
Craig Andrews
I don't know if you've ever. Have you ever heard. Do you know who Michael Francis is?
00;04;20;16 - 00;04;24;05
Brian McRae
I have seen Michael speak. He's got an amazing story.
00;04;24;07 - 00;04;38;16
Craig Andrews
Wicked. Wicked smart, you know, reformed gangster. You know, combo. The Colombo crime family. And just one of these people has a natural knack for business, saying he used to do it for illegal businesses, and now he does it legally.
00;04;38;19 - 00;04;39;06
Brian McRae
He is,
00;04;39;06 - 00;04;45;29
Brian McRae
it's a phenomenal story as well. Yeah, it's he's he's he's gifted.
00;04;46;01 - 00;05;08;26
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Anyways, well, you know, in the green room we were talking a little bit about, you know, I think the journey of so many entrepreneurs is they, they walk away from what most people would think is a good job and do something that looks crazy and maybe even stupid,
00;05;08;26 - 00;05;17;19
Craig Andrews
and then persevere. And it it sounds like that was a little bit of your exit from the mortgage business.
00;05;17;21 - 00;05;22;01
Brian McRae
Well, it was definitely my exit from the W-2 world.
00;05;22;01 - 00;05;29;11
Brian McRae
In 2002, I was, you know, I had a that was did a great job.
00;05;29;11 - 00;05;37;04
Brian McRae
I'm a leader that I was learning a lot from, but it was just a job that, candidly, I wasn't feeling. I didn't feel good about it.
00;05;37;04 - 00;05;45;08
Brian McRae
It was. I'd be in the car at six in the morning, getting out of the car at 6 or 7 at night, and it wasn't in.
00;05;45;08 - 00;05;49;18
Brian McRae
I might have been physically home, but I wasn't mentally home. And,
00;05;49;18 - 00;05;53;27
Brian McRae
it was bad. And I just had this.
00;05;53;29 - 00;06;07;09
Brian McRae
Angst over me for about five and a half days a week. You know, I'm Saturday morning about 11:00. I'd start to feel a little bit better, and then it would start to hit me again Sunday evening and it just wasn't any fun.
00;06;07;09 - 00;06;08;28
Brian McRae
So I left that got was,
00;06;08;28 - 00;06;13;28
Brian McRae
mentored. I had a but ended up being a mentor of mine that kept pursuing me to get into the mortgage business.
00;06;13;28 - 00;06;24;00
Brian McRae
And candidly, I didn't really have any business getting in the mortgage business. I didn't know anything about the mortgage industry other than I had one, and I knew when my payment was due.
00;06;24;00 - 00;06;38;28
Brian McRae
But other than that, what I got convicted on was that I could build something that was mine. It was a relationship driven business. Well, my research show that the most successful professionals in that industry were relationship driven and they could build their.
00;06;39;01 - 00;06;55;02
Brian McRae
There's a lot of latitude on how you could build your business. I loved that, I loved it, and the most successful people that I talked to before I started told me he said, you know, you can make what you're worth and work when you want. I'm like, I like that time and money with two freedoms that I'd like to have.
00;06;55;02 - 00;06;55;29
Brian McRae
So,
00;06;55;29 - 00;07;03;10
Brian McRae
so yeah, so that, that's what got me into the business. I had a good mentor, and off I went. So again, I've been still, still in the mortgage business, and,
00;07;03;10 - 00;07;04;18
Brian McRae
I've got a team,
00;07;04;18 - 00;07;09;26
Brian McRae
which you'll hear my journey if you're interested in me sharing that. But that's really in terms of leadership.
00;07;09;26 - 00;07;15;06
Brian McRae
My entire career prior to the mortgage business was all about building, you know, developing people.
00;07;15;10 - 00;07;19;05
Brian McRae
And wherever I was at. And that's always been kind of a theme is,
00;07;19;05 - 00;07;26;08
Brian McRae
you know, I like helping people grow and build something that is important to them. So. And that's what,
00;07;26;08 - 00;07;32;01
Brian McRae
but I took a step back in the mortgage business to really get, the base of building that myself. And,
00;07;32;01 - 00;07;35;25
Brian McRae
and then what started to scale that business back up and build a team.
00;07;35;25 - 00;07;39;09
Brian McRae
So I'm still in that, still in the mortgage business. I'm still coaching.
00;07;39;09 - 00;07;40;05
Brian McRae
And that's where my,
00;07;40;05 - 00;07;44;28
Brian McRae
at this phase of my career, that's where my real passions at is, is really in the coaching side of it. So.
00;07;45;01 - 00;07;50;29
Craig Andrews
You know, so at some point you started running seminars.
00;07;51;02 - 00;07;52;10
Brian McRae
Yeah.
00;07;52;10 - 00;07;56;21
Brian McRae
Well, that's candidly, I can trace it back to. That's how you and I met.
00;07;56;21 - 00;07;58;11
Brian McRae
So,
00;07;58;11 - 00;08;00;26
Brian McRae
I there's but,
00;08;00;26 - 00;08;02;14
Brian McRae
8 or 9 years into my business,
00;08;02;14 - 00;08;05;09
Brian McRae
the mortgage business, I'd had some success.
00;08;05;09 - 00;08;07;21
Brian McRae
And I don't want to. I'm not trying to impress upon,
00;08;07;21 - 00;08;11;26
Brian McRae
impress everybody with some things, but I was named at the top 1% originator.
00;08;11;28 - 00;08;14;00
Brian McRae
But it was all through relationships.
00;08;14;00 - 00;08;24;22
Brian McRae
But if you go back to that time frame, Craig, it was 2010. I'm sitting at my kitchen counter, and if I know your audience is,
00;08;24;22 - 00;08;26;01
Brian McRae
small business owners,
00;08;26;01 - 00;08;35;05
Brian McRae
you know, you know, most of them know what it's like. You don't know what you're you don't know what you're going to be earning, you know, 330 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days out.
00;08;35;08 - 00;08;51;21
Brian McRae
You know, in many small businesses, you're you're you're you're you've got to produce. And so I'm sitting there and while I had some success and I can, you know, what's what's next. And I was candidly, I just started a new church and I was really starting to take, you know, my next step in my walk and my faith walk.
00;08;51;21 - 00;08;56;19
Brian McRae
And I just remember sitting at the kitchen counter, and I. And I don't say these words lightly,
00;08;56;19 - 00;09;08;19
Brian McRae
but I believe it was the Holy Spirit that said, you know, just because I was like, what's next? It was towards the end of the year where everybody's doing their planning for the upcoming year. And I was just kind of thinking I was and I heard these words inspire people.
00;09;08;21 - 00;09;13;11
Brian McRae
And like, I had no idea. I just kind of brushed it off. Well, lo and behold,
00;09;13;11 - 00;09;19;24
Brian McRae
that was about a year later I ran into less than a year later, I had met somebody,
00;09;19;24 - 00;09;20;28
Brian McRae
who wrote a book.
00;09;20;28 - 00;09;24;20
Brian McRae
I asked him some questions, attended one of his events, and,
00;09;24;20 - 00;09;27;20
Brian McRae
he reached out after the event and encouraged me to start an event.
00;09;27;22 - 00;09;29;16
Brian McRae
And so I did. And,
00;09;29;16 - 00;09;32;11
Brian McRae
that was in August of 2011. Craig. And,
00;09;32;11 - 00;09;49;05
Brian McRae
so the reason I started the event was I was in the mortgage space. And if you think about the economy, then my top two, the top two industries that I had relationships with, it would refer business to me, refer clients to me, were real estate agents and financial advisors.
00;09;49;07 - 00;09;59;00
Brian McRae
And they're you know, real estate values where we're in the tank. And, you know, financial advisors weren't managing for one case. They were managing two oh, one case.
00;09;59;00 - 00;10;08;13
Brian McRae
So the, you know, so their businesses and so I was looking for something that would encourage people. So I was looking for evergreen things. And this the gentleman wrote this book.
00;10;08;13 - 00;10;09;08
Brian McRae
It was a great book,
00;10;09;08 - 00;10;11;20
Brian McRae
called Seven Levels of Communication. And
00;10;11;20 - 00;10;25;13
Brian McRae
so when I started the event, I talked about that book for a while, and it was all about relationships and things. It just really started resonating with people. So I just built the the entire event. It was free to attend with about 15 people at the first one.
00;10;25;16 - 00;10;39;24
Brian McRae
And, you know, I always said, hey, we're going to, you know, if you're I'll make this easy to run and easy to attend. And I said, if you enjoyed today, just invite somebody. We're going to do this the same time next month. And I just committed to doing it once a month and keeping it free.
00;10;39;26 - 00;10;44;18
Craig Andrews
And well, you told me that the first one, you actually had to bribe people with lunch together.
00;10;44;20 - 00;10;57;03
Brian McRae
We really we did. We had to get people there. Hey, we're going to talk about this, but we're gonna buy you lunch. And so it was we had about 15 people there. And yes, I paid for lunch and it kept growing and lunch started to get expensive. So and I didn't have any sponsors. So,
00;10;57;03 - 00;10;58;04
Brian McRae
I didn't have let me rephrase.
00;10;58;04 - 00;10;59;24
Brian McRae
I didn't have enough sponsors.
00;10;59;24 - 00;11;12;25
Brian McRae
But so we and we actually got, the blessing was we got kicked out of that place because we were taking up too much parking. So that restaurant we got kicked out of, and it moved us around to another place, and it gave us a little bit more space. We outgrew that.
00;11;12;25 - 00;11;13;28
Brian McRae
Then we moved to another space.
00;11;13;28 - 00;11;17;24
Brian McRae
We outgrew that. We got kicked. We got kicked out of three different places before we landed,
00;11;17;24 - 00;11;22;10
Brian McRae
and eventually got kicked out of a fourth. And we ended up at a, a fifth place. But we,
00;11;22;10 - 00;11;37;27
Brian McRae
we ended up getting probably 2 to 300 people a month showing up at a free event, talking about building a business around relationships and really just, you know, timeless strategies of loving on people, caring about them, generosity, curiosity, gratitude,
00;11;37;27 - 00;11;40;12
Brian McRae
and just sharing stories and then connecting.
00;11;40;12 - 00;11;49;21
Brian McRae
And so the event was all about connecting people and possibilities, and the possibilities was through things that I was, you know, that I would curate and just share with the audience. And it just kept growing.
00;11;49;21 - 00;11;52;10
Craig Andrews
And so let me ask this, the, the,
00;11;52;10 - 00;12;00;19
Craig Andrews
so every month to let's say, it's 250. Was it the same 250 or was a new 250 every month?
00;12;00;21 - 00;12;13;07
Brian McRae
I would say, you know, it's a good question. I didn't keep track and I never really did a study on it, but there was a core group of probably 40 to 60 people that were there on a consistent basis. It was pretty crazy, to be honest with you, Craig.
00;12;13;07 - 00;12;23;05
Brian McRae
We always ended up running. I mean, if you somebody once called it Business Church, but our event would start at 10:00 and we would have standing room only.
00;12;23;05 - 00;12;39;15
Brian McRae
And I told you we had groups and places, and we have standing room only. And people were showing up at 830 to get a seat. And that was the first thing I'm like, somebody said, why don't you, you know, Brian, if could I buy a table? So I'm like, oh, that's a good idea. So we set up tables and they would buy a table.
00;12;39;15 - 00;12;51;20
Brian McRae
So that was our first sponsor. Somebody was begging me to be able to reserve seats. So it was awesome. Anyway, but no, it wasn't the same all the time. And candidly, it was really about having a givers heart.
00;12;51;20 - 00;13;05;03
Brian McRae
And I won't bore you with the philosophy, but we were looking for givers to show up. We were teaching how to be a successful giver in the marketplace, how to give your time, your talent, your treasure could be giving, you know, making connections, giving referrals.
00;13;05;06 - 00;13;25;24
Brian McRae
We just talked about timeless relationships, strategies and just unique ways to do it where it wasn't shameless self-promotion or ask begging for referrals. Nobody wants to do that, and they hate it. And so I didn't want to talk about it that way. So we just talked about becoming radically referable by being the most influential and likable person in your community.
00;13;25;26 - 00;13;34;25
Brian McRae
The people just couldn't wait to help you. And that's how relationship it helped people open up doors. And it was just a grass. It was awesome. So but that's how we,
00;13;34;25 - 00;13;39;27
Brian McRae
and we just encourage people to invite people that they cared about. And we just kept growing.
00;13;39;29 - 00;13;44;18
Craig Andrews
You know, it's funny when you talk about that make being the person they want to help the most.
00;13;44;18 - 00;13;47;07
Craig Andrews
You know, you and I chatted a little bit about my history,
00;13;47;07 - 00;14;00;03
Craig Andrews
with Covid. You know, I was in a overcrowded hospital with a disease that could potentially kill anybody that walked into my room, and the nursing staff was overworked.
00;14;00;05 - 00;14;05;23
Craig Andrews
And when my strategies was, I wouldn't be the room that they most want to go into.
00;14;05;26 - 00;14;10;15
Brian McRae
Absolute as a great story. Well, Great. It saved your life.
00;14;10;17 - 00;14;14;03
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, there's I believe it was a miracle. And,
00;14;14;03 - 00;14;27;14
Craig Andrews
and my wife insisting that, you know, basically when they told her you can't visit your dying husband, she's like, no, let's try another answer. And she bullied her way into the hospital, almost got arrested one time, and,
00;14;27;17 - 00;14;39;24
Craig Andrews
but yeah, that's for another conversation, but I she I heard her in my coma and, so, but kind of going back to that,
00;14;39;24 - 00;14;49;09
Craig Andrews
you know, the thing that really struck me when I was listening to you talk about initially in the green room was, you know, I was a little bit envious and a little bit,
00;14;51;07 - 00;15;16;14
Craig Andrews
Frustrated because I was like, I'd love to be able to pack, you know, host an event for and have 250 people showing up, you know, an hour and a half early and asking to buy tables. What what was it? What did you do? What was the magnetism that created that following?
00;15;16;17 - 00;15;29;09
Brian McRae
I dwell. It anything that comes out of my mouth, please know that it's just me trying to share what I learned along the process. Because the credits, in hindsight, can really you know,
00;15;29;09 - 00;15;31;17
Brian McRae
I think we both share a common faith, but,
00;15;31;17 - 00;15;39;00
Brian McRae
God had his hand on it, so the glory goes to him. But he gifted me with something, and I just.
00;15;39;02 - 00;15;48;14
Brian McRae
I felt like I was supposed to be in that room and be an encouragement to the people that were there. And it was a very simple philosophy,
00;15;48;14 - 00;16;01;15
Brian McRae
which ties biblically, if you go to the book of Ezra, I call it the Ezra Principle, but I think it's Ezra 710 that says Ezra. I'll paraphrase. Ezra studied, he practiced, and he taught.
00;16;01;17 - 00;16;03;27
Brian McRae
And that's all I did.
00;16;03;27 - 00;16;24;23
Brian McRae
And I was studying things that I wanted to have in my business. And then, by the way, when I say the simplest things, I'll give you an example. Greg, one of the things we talked about was handwritten notes and some specific ways to write them. So we would share it one week or one month, and then somebody would do it and they would have a good story about it.
00;16;24;23 - 00;16;35;23
Brian McRae
And then I put them on a panel because they'd be able to come up. One guy that attended event took one strategy at that event. Now I was in the mortgage space, so it attracted a lot of real estate oriented,
00;16;35;23 - 00;16;38;15
Brian McRae
people and financial services.
00;16;38;15 - 00;16;44;29
Brian McRae
But one guy was a home inspector. He became the number one home home inspector in the largest home inspection company in the country.
00;16;45;02 - 00;17;08;06
Brian McRae
Do you know what his number one strategy was? But handwritten notes? Well. He was just loving on people with a handwritten note. If you got a handwritten note from this guy, you were like, oh, my gosh, he would edify you. He would say thank you. He was the most grateful. And he just took that one strategy and just ran with it, you know?
00;17;08;06 - 00;17;27;17
Brian McRae
And we would. That's all we did is we talked about these things that anybody could do because it was it was just loving on people. It's all it was. He would send a handwritten note and when you got it, you kept it. You pinned it on your board and it said Mark Warren, right there. What kind of what better advertising can you have about a relationship?
00;17;27;20 - 00;17;44;03
Brian McRae
Boom. Anytime. I now, by the way, I wasn't anytime I could, I was a raving fan of Mark Warren because he would send me a handwritten note probably once every. Yeah, Mark it Mark was a perfect example of somebody that at the event he was one of the ambassadors and he just kept sharing it. You know what Mark did?
00;17;44;07 - 00;18;00;14
Brian McRae
He just implemented stuff to make people feel great. He'd bring me a book. He brought me John Maxwell's 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, inscribed a little handwritten note on the inside of it, laid it on my computer. After one of the events, I picked it up. I started reading like, oh my gosh, guess what I did? I started studying that book.
00;18;00;16 - 00;18;17;23
Brian McRae
I'm like, oh my gosh. And then I started sharing things from that. People loved it and I'm not trying to brag about it, but it was just such a genuine and authentic way to build something because it wasn't about me. I didn't really I didn't talk about being in the mortgage business. I didn't brag about being in the mortgage business.
00;18;17;25 - 00;18;38;26
Brian McRae
I didn't ask for business at the event. I tried to help other people grow their business through time tested strategies and just loving on other people. Build relationships, love on your clients, love on your referral partners. And as Zig Ziglar says, if you help enough people get what they want, you can have everything you want. And that I was trying to take that to heart.
00;18;38;26 - 00;18;44;07
Brian McRae
I didn't ask for much running the event actually didn't ask for anything other than invite somebody that you care about.
00;18;44;10 - 00;18;52;07
Craig Andrews
So when you said it eventually became your either your top source or one of your top sources for leads.
00;18;52;09 - 00;18;54;07
Brian McRae
Well, just a little distinction.
00;18;54;07 - 00;19;15;26
Brian McRae
The answer is yes. And it might seem small, but this is was big to me. You use the term leads and a lead is something that comes in, I view something a lead is something that comes in from something that you're not. You have no relational affiliation to. If there's a relational affiliation to it, it's a referral.
00;19;15;28 - 00;19;18;02
Brian McRae
Just not judging in that. But no.
00;19;18;02 - 00;19;25;15
Craig Andrews
No, no, I, I get and know that and I appreciate that distinction. When I think about businesses, you know, a lot of.
00;19;25;15 - 00;19;26;27
Brian McRae
Owners are looking for leads.
00;19;27;01 - 00;19;27;27
Craig Andrews
They're looking for leads.
00;19;27;28 - 00;19;39;05
Brian McRae
And by the way, referrals are a form of leads. But there's a relational equity that usually comes with that. So the short answer is I think you asked me, you know, the last time I looked at it,
00;19;39;05 - 00;19;47;12
Brian McRae
well over 60% of my business within about three years of running this event was tied to that event, and I did not.
00;19;47;15 - 00;19;55;07
Brian McRae
So if you think about it, I was not asking for business there, but financial advisors were coming. Estate planning attorneys were coming.
00;19;55;07 - 00;20;19;02
Brian McRae
Real estate agents were coming. And when they would see me share things and help other people, they genuinely had questions. Or in a best case scenario, if there was somebody in the room that showed up that I knew that I wanted to call upon, I could give them a call, and they usually would answer when they would because they saw what the deposits that I was making in the community through this shared learning event.
00;20;19;04 - 00;20;24;21
Brian McRae
So it just made it easier for me to build relationships.
00;20;24;23 - 00;20;40;10
Craig Andrews
You know, we've, you know, in marriages, you hear about the, the love bank. You know, you can you can make withdrawals from the love bank as long as you've been continually making deposits, you're not making deposits. When you do a withdrawal, you know, bad things happen. And the,
00;20;40;10 - 00;20;46;10
Craig Andrews
you know, I've heard somebody describe the same thing in terms of,
00;20;46;10 - 00;20;47;04
Craig Andrews
Oh, and I forgot
00;20;47;04 - 00;21;06;01
Craig Andrews
I'm forgetting the word they used. But basically the value bank, when you deliver value to others, as long as you're delivering value to others, you can make withdrawals. But if you go to try and make a withdrawal without doing deposits, the checks can bounce.
00;21;06;03 - 00;21;09;16
Brian McRae
That is the that is the dilemma that most sales professionals have.
00;21;09;16 - 00;21;24;24
Brian McRae
At least in the ones that I coach, if there's a an estate planning attorney and they start calling financial advisors asking for referrals, it's, it's it's begging for business or it's shameless self-promotion and it's just not a funnel. It's not an effective way, long term to do business.
00;21;24;24 - 00;21;49;18
Brian McRae
And it's definitely not fulfilling. So yeah, but I totally agree that emotional bank account is. And the event really the short story is my best strategic partners. Potential strategic partners were showing up month in, month out, and I didn't have an immediate ask of them. Rarely ever. Actually never, other than to implement the stuff that I was sharing so that they could grow their business.
00;21;49;21 - 00;21;53;23
Craig Andrews
Do you know the origin of the Michelin Guide?
00;21;53;26 - 00;21;55;22
Brian McRae
No. The food guide.
00;21;55;25 - 00;22;19;16
Craig Andrews
Yeah. If you ever wondered why a a tire company makes a a guide to the best restaurants in the world. So in 1900, know well over 125, you know, 125 years ago, the Michelin brothers were trying to figure out how to sell more tires. And at the time, the only people that had cars were very wealthy people, and they didn't drive their cars.
00;22;19;16 - 00;22;32;27
Craig Andrews
They had chauffeurs. And so they decided to go out into the French countryside and rate, restaurants and hotels. And they put together an a guide, and they gave it to the chauffeurs free of charge.
00;22;34;11 - 00;22;46;12
Craig Andrews
And so a way for these chauffeurs to ingratiate themselves to their and to the, boss was they would have a conversation like, hey, I've heard about this great restaurant in Deauville, this,
00;22;46;12 - 00;22;58;07
Craig Andrews
wonderful inn out in Deauville. Would you like to drive up there this weekend? And so they would drive from Paris up to Deauville, and they'd wear the tires on the way up, and they wear the tires on the way back.
00;22;58;10 - 00;23;02;10
Craig Andrews
And when they needed to do tires, guess who got the phone call.
00;23;02;12 - 00;23;15;17
Brian McRae
That is brilliant. But that's what we were doing. That's a that is if you're if you want to tie that to running an event, I get the analogy. That's what it did for me. It just open doors. Short story.
00;23;15;17 - 00;23;32;08
Brian McRae
You know, literally every influential connection in my business, all the, the team members that I have now were either I have met through the event or they were referred through the event.
00;23;32;11 - 00;23;36;28
Brian McRae
My connection to big AA. Same thing. I had a speaker at the event.
00;23;36;28 - 00;23;42;01
Brian McRae
I was listening to the speaker's podcast, and I heard big talk on Adrian Walker talk on that.
00;23;42;01 - 00;23;44;08
Brian McRae
That's what prompted me to reach out to him.
00;23;44;08 - 00;23;45;23
Brian McRae
I think I shared a relationship,
00;23;45;23 - 00;23;50;01
Brian McRae
a business partner, John Rule, and and I, I met John because somebody knew.
00;23;50;01 - 00;24;01;27
Brian McRae
John said he'd be great to speak at the event. By the way, you know, the power of having a place for people to come. Speakers come talk, you know, so what you do with the podcast. So, I mean, it's I got to meet some amazing people,
00;24;01;27 - 00;24;12;22
Brian McRae
through the event. It was just unbelievable. And candidly, it was very much similar to a live local podcast with just a bunch of people in the room and an interactive and really an interactive audience.
00;24;12;22 - 00;24;23;23
Craig Andrews
So, so one of the objections that I hear, and I heard this recently where, you know, so in my business, we, you know, I, you know, I'm,
00;24;23;23 - 00;24;37;11
Craig Andrews
marketing agency and we do inbound marketing. And so, you know, we really encourage people make some valuable content that folks will one download that they'd be willing to exchange their name and email in order to get it.
00;24;37;13 - 00;24;51;02
Craig Andrews
And somebody made this comment recently. Well, we don't have to reveal our secret sauce, do we? And we didn't have a chance to address that. But if you were talking to this person, what would you tell them?
00;24;51;04 - 00;24;54;07
Brian McRae
Well, first of all, when I would send out invites,
00;24;54;07 - 00;25;08;16
Brian McRae
I did I tried to create an event that people wanted to be at, and I encourage them to register, although it wasn't mandatory, but I encouraged it so that they could get invites to the next event and all that. So I did get email addresses. That was very helpful.
00;25;08;18 - 00;25;17;22
Brian McRae
You know, and then giving away the best content, you don't want to give it all the way. You know, there is a business philosophy around that sell, you know, sell the sizzle, not the steak.
00;25;17;22 - 00;25;30;08
Brian McRae
And if I were, but my main business at the time was where my main business was, mortgage. That's where the vast majority of my income was coming in.
00;25;30;08 - 00;25;50;27
Brian McRae
Actually, all my income was coming from when I started the event. And so giving away things that I was learning or doing in my business, I wasn't teaching mortgage secrets. I was teaching what I was doing to market my business. If I if I was using handwritten notes, I would tell them how I was doing handwritten notes and the impact it was having, the doors it would open if I was sharing with them
00;25;50;27 - 00;26;03;02
Brian McRae
some unique strategies on how to conduct your 1 to 1 meetings, and setting up an experience that people were, you know, an elevated experience during a 1 to 1 so that people remember you.
00;26;03;05 - 00;26;30;01
Brian McRae
I would share that and the results of it. So it was just me. Again, I go back to the Ezra Principle. I would study something, I would put it to practice, and then I would come share the results and or the results of other people that had put it to practice. And it just became this positive feedback loop on things that were relationally driven, made people feel good and help them build relationships with other people.
00;26;30;03 - 00;26;31;02
Brian McRae
So,
00;26;31;02 - 00;26;38;21
Brian McRae
so I would say give away your best stuff. That's what I would say. Depending on, there's two strategies I chose to give away everything.
00;26;38;21 - 00;26;49;08
Brian McRae
And I didn't hide anything because the vast majority of people won't implement anyway, so I didn't have to worry about giving away my best secrets on how I was building relationships, because most people wouldn't.
00;26;49;11 - 00;26;59;17
Brian McRae
I would tell them exactly what I did, and as you know, or you've probably heard the study, less than 3% of people actually do. You know, they consume knowledge, less than 3% actually implement it.
00;26;59;21 - 00;27;08;02
Craig Andrews
So, you know, I, I published a book with some of our secret sauce about how to build something. We call it first time offer.
00;27;08;02 - 00;27;17;08
Craig Andrews
And I can't count the number of people that bought the book, read the book, came to me and said hey Craig, look at this offer I've put together based on what, what your book said.
00;27;17;08 - 00;27;40;03
Craig Andrews
And I'm like, did you read the book? Because that doesn't look like and it's I think some of that's the curse of expertise. What seems easy and simple to you is harder for others to implement. And the You know, and I would even argue, you know, you're like well you weren't giving away some of the secret sauce.
00;27;40;03 - 00;27;59;23
Craig Andrews
I would say your best of your, you know, how you were, how you were doing your business development was secret sauce. You know, if somebody you know and there would be a fear, hey, if my if I teach this to somebody who's potentially my competitor, all of a sudden they're going to start doing what I'm doing, I'm going to lose my strategic advantage.
00;27;59;25 - 00;28;03;25
Craig Andrews
But you did that. And the other experience was growth.
00;28;03;28 - 00;28;04;09
Brian McRae
The,
00;28;04;09 - 00;28;05;13
Brian McRae
you know, it's one of the things,
00;28;05;13 - 00;28;28;25
Brian McRae
fundamentally. And we would talk about it because, candidly, there were other mortgage professionals in the room. Everybody had competitors in the room. And it's interesting, the people that kept showing up in the room had a givers heart, and they were more interested in collaboration versus competition. There was if somebody felt like that was a competitive environment or they didn't want to be, they didn't come back.
00;28;28;27 - 00;28;47;08
Brian McRae
So it was kind of a the truth of the matter is it was a wonderful filter for me. If people kept showing up at the event, I knew they had a givers heart. And whenever you would sit down and have a meeting with them, it was a fight over who could help each other the most. You know, it was kind of a race to see who could help each other the most.
00;28;47;11 - 00;29;05;10
Brian McRae
It was awesome. So it was really when I started sharing how I was building my business and it attracted people. It they liked it. I knew that they would. That would be a great conversation regardless of whether we did business. And candidly, it just created an environment where they couldn't, you know, where they wanted to do business with you.
00;29;05;15 - 00;29;08;06
Brian McRae
So anyhow.
00;29;08;09 - 00;29;09;03
Craig Andrews
But I'll tell you what,
00;29;09;03 - 00;29;15;16
Craig Andrews
one thing I want to make sure we covered before we wrap up is your mastermind. Tell me a little bit the mastermind.
00;29;15;18 - 00;29;16;02
Brian McRae
So,
00;29;16;02 - 00;29;20;27
Brian McRae
well, I just, by the way, the name of the event that I was running was called the Mastermind Project.
00;29;20;27 - 00;29;21;13
Brian McRae
And,
00;29;21;13 - 00;29;30;14
Brian McRae
but the mastermind group was really, so we had Aaron Walker come speak at the, at the event.
00;29;30;14 - 00;29;36;27
Brian McRae
But you know, I reached out to him and I was in a group, and he candidly put me on the spot.
00;29;37;00 - 00;29;40;04
Brian McRae
And at one point said, Brian, do you want to coach? And,
00;29;40;04 - 00;29;45;13
Brian McRae
you know, and, you know, the environment, you're in a room with ten, 12 other people and,
00;29;45;13 - 00;29;48;21
Brian McRae
you're on the you're you're in the spotlight. And,
00;29;48;21 - 00;29;55;16
Brian McRae
he was holding me capable. I told him that that's what I wanted to do. He knew I wasn't doing it, and he was like, hey, do you want it?
00;29;55;16 - 00;30;11;27
Brian McRae
Do you want it? Do you really want to? Do you say you want to do it, but do you really want to do it? And I had to make it. And the answer was yes. And he said, great. And he just it changed everything for me because he said, great, I need to know what your packages are. And I sent them to him and one of them was a group coaching.
00;30;11;27 - 00;30;26;28
Brian McRae
I didn't have a lot of time to do 1 to 1 coaching, so I was going to do a group event. And so I patterned something exactly after what he had done, and he just encouraged me. Well, you know, big a big as big as an abundance guy, not a competition guy. Right. And so he encouraged me. And,
00;30;26;28 - 00;30;29;02
Brian McRae
so that's what's become the boardroom.
00;30;29;04 - 00;30;39;00
Brian McRae
So, you know, just so many things big. I had such a big influence. And for your audience, his name's Aaron Walker.
00;30;39;00 - 00;30;45;19
Brian McRae
You and I would probably say Aaron. He says Aaron. And when I met him, he said, if you can't say Aaron, just call me big. So,
00;30;45;19 - 00;30;46;25
Brian McRae
but, big. Just,
00;30;46;25 - 00;30;48;26
Brian McRae
he just kept encouraging me and,
00;30;48;26 - 00;30;52;12
Brian McRae
as you know, you've probably heard him say, isolation is the enemy of excellence.
00;30;52;12 - 00;30;57;06
Brian McRae
And what I see with financial advisors, with CPAs, estate planning attorneys,
00;30;57;06 - 00;31;16;03
Brian McRae
you know, insurance agents, these professions really a lot of professions, you are focused on marketing, you're focused on sales. You get in your business. And candidly, it is a lot of times it's the loneliest job in the world. And you just need a place where you want to be in a room with other people who are going, experiencing the same thing.
00;31;16;03 - 00;31;33;17
Brian McRae
And that's really I've tried to create the board room where it's the room that those individuals want to be in. They can't wait to get there Wednesdays 330. They can't wait to show up because they don't know if they're going to, you know, they don't know what they're going to be able to what they're going to hear. They might hear something that's going to change their business.
00;31;33;20 - 00;31;53;20
Brian McRae
They could be able to help somebody change the trajectory of their business and the stories and the growth that have happened from that. I mean, I've gets it's just so fulfilling to watch people come around each other and watch every individual that's got a vision for their business. They share it with everybody else, and then we just hold each other capable for building that vision.
00;31;53;22 - 00;31;58;21
Brian McRae
It's just a it's a beautiful thing. So anyway, that's the boardroom.
00;31;58;23 - 00;32;03;21
Craig Andrews
That's awesome. And, you know, I was a part of a mastermind once that,
00;32;03;21 - 00;32;11;22
Craig Andrews
the guy who led it would stand up and stand up and say, the answer to your question is in this room.
00;32;11;22 - 00;32;19;16
Craig Andrews
He said, whatever problem you're wrestling with, somebody in this room has solved it. And so let's get the questions out there.
00;32;19;16 - 00;32;25;19
Craig Andrews
And I think that's one of the, one of the amazing things about masterminds of if,
00;32;25;19 - 00;32;31;23
Craig Andrews
if somebody is not someone they should be in one. So the board room is specifically for,
00;32;31;23 - 00;32;35;21
Craig Andrews
CPAs, financial advisors, other financial professionals.
00;32;35;21 - 00;32;41;11
Craig Andrews
If somebody fits that criteria and they want to learn more about the boardroom, where would they go to find that?
00;32;41;13 - 00;32;50;05
Brian McRae
It's real easy. First name, middle initial, last name. So it's WWE dot Brian K mcrae.com okay excellent.
00;32;50;07 - 00;32;54;08
Craig Andrews
And and if they need to contact you and I presume it's the same thing.
00;32;54;11 - 00;32;55;21
Brian McRae
Yes absolutely. There's
00;32;55;21 - 00;32;58;15
Brian McRae
email addresses Brian at Brian came@craig.com.
00;32;58;15 - 00;33;02;26
Brian McRae
Candidly if they want they can text me as well. We'll get routed to my VA, but,
00;33;02;26 - 00;33;10;04
Brian McRae
we'll get you on the calendar, I can promise you that. So if anybody wants to have a conversation around building their version, especially, we've got a vision.
00;33;10;04 - 00;33;12;02
Brian McRae
That's always an awesome conversation to have.
00;33;12;02 - 00;33;19;08
Craig Andrews
So that's awesome. Or. Brian, thanks for coming on Layers and Legacies. This has been insightful.
00;33;19;08 - 00;33;20;18
Craig Andrews
Applicable.
00;33;20;20 - 00;33;21;26
Brian McRae
Well, Craig, thank you for,
00;33;21;26 - 00;33;24;03
Brian McRae
trusting me to be here today. And,
00;33;24;03 - 00;33;25;06
Brian McRae
I hope I've honored the,
00;33;25;06 - 00;33;30;20
Brian McRae
I hope, I hope I've honored the invite. So thank you for having me.
00;33;30;20 - 00;33;57;14
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Ally's for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this
00;33;57;14 - 00;33;59;09
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.
00;33;59;11 - 00;34;22;23
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest. Tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.
00;34;22;25 - 00;34;31;00
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.
00;34;31;00 - 00;36;33;05
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Ally's for me.com. Or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
