John Cooper

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's VanCouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:14] SPEAKER_00: Good afternoon, this is Angela Fey coming to you today with VanCouver's podcast,
[00:20] SPEAKER_00: a member of the Canada's podcast network.
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: We're talking to entrepreneurs who are making it happen here around British Columbia, Canada.
[00:27] SPEAKER_00: You can listen, discover and engage.
[00:30] SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking to John Cooper of the John Cooper Group in Nanaimo,
[00:35] SPEAKER_00: a little bit about John since fleeing the traffic and expense of VanCouver in 2007.
[00:40] SPEAKER_00: John worked to build one of the island's best known real estate brands, the John Cooper Group.
[00:46] SPEAKER_00: Centered around technological innovation and providing not just hype,
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: John's core purpose is to celebrate and share the rare kind of lifestyle that he's found
[00:55] SPEAKER_00: on VanCouver Island. Affordable, community-minded and close to spectacular natural beauty.
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: So welcome, John. Welcome to the show. Thanks for taking the time today to be here for all our
[01:07] SPEAKER_01: listeners. Hey, Angie, thanks for having me on today. I appreciate it.
[01:11] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, tell us, let's jump right in. Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from,
[01:16] SPEAKER_00: and a few details on your current business.
[01:19] SPEAKER_01: Sure, I was born and raised not too far from here in White Rock, British Columbia.
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: Both my wife and I were born there. Our parents all still live there.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: I spent most of my time there, and then about, I did a five-year stint in Kelona,
[01:35] SPEAKER_01: that's where I did my business degree, moved back to the Lower Mainland, realized that
[01:39] SPEAKER_01: big city life wasn't for me. I forget a small taste of the small city life.
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: Kelona wasn't my ideal, but my wife suggested Nanaimo having did a small stint at Mount Spina.
[01:51] SPEAKER_01: So I was like, great, looked on Google Earth, saw the ocean, saw the green trees
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: between here and the west coast. I said, I could make a living out of that. I hadn't really
[02:02] SPEAKER_01: spent much time here, so we packed up. She was pregnant, bought our first house, and launched a
[02:08] SPEAKER_00: commission stale's job. Perfect. So give us some details about your current business now.
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: Sure. So obviously, April 2008 was when I was finally licensed, not a great time to start a
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: real estate career, but thankfully, I had a background in internet marketing, and so I really went
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: to work on that, started building online lead generation funnels, and by 2010, I was the top
[02:34] SPEAKER_01: agent at the downtown Remax office at the time, and within a few years kind of climbed my way to
[02:41] SPEAKER_01: the top of the Remax mountain and spent with the last five years running a top 100 team in
[02:48] SPEAKER_01: Western Canada. Yeah, selling lots of houses, helping people realize their dream of living here
[02:54] SPEAKER_01: on the island, which is obviously something we're super passionate about.
[02:57] SPEAKER_00: Thanks. John, did you need financing to kickstart your company?
[03:02] SPEAKER_01: I wish. It had probably been a smarter way to do it, but no, I didn't. It was all bootstrapped.
[03:10] SPEAKER_01: We had a small amount of savings, very small amount of savings. I did, actually, I funded my company,
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: that's a, I mean, there's a good story there, but I funded my company off of a, I ran a,
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: I have an MMA background, and so I ran an MMA show. I did four of those shows here in the NIMO.
[03:28] SPEAKER_01: One of them sold out one of our local arenas to about 3,000 people, and that cash helped me start
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: my company. Okay, now just for fun, for the non-restlosers of the world, tell us what MMA stands for.
[03:43] SPEAKER_01: Sure, MMA is mixed martial art, so it's also more commonly known as the UFC, that wasn't,
[03:50] SPEAKER_01: but I was promoting UFC, but the sport of MMA, which is, which is captured in the,
[03:55] SPEAKER_01: in the ultimate fighting championship. So I've been doing that on and off since about
[04:00] SPEAKER_00: 1999, actually. So literally, you run an MMA event. It was profitable, and you use that kickstart
[04:08] SPEAKER_01: your company. I ran four events, only one was profitable. The second one I did, we managed to have
[04:15] SPEAKER_01: the right lineup of athletes and the, and the timing was right, and so yeah, we sold 3,000 tickets.
[04:21] SPEAKER_01: I had a business partner on that that financed it, but I did all the work and walked away with my
[04:26] SPEAKER_01: percentage, which was basically a backpack full of $20 bills, literally, and, and I used that money
[04:33] SPEAKER_01: to hire a local company here, actually, a company that's doing big things now in hired guns. It
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: was right when they were just getting started, and, and they built my first website, so I had a real
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: vision for what that needed to be, and I worked that website hard, and was lucky enough that our
[04:51] SPEAKER_01: industry was really transitioning online at the time, and so, you know, who's kind of right place
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: right time, and I literally launched my real estate career off the proceeds from, from a mixed martial
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: arts fighting event. I love it. Hey, um, this might sound like an obvious question, but maybe not
[05:09] SPEAKER_00: so much, so how do you currently make money in your business now? Is it just a matter of selling
[05:15] SPEAKER_01: houses, or are there multiple revenue streams? No, it's, it's primarily selling houses, and, and I,
[05:22] SPEAKER_01: I always take a little bit of a different view on that. I, you know, I actually say, look, I don't
[05:26] SPEAKER_01: actually sell houses, I sell representation, and so I sell agency representation. That's my
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: product. I think a lot of our industry misses that, and that's maybe why they, you know, it doesn't
[05:38] SPEAKER_01: always have the best name, but, so I don't sell houses, I sell agency representation, and that's,
[05:44] SPEAKER_01: that's the primary means of revenue for us. Now, I do have a team, so I've got agents that,
[05:49] SPEAKER_01: that, you know, that I mentor and follow our core values, and, and, you know, are inspired by our
[05:55] SPEAKER_01: core purpose to help more people do the things they love with the people they love, and in the
[05:59] SPEAKER_01: community they love, but it's essentially giving agency representation. That's our primary income.
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: Nice. John, how big is your team? So we, we, we downsize a little bit in the last 12 months,
[06:10] SPEAKER_01: because our market volume's down, but I've got myself, got a full-time administrator,
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: a communication coordinator, and then I've got a listing soon to be licensed, listing coordinator,
[06:22] SPEAKER_00: and a full-time marketing manager. Fantastic. What's the long-term vision for the company,
[06:28] SPEAKER_01: and, and what we will look like in the future? You know, I think our vision for the future is to,
[06:34] SPEAKER_01: is to, we're just really consistently help, you know, our goals to consistently help, about 100
[06:41] SPEAKER_01: families relocate to Vancouver Island, and, and set up life here, and, and, you know, I think the
[06:47] SPEAKER_01: long-term vision for us here is to have the point where we can do that so consistently, and so,
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: efficiently, that we're essentially, you know, taking reservations for that process. We, one time we
[07:00] SPEAKER_01: had major growth plans to, you know, to franchise, and, and, but we've changed that a little bit to
[07:07] SPEAKER_01: where we've got a really good crew here that are all just looking to, you know, make a good income,
[07:12] SPEAKER_01: living somewhere they love, and we feel like we can achieve that as a team to a way where we can
[07:17] SPEAKER_01: all, you know, because life's short, man, and, and, you know, I don't want to spend my, my prime
[07:23] SPEAKER_01: years where my daughters are at eight and 11 right now, grinded it out trying to build an empire. I
[07:29] SPEAKER_01: want to, I want to have some time here to enjoy the whole reason I move my family here.
[07:33] SPEAKER_00: Fantastic. It's location, location, location, John, you know, you know, if you currently call
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: Nanaimo home on Vancouver Island. Yeah. What is some of the biggest benefit you being an entrepreneur
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: here? Oh, man. And I, I mean, I, you know, I mean, you're talking about something I'm extremely
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: passionate about. I told you we ended up here by accident. So it's odd that I have such a love for
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: this, for this part of the world. But, you know, what's great about Nanaimo is it's the best of both
[07:58] SPEAKER_01: worlds. I mean, you know, we've, we've managed to, to, you know, build our, our real estate holdings to
[08:04] SPEAKER_01: the point where we can, I can raise my kids in a nice home with a good, with a nice yard and a nice
[08:09] SPEAKER_01: neighborhood. They can walk to school. You know, we don't have to, we, we put a very, a very modest
[08:14] SPEAKER_01: percentage of our income towards housing because it really is quite affordable, even today,
[08:21] SPEAKER_01: extremely affordable. And, you know, and yet I've got the two greatest cities in British Columbia.
[08:27] SPEAKER_01: In my opinion, Victoria and Vancouver are right at my fingertips. And so, you know, I really look at
[08:33] SPEAKER_01: Nanaimo as the best of both worlds. I've got ultra convene access to these incredible cities.
[08:38] SPEAKER_01: And yet I can literally walk from my office in two minutes and be on the waterfront and, you know,
[08:45] SPEAKER_01: a 10 minute drive in the middle of summer. It doesn't matter if it's a long weekend or not.
[08:49] SPEAKER_01: Go find a spot on, on Nanaimo River or one of our lakes. And more often than not have it to
[08:55] SPEAKER_01: myself. So I don't think there's anywhere else right now, certainly in Canada, where you can
[09:01] SPEAKER_01: pull that off in the way that you can here. You know, if I want a million dollars today, I'm not
[09:06] SPEAKER_00: moving. I'm staying right here in Nanaimo. Okay, so that sounds fantastically rosy and I
[09:13] SPEAKER_00: happen to agree with everything you've said. And you're in your sector or just generally,
[09:18] SPEAKER_00: what are some of the tough things or the challenges that are listening to, you know, if they were to
[09:22] SPEAKER_00: do business in this neck of the woods, what can our listeners keep an eye out?
[09:26] SPEAKER_01: Sure. I mean, I mean, we've got challenges. I mean, our challenges are, you know, there's,
[09:30] SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're, we don't have have the most diversified economy here, you know, we've,
[09:36] SPEAKER_01: we've started to make some inroads on a tech on in the tech sector. And I really think that's a lot
[09:41] SPEAKER_01: a big part of where the future lies here. But, you know, the, the islanders don't, there's not a
[09:48] SPEAKER_01: ton of job opportunities. You really have to kind of make your own way a lot of the time.
[09:52] SPEAKER_01: One of the major economic drivers here in Central Vancouver Island, I call it the RRSP drip,
[09:58] SPEAKER_01: you know, we're all, you know, we're basically living off of people that have retired here,
[10:04] SPEAKER_01: slowly releasing the, the money that they've saved up over their lifetime and moved from other
[10:09] SPEAKER_01: parts of Canada or other parts of, of North America. And so, you know, it can be a challenge.
[10:15] SPEAKER_01: You know, we've got relatively expensive housing relative to income. You know, I have some of my
[10:20] SPEAKER_01: colleagues in the US where they've got great jobs and everyone's employed and the average house is
[10:25] SPEAKER_01: $250,000. And I can only imagine what our, our lead generation tools could do in an environment
[10:33] SPEAKER_01: like that. So a big bottleneck to growth here is, is still affordability, despite us being one of
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: the most affordable markets in Western Canada. And then of course, you've got the fairies. So,
[10:43] SPEAKER_01: you know, you hear about that a lot. And so the fairies are a bit of a constraint to, to business
[10:48] SPEAKER_01: growth. And one of the main reasons why a lot of people often will, will not consider living here,
[10:53] SPEAKER_00: simply because of the perceived being convenient. Some are really, so knowing what you know now,
[10:59] SPEAKER_00: how long you've been in an IMO or a nail-in for how long? I've been here 12 years now.
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: 12 years? So knowing what you know now, if you were to start over again or suggest to people
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: who are coming here just to either start over or expand a business, what advice or what would
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: you share at suggest that they do to, to, as an entrepreneur, just first coming to this region?
[11:23] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think, you know, you really have to, you know, it's just, we have a small, isolated
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: marketplace. So I think you need to make sure, I've one of the biggest things that I see when I
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: see people, and we would do a lot of people that are relocating. Maybe they're, maybe they're heading
[11:38] SPEAKER_01: into retirement and they're going to come over here and launch that business that they've
[11:42] SPEAKER_01: always dreamed about. I think one of the biggest challenges that I see here is so many of the
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: businesses are under capitalized. And they're under capitalized to the point that they can't get past
[11:53] SPEAKER_01: that threshold of success. You know, they can't carry the business long enough to get it to the point
[11:59] SPEAKER_01: where they can consistently build a market of repeat customers. It's going to continue to do business.
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: So they end up attracting a bunch of people to their door, but then they're not able to maintain
[12:10] SPEAKER_01: high enough staffing levels to give that consistent service experience. It's going to lead to repeat
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: business. And so they can never get past that threshold of success. And so I think, you know,
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: you really have to be prepared to subsidize your business for a few years at a high operational
[12:26] SPEAKER_01: level to get to the point where you've got people telling their friends you've got to go there.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: And I think the big mistake we made is maybe having enough to get the people in the door,
[12:36] SPEAKER_01: but not enough money to actually deliver at the expectation level that consumers that have nowadays,
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: particularly those coming from sophisticated markets. We've got people coming from big cities,
[12:48] SPEAKER_01: and they want to live here, and they love it here, but their standards for service levels and
[12:52] SPEAKER_01: service experience levels are really high, and they're not going to accept anything, but
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: switching tax a bit, John, you know, as Canadians, we keep exploring, and it's British Columbia,
[13:03] SPEAKER_00: where we're world renowned as being supernatural. You know, we all do some of our best workouts
[13:08] SPEAKER_00: on the office. Is there a place on Vancouver Island close to where you live or work, where you
[13:13] SPEAKER_00: love to explore, maybe in an outdoor natural setting to get recharged, inspired, or just to think
[13:20] SPEAKER_01: about your business? Yeah, I mean, there's so many here. That's like that's where we're on steroids
[13:26] SPEAKER_01: for that. I mean, there's so many, it's hard to pick, but we, you know, our family, we love going
[13:32] SPEAKER_01: already mentioned it. We love going up to the Nino River in the summertime. You know, I can
[13:37] SPEAKER_01: check out it here at four o'clock and be out on that river going for a beautiful swim by, you
[13:42] SPEAKER_01: know, four 20. We also have a place on recently got a small little modest cottage on Thedis Island,
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: so we've been spending a lot of our summers there, and you know, a short boat ride from Schermainus,
[13:56] SPEAKER_01: get on that ferry, and instantly decompress. So, I mean, those are some of the highlights,
[14:01] SPEAKER_01: but honestly, you could spend a lifetime looking for coolest spots to do what you just described.
[14:06] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. Does it change with the seasons for you? We don't have extreme winters here,
[14:12] SPEAKER_00: or extreme heat, really. What about a favorite winter place?
[14:17] SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, we love, we know Mount Washington. We've been spending quite a bit, you know,
[14:21] SPEAKER_01: again, up there a few times this year. That's a cool spot. Otherwise, I just like, I like walking
[14:26] SPEAKER_01: near nature, so like, and I like the energy of the water. So two walks that I really like to do.
[14:31] SPEAKER_01: I love doing the cable bay trail down to Dodd-Neros, and just feeling the energy of the water rushing
[14:37] SPEAKER_01: between the rocks there. That really gets me fired up, or even doing a winter walk along the
[14:43] SPEAKER_01: Nanaimo River when the, when the water levels are high, just that energy of the water raging along
[14:48] SPEAKER_01: the rock. It gets me going. I just, I get energy off that, and so, you know, those are a couple
[14:55] SPEAKER_00: winter highlights, for sure. Do you think entrepreneurs have to be weird or unique in a positive way,
[15:03] SPEAKER_01: or do you think they're wired differently? I think, you know, entrepreneurial ideas and the execution
[15:10] SPEAKER_01: of entrepreneurial ideas requires a couple of things, and that aren't necessarily always
[15:16] SPEAKER_01: in abundance in, in, in the entire population, and that's, you know, having a real creative brain.
[15:22] SPEAKER_01: So really being able to look at things from, from different angles, and, and, you know, I won't use
[15:29] SPEAKER_01: the, you know, outside of the box, but that's the cliche that comes to mind is, is just being able
[15:34] SPEAKER_01: to just see things in a way that maybe the masses aren't, have enough confidence in themselves to
[15:39] SPEAKER_01: believe in those creative ideas that they actually see a vision for the future that those around them
[15:44] SPEAKER_01: have not yet seen. And so I guess that might be a little crazy, you know, you're seeing things
[15:50] SPEAKER_01: others aren't saying, seeing, you're having ideas that they're not, that they're not tuned into yet,
[15:55] SPEAKER_01: and I think that's those two things that are really the start of an entrepreneurial venture,
[15:59] SPEAKER_01: and then you need to be, you know, in a lot of cases be prepared to take massive risks,
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: and, and get real comfortable with failure. And I think if those, if those features aren't there,
[16:10] SPEAKER_01: then you're probably better set for a career path that's going to give you more security. And so,
[16:15] SPEAKER_01: yeah, you maybe have a disproportionate of, of slightly wild and crazy people.
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: I love it. Creative confidence risk takers. That's kind of a, describes a great group.
[16:26] SPEAKER_00: Is there a book magazine, maybe even a movie or TV series that you've recently watched or read?
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: Is it relates to entrepreneurial pursuits? What jumps to mind? What have you learned from it?
[16:36] SPEAKER_01: Would you recommend it to other listeners? Absolutely. There's books, so I'm more of a quality
[16:44] SPEAKER_01: over quantity on the, on the nonfiction. So I go through, when I get a good one, I'll, you know,
[16:49] SPEAKER_01: listen to the audio, book two, three times, and buy the hard copy and read it. And the two,
[16:54] SPEAKER_01: they're sitting right behind me in my office right now. They're kind of rethinking the way that we
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: do everything around here. And the one that I'm really loving right now, I'm on my, I'm into the
[17:03] SPEAKER_01: hard copy after bound to been through the audio book three times now is Seth Godin's latest book,
[17:07] SPEAKER_01: This is marketing. I think he nails what, where you're, and it's kind of rewriting. I have a
[17:14] SPEAKER_01: marketing degree, but everything I learned is so no longer relevant. This book catches me up to
[17:20] SPEAKER_01: the modern ideas of how to look at marketing. And then just on and on an entrepreneurial operation,
[17:24] SPEAKER_01: I used to really like this book called Scaling Up, The Rockefeller Habits. Now I've got this new one
[17:29] SPEAKER_01: that a good friend of mine, Taylor Hack turned me on. It's called Traction by Floyd Wickman,
[17:33] SPEAKER_01: the entrepreneurial operating system. Those two books are having a big influence on how we operate
[17:40] SPEAKER_01: our team here right now. And we're diving deep on how we can and take the big lessons that those
[17:46] SPEAKER_01: two books have. They're very formative books that I highly recommend both. Excellent. John,
[17:50] SPEAKER_00: if you weren't doing what you do now, what else would you be doing? What, what, what profession,
[17:55] SPEAKER_01: or what, what career path would you pursue? You know, that's a good question. And I, and I do
[18:01] SPEAKER_01: sometimes think about that. And because, you know, real estate was kind of a, it made sense for me
[18:07] SPEAKER_01: just because of my educational background and my experience. It made sense, but it wasn't like I
[18:13] SPEAKER_01: grew up, or we know when I grew up, I want to, I want to run a real estate team. And so, you know,
[18:18] SPEAKER_01: I, and I still think I'm always looking for opportunity and, and still thinking about where life's
[18:24] SPEAKER_01: going to take me. You know, I, I guess if I was taking a more conservative career path, I've always
[18:28] SPEAKER_01: said, you know, a dream job for me would maybe to be like the vice president of marketing for
[18:35] SPEAKER_01: the ultimate fighting championship. You know, obviously it's a sport I really love. I'm passionate
[18:40] SPEAKER_01: about. I feel like I could, I feel like I could hit it out of the park given the opportunity.
[18:45] SPEAKER_01: You know, that would be a cool thing. I don't know if I'd want to live in Las Vegas, but, so that
[18:50] SPEAKER_01: might be the downside of that career path. But I feel like that certainly connects my skill sets
[18:55] SPEAKER_01: and leadership in marketing with, with one of my passions, which is the sport of mixed martial arts.
[19:00] SPEAKER_01: You know, I, I think, you know, outside of that, I think I would just be doing another, some sort of
[19:05] SPEAKER_01: other entrepreneurial business in some other different sector doing a lot of what I'm doing right
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: now, just in a different industry. Yeah. Uh, day to day done just, you know, some inside tips,
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: any offline or online tools that you use on a daily basis offline or online tools. Well, you know,
[19:23] SPEAKER_01: I guess I have to, we do, I mean, I'm a big tech guy. I do a lot of, a lot on my phone, but,
[19:30] SPEAKER_01: you know, I'm a, when I'm talking online, we are big proponents of all the Google infrastructure.
[19:36] SPEAKER_01: So we run, we run our business, we cloud, our company's been on the cloud. Essentially,
[19:40] SPEAKER_01: since I started by 2009, I was like one of the first people running off of Google apps. Uh,
[19:47] SPEAKER_01: and back in the day, I still got an old book around here that's no longer relevant. But, you know,
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: so we use all those tools, Google calendar, Gmail drive, uh, Google keep, that's just,
[19:57] SPEAKER_01: that's really our operating, our technical operating system. And I look at like our,
[20:01] SPEAKER_01: we've partnered with the world's largest technology company and, and those are tools that we use
[20:06] SPEAKER_00: every day. Fantastic. Do you have a specific day to day routine or ritual that either starts
[20:13] SPEAKER_00: your day or ends your day to keep you motivated and energized? Yeah. I mean, I've got, so my weeks are
[20:18] SPEAKER_01: pretty consistent now. And now that I'm, you know, in my early 40s, I'm finding these patterns of
[20:24] SPEAKER_01: day to day are really held pretty strong now. And so we, you know, I work out with my marketing manager
[20:30] SPEAKER_01: most morning. So three mornings a week, we're doing that. Um, so we're just going and, and, uh,
[20:36] SPEAKER_01: maintaining our fitness levels. I love starting my day in that way. And then the other two days a
[20:41] SPEAKER_01: week, I attend, um, one, a business mastermind group and a networking group just to really get my
[20:47] SPEAKER_01: creative mind goal first thing in the morning. And that's been kind of our consistent routine now for,
[20:53] SPEAKER_01: for quite a long time. And it's, you know, pretty predictable. But that's, uh, that's how I like to start
[20:58] SPEAKER_01: my days. Does anything keep you up at night? For sure. Everything keeps me up at night. I'm, uh,
[21:04] SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely, uh, one of those guys that, uh, has to really calm my mind before bed. I, I lay there
[21:11] SPEAKER_01: and, and I really start going a mile a minute. So, you know, and, and what am I thinking about? You
[21:16] SPEAKER_01: know, it's like any entrepreneur you're, you're thinking about, you know, am I even the right guy
[21:21] SPEAKER_01: for this job? And, and, uh, you know, and I'm, am I going to be able to keep doing this for another
[21:26] SPEAKER_01: decade or, you know, what it would impact is just going to have on my family and all the things that
[21:32] SPEAKER_01: I think every entrepreneur stays up at night thinking about. And, and I don't think I'm any different.
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, you have good days and bad days and, and, uh, thankfully actually one of the
[21:42] SPEAKER_01: apps since we're talking about apps is I use this app called calm. And it tells like, um, stories,
[21:49] SPEAKER_01: like bedtime stories for adults and they're not like our rated. They're just like an adult bedtime
[21:55] SPEAKER_01: story. And this lady talks to me in this super soothing voice. And I'm out like a light when,
[22:02] SPEAKER_01: uh, when I'm having trouble sleeping, but using that tool. Excellent. What are three things on your
[22:07] SPEAKER_00: inspired lifeless? What are the list of things to do? Like publish a book, do a TED Talk,
[22:14] SPEAKER_01: climb Everest. What's on your list, John? Yeah. I mean, you know, it's a good question. I, um,
[22:20] SPEAKER_01: I like presenting. So I'm, I liked, I'm one of these weird guys ever since I was a kid. I love
[22:25] SPEAKER_01: public speaking. Um, I absolutely love it. So sure, you know, I think one of my absolute, uh,
[22:31] SPEAKER_01: wanted to do is to, uh, is to, you know, is to take some, and I do some speaking to real estate,
[22:38] SPEAKER_01: to groups in, in, in Canada, particularly Western Canada. I'd like to do some larger events.
[22:44] SPEAKER_01: You know, I'd love to speak to a room of, uh, of a few thousand, uh, real tours or anyone for
[22:51] SPEAKER_01: that matter. I really enjoy public speaking. So I'd love to do some large scale public speaking.
[22:56] SPEAKER_01: You know, on, on the hobby side, I still do on the MMA side, I referee, I referee, um, MMA all
[23:03] SPEAKER_01: over the province. I've judged for the UFC when they come to Vancouver. I still have yet to
[23:08] SPEAKER_01: referee in the UFC. It might, I, I think it will happen, uh, but it hasn't happened yet. So
[23:14] SPEAKER_01: that's definitely on my, on my bucket list as well. And, uh, both of those I, I believe I will
[23:20] SPEAKER_00: achieve very good. John, is there any advice that you've received from a mentor or, or, uh,
[23:27] SPEAKER_00: a guru from your perspective that you can pass on to other entrepreneurs throughout British Columbia?
[23:33] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. I've, there's, I've got lots of that. I've had some really good, really good mentors in,
[23:38] SPEAKER_01: in my life. It's something I'm one of these guys that wants to constantly, you know, be investing in
[23:43] SPEAKER_01: my, in my mind. And so I, I make sure that I always have a steady supply of that. And, you know,
[23:49] SPEAKER_01: the, the advice that got me through that 2008 crashed real estate market, moved the family,
[23:56] SPEAKER_01: bought a house, child on the way, what a bite done. Moment, how is this going to work?
[24:02] SPEAKER_01: And even driving me today as I've shifted my business, I, you know, I left remax after, after
[24:07] SPEAKER_01: 11 years with them, I've partnered with a new technology company and EXP. And the, the quote that
[24:13] SPEAKER_01: keeps me going that makes sure that I'm keeping my eye on the prize is that people consistently
[24:19] SPEAKER_01: overestimate. And I don't know who the quote came from, but people consistently overestimate
[24:25] SPEAKER_01: what they can accomplish in one year and consistently underestimate what they can accomplish in 10
[24:31] SPEAKER_01: years. And that quote right there has got me through a lot. Fantastic. I just a little bit of fun
[24:38] SPEAKER_00: for us, John. Yeah, let's just pretend we're on a small tropical island. Let's say, look,
[24:43] SPEAKER_00: Fiji, there's a phone booth, absolutely zero internet. So we're not connected there. We're going
[24:50] SPEAKER_00: to drop you off. You won't have a computer. Of course, you can use the phone booth if you need it,
[24:55] SPEAKER_00: call a boat. How long would you last on the island before you made the call? And what would you do
[25:00] SPEAKER_01: while you're there? So sorry, the phone's there so that I could call for help. You can get off the
[25:06] SPEAKER_00: island by making a phone call. How long would you, how long would you last in isolation without,
[25:12] SPEAKER_00: being connected to the internet? What would you do? Oh, you know, what that sounds like a dream.
[25:18] SPEAKER_01: Can I do that? Can I do that now? I haven't lasted long time. I mean, I, you know, we talked about
[25:23] SPEAKER_01: that crazy confidence of volunteerpreneurs and, and, you know, I have a, I believe that you could
[25:30] SPEAKER_01: put me in a, in a spaceship and drop me anywhere on the planet with just me and maybe, you know,
[25:37] SPEAKER_01: a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. And I'm going to be just fine. In fact, I would sign me up.
[25:44] SPEAKER_01: I would, I would love to put myself through that challenge and, and I feel like I would do extreme.
[25:50] SPEAKER_01: I'm also a huge survivor fan too. So this is like combining some things like I would,
[25:55] SPEAKER_01: I would love to test myself in that environment and I think I would crush it. But who knows?
[26:01] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. John, how can our listeners get a hold of you?
[26:03] SPEAKER_01: Well, I am in real estate. So I'm very easy to reach. You know, we've got our, our, our most
[26:10] SPEAKER_01: productive web property is, is our website at Coopergroup.ca. I'm on Twitter and Instagram as
[26:19] SPEAKER_01: Island agent. And, and then of course, you know, on Facebook as John Cooper or our real,
[26:26] SPEAKER_01: or our real estate focused Facebook pages is, if you search for the John Cooper Group on Facebook,
[26:32] SPEAKER_00: you'll find us there. Fantastic. John Cooper friend, bud. Thanks for coming on the show.
[26:38] SPEAKER_00: Learned a little bit more about you and how you'd survive in Fiji. I'm sure listeners have enjoyed
[26:43] SPEAKER_00: your time with you. Cool Angie, thank you. Thanks so much. Here we are on Canada's podcast,
[26:49] SPEAKER_00: talking to entrepreneurs who are making it happen here around British Columbia. Listening,
[26:53] SPEAKER_00: discovering and engaging.