Episode 411 - Diana Zaya, Founder and President, Maverick Systems

It really is a lot easier to retain an agent than it is to recruit an agent. So, but, but as brokers and as leaders, we don't want to take that for granted that agents are just not super mobile right now.We still want to work on retention strategies and that's primarily done through coaching and so we can use that data to have better conversations.

You're listening to the Real Estate Sessions and I'm your host, Bill Risser. With nearly 25 years in the real estate business, I love to interview industry leaders up and comer and really anyone with a story to tell.It's the stories that led my guests to a career in the real estate world that drives me in my 10th year and over 400 episodes of the podcast. And now I hope you enjoy the next journey. Hi everybody. Welcome to episode 411 of the Real Estate Sessions podcast.As always, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for telling a friend. We're going to be talking to another founder of a young company doing some great things. It's Diana Zaya.She's the CEO founder of Maverick Systems. It is a tool that helps brokerages kind of manage that recruiting and retention process.And it's a lot of data involved in it, a lot of data driven stuff. I love talking about that. So that's going to be a blast. So let's go ahead and get this thing started. Diana, welcome to the podcast.

Hi, Bill. Thanks so much for having me. Greatly appreciate it.

Yeah, well, you referred to me from one of my favorite referrers, which would be Marcie James. She, she's amazing. I'm sure you have, you, you've known Marcy for.

Absolutely, Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Marcy is amazing. I've known her for several years. She's a great friend, great colleague and I think the world of her.

Yeah, good. I think a lot of people do. So that's awesome. Look, the. I start my podcast pretty much the same way.I like to find out like where people grew up, a little bit of your background. You and I had a chat a couple of days ago.So I know that you're a Chicagoland native, which is super cool, but I want you to kind of share with me because Chicago, you know, it could. Some people love it, other people don't love it. I'll just be kind there. Give me, give me. Since you grew up there and still live there, give me your.The biggest misconceptions others might have about the Windy City.

So I, I just have to say in, in My humble opinion, it's probably one of the best US Cities. I. I did grow up. I was born and raised in the city.And I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that it's a scary city to live in, that there is a lot of crime. And, you know, we've got our fair share of big city problems, like any large city in the U.S.but in addition to that, we have, hands down, got some of the best food. And I know we always mention the food, but we've got great culture, great sports teams, theaters, museums, world class shopping, so you name it.And it's still relatively affordable to live in the city of Chicago, right?

Yeah, that's a. That last one is super important. But I'm also a big fan of the sports stuff. We'll talk about that in a second, because I like that. Give me, give me.What. What's your most favorite thing about the city that you love?

Probably the lake and the architecture. So you can combine the two and do, like, architectural tours. There are boats that'll take you up and down the Chicago River.You can even take a kayak up and down the Chicago River. So there's just so much to do. City wineries along the river, so you can just grab a glass of wine and sort of walk along the river.But I would say having the lake, which I feel like is sort of the third coast because it's so large, and so we've got sailing. I've done sailing on the lake. You can go boating. It's just. It's a lot of fun.

That's great. I. I thought you were gonna say Wrigley Field, but that's okay. You know, that's. That's.

It's up there. It's up there, but definitely the lake.

I've had the pleasure of going to a couple of games at Wrigley Field. Just fantastic. And so are you Cubs or White Sox? Because it's definitely one or the other. Right. People aren't both in that area. You. You're gonna.You're gonna be born into a side.

Usually, I think if you're born in the city and raised in the city, you have your team. But if you're from the suburbs and like outlying areas, you're like, I just like Chicago teams. I'm definitely a Cubs fan. So I was.I grew up about a mile west of Wrigley, and so very strong Cubs culture in my neighborhood. So definitely Wrigley is absolutely beautiful. Spent a lot of time there. So highly recommended if anyone's visiting Chicago.

Yeah. One of the best loops around any ballpark in the country.Just to see all the stuff that's around there, whether it's the homes in the outfield or the great bars that are kind of more down the first and third baseline.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And then they have like the rooftop. So there's all the buildings right around there that you can get space up on the rooftop.And so I have a, I have a 28 year old daughter who lives in that neighborhood now. Wow. Yeah. So I get to get down there quite often.

Awesome. I love that. So I want to go back to something else we chatted about a little bit.And you mentioned, as we were kind of getting to know each other, that your parents are immigrants in this country. Right. You, you and your brothers and sisters are all, were all born here. But can we talk about that a little bit?And I would, I'm going to venture to say from what we chatted about that that those parents and that upbringing really led to a lot of the success you experience today. Is that fair?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I've got, there's four of us kids in our family, all born and raised in the city.My parents came probably in 1975 from the middle east or from Syria. And they kind of came from like really different worlds. So my mother was from the city, her father was a physician, so she was very much a city girl.And my father grew up in the countryside. He was a farmer and they had about 200 acres.But the really cool thing that I actually didn't find out until I was much older, like until I was an adult, was my father actually grew up in a mud hut. So like, wow. No running water, no electricity.They actually would get their water from a spot spring fed river and saw the like little villages dotted the river and they would filter it in clay pots and that's how they got their drinking water.

Wow.

Yeah, wow.

So your mom and dad come here together. They're maybe they're already together, they're already married, they decide to make a change. Where did they kind of start their journey?

So there was a small like ethnic community that was starting to develop in Chicago.And so when you're an immigrant to a country, it's nice to settle in within your own ethnic community because you get, funny enough, you get assimilated a lot easier that way.

Oh, that's great.

And so it was between Chicago and San Jose. And I was so angry with my mother when I found this out. I'm like, why did you choose Chicago? We could have been Californians.And she said, because the paperwork was already processed and the job offer came later in San Jose. So I was like, okay, well, we're Chicagoans. But.But yeah, certainly going back to your question about shaping my work ethic, both my parents really did shape it.And I, you know, I think about people that, that immigrate to the US or really to any country, but especially the US People come here primarily for the opportunity.So I, for me, my thought about people that are coming to the US is by their very nature, they tend to be ambitious or they're looking for a better life. And that certainly wasn't lost on me and my sisters and my brother.And, you know, it's funny because you'll always hear parents say, you know, to their children, when I was your age, I had to, you know, walk 10 miles up a hill in the snow to get to school. And that story was actually pretty true. I mean, he's of my father.He was in the Middle east, so we didn't have the snow, but certainly he was commuting or he was riding his bike 10 out, 10 miles a day to get to school and back. And so that was not lost on us. And it's certainly not lost on my kids either.And so, you know, my father's no longer with us, but one of the things that my kids remember about him when we do talk about him is how much he stressed discipline and education and hard work. And so it's nice to see that legacy with my kids.

That's awesome. You just, you mentioned education, and I know that's a big part of your growing up. Right.And I know that you headed off to Purdue and there's so many different schools in your area, tons in the Midwest. Why Purdue? Why are you a boilermaker?

Well, so I actually, I didn't take a straight path to university. I actually, I got married out of high school, so all of my siblings went to university. Right away, my path was a little bit different.I don't know why. For some reason, I felt like I was always rushing to become an adult. And so, so I ended up getting married and starting a family at 19.We purchased our first home at 22. And so my journey to university life came much later in life.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. And it, it just because of the upbringing that I had. It just always sort of felt like this unchecked box.And so when the opportunity arose and the time was right, I did go back. I did pick Purdue because of the curriculum and just A lot of logistical things that aligned and so, so how.

How old were you at this time?

When I went back to university, this was. Oh, gosh, like I probably started in my 30s.

Wow, that's great. Yeah, because you have how many children? You have how many children?

So I've got two. I've got a 28 year old daughter and a 17 year old son.

Yeah. So that had to be tough. I mean, you were talking about trying to get that degree while you, while you're raising children. That's. Well, there you go.There's work ethic right there. Nothing tougher, I would think.

Well, I just feel like it's a good thing to be a lifelong learner too, whether you're going back to university or, you know, just reading books all the time or taking classes or certifications. And I, I really do believe your children will pick that up and develop that culture within themselves, even if it's not right away.I think those kinds of things really resonate with kids and they will instill that in their children at some point.

What was the first job you had after leaving Purdue?

Well, my first adult job when I was younger was, was working as a corporate travel agent. So I did, I did take a certification early on in life to become, to become certified to work on the airline's booking systems.And so I was hired as a corporate travel agent for American Express. My account was Sara Lee, which was like huge.This was like back in the late 90s where Sara Lee was, you know, buying different brands like Champion and Jimmy Dean. And so we got to book travel for like their CEOs and their executives and, you know, their leadership team. And it was a lot of fun.It was, it was a lot of fun. And this was at, this was. So this was pre 911 when I started there. And the travel benefits were amazing.So we didn't make a ton of money, but we had tremendous benefits. So you get to travel the world essentially for free and stay in like really nice hotels and, you know, really great perks.Probably one of the best companies I've ever worked for.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then. But somehow we've got to get you into this data space. Right. Because what you're doing now is, well, super cool.We're going to talk a lot about Maverick Systems, you know, here shortly. But let's talk about how did you get into that world? What was that thing that drew you into that space?

So when I was working for American Express Express, so I was, I was working there when 911 happened and that sort of changed the travel industry. This also was at a time when online travel agencies like Expedia were gaining traction and were becoming a thing.And so companies like Sara Lee were moving more to those online travel agencies and working with corporate travel agents a lot less and sort of 9, 11 accelerated that. And what ended up happening is I was in my early 20s, I think I was like 23, 24. And I ended up, they ended up laying off thousands of employees.I was one of them. I made it to the fourth round and they were kind of going by seniority and my name came up and I was let go.And I was so young and I was under maybe a false impression at the time that layoffs didn't happen to young people. And so when it happened to me, it was like out of left field. It was really a shock.And I was so indignant, I was so angry about it that I ended up taking my severance and saying, you know, I'm going to go in business for myself and what is the most low barrier way to do that? And I was introduced to real estate and I thought, this is a great profession. And back then it was really easy to get into it.I took a one week course. I went Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, which you can't do. You can't do.

Not quite. It's close, but not quite.

Not. Well, not in Chicago. You can't do anymore.

Gotcha.

Everyone in Chicago has to be a broke, has to have a broker's license.

Oh, okay. That's different.

Yeah, yeah. Or maybe it's an Illinois thing.

So the real estate part came first for you. That's, that's. So you're, you're, you're a realtor in Chicago. A Young realtor at 24.

Yeah.

Yeah. How did that go? How did that go?

So not so great. And very common. Not so great my first year, actually, I think I did worse my first year than most people.So to any real estate agents that are listening, Keep hope alive, it's, you know, there's a learning curve. But I was, I was very young and as you can imagine, not a lot of people want to work with a 24 year old to buy or sell a home.But what I did have going for me were a few things. So I ended up coming into the business when you could purchase a home with no money down. Okay.And I had purchased my first home when I was 22 with no money down. And I had a lot of friends that were like, hey, that's pretty cool. And I want to do the same thing. And so I started selling homes to my friends.My first year I didn't sell any homes and I didn't realize that I could sell homes to friends until my second year. So not one sale my first year, second year, started selling to my friends and then they referred me to their friends and on it went.And it was probably by my like third or fourth year in real estate, I was selling just under 4 million in production. And this was at a time when homes were like 150,000 too.

Yeah, that's, that's a great number.

Yeah, yeah, I did extraordinarily well. Started hosting first time home buyer seminars.And really it was during that time in real estate is when I would start, I started sort of tracking my own metrics which I think is like critically important to look at.You know, what market are my deals in, what are my lead sources, where are they coming from, you know, how many deals that I did, I do, how much do I want to increase? And I didn't realize what a love of data I had.I just was sort of like trying to manage my business, but that's really where I kind of got my feet wet.

So you're actually a realtor who created a business plan of.

I did, I did.

That's, that's, that's really powerful, especially at a young age. Right.Because there seems to be a lot of wing in it even to today at times, you know, we have, there's lots of conversations with agents about what's the plan for next year. So yeah, that's, that's really cool to have that, that already baked in.

It was like just a lot of trial and error. You know, I think you fall on your face enough, it hurts and you don't want to, you don't want to repeat it.So you iterate and you, you know, you try to think about like, well, what can I do differently?

So, so is, is there, am I, do I have this right? Is there kind of a breakaway from real estate for a little while where you decided to try something or do something else?

Well, I was in real estate up until the housing market collapse in 08 and so I ended up leaving. I just didn't have the book of business to sustain it. I was so young and me and my clients were all first time home buyers.So I worked in real estate for about six years up until that point and then I ended up leaving and I sort of wanted to go back to hospitality but I really didn't want to go back into the travel agency.And so I sort of went adjacent and started, had an opportunity with a hotel to work in their sales and marketing, ended up staying in the hotel industry for a bit of time, worked for Hyatt and Hilton, led corporate sales and did some marketing with them. And that's really where I deepened my love of data.Because much like real estate, the hospitality industry is extremely data rich and you know, you can, you can pretty much track everything. And so I started to, I took a few classes on data and reporting and that sort of thing like business reporting.And I started building out reporting packages for the properties that I worked for to see how we were trending and, you know, how we stacked up against our competitors and that sort of thing. And really I would say that's where my true love of data really started to evolve and deepen.

But then there's the entrepreneur side of you come rears back up and you're ready to go out on your own again, right?

Yes, I do have an entrepreneurial spirit and I find that a lot of people that are entrepreneurial, a lot of certainly, certainly a lot of people in our industry have a really hard time working for big companies and we either do our own thing or we like startups where there's a lot of creativity and you know, you can contribute a lot. Like you're not really boxed into a small, tight role.So, so it was that just kind of getting disillusioned from working for large corporations and feeling like I had a very narrow role in what I was doing, combined with the fact that technology was on the rise and it's been for a number of years. And I just felt like, you know, gosh, I'm missing the boat and I really want to get into the tech space.And so the opportunity came up to be part of the founding team of Relytics, which is a data analytics company company in real estate. And so I jumped on that opportunity and I joined the team.

Talk a little bit more about what Relytics did. Were they helping enterprise at an enterprise level, at a brokerage level? What was their, what was their.

Yeah, we, so we worked with real estate brokerages to help with, with their growth initiatives.We essentially supplied data insights that would allow them to make better decision making about any coaching opportunities within their own agent pool, how to identify high value recruit prospects, you know, things like that.

And that, that seems like then the natural lead in to what, what you're currently doing now, right, with Maverick Systems.

Yeah, 100%.So I really loved working there and because it was a startup environment, I Had a chance to contribute pretty heavily to product development as well as development of our advanced analytics, and got to work with a lot of really great teams and brokerages across the nation and really fell in love with the industry on a much deeper level. One of the things that. And it really valued my time there.But one of the things that I noticed when I was working with a lot of the companies and teams across the US Is that many of them struggled to adopt data.And so I started to dig in deeper and did a lot of work on more like account management and spending a lot of time with our clients and, you know, would ask them questions like, you know, tell me, you know, how do you. If you have information about an agent, how do you approach them? Or how do you take the data and apply it? Like, what tools are you using?How do you knit your systems together? Do you have a system? And take me. Started doing sort of like a process flow analysis where I was like, take me through your process.Like, you sit at your desk, what do you do? Just, like, show me what you do. And it was so funny because it didn't matter how big or small the company was.Didn't matter if it was a team or brokerage. They all sort of struggled with the same challenges. You know, they. They had the same challenges.Which one was, we have a tremendous amount of data, but how do we actually put it into action? Like, I understand the information you're telling me, but what do I do with it? So that was a struggle.And even, like, the data interpretation was a struggle because if you're supplying somebody with, you know, hundreds of data points, there's a little bit of a challenge in understanding how to interpret all of that information and then how to put it in action.And then I also realized that our industry struggles with a lot of really disconnected systems and softwares and solutions and platforms that people were trying to knit together this sort of, kind of like, kind of a Franken system.

I like that.

Yeah. And, you know, many people didn't even do that.So I thought, you know, there's the overarching theme here when dealing with teams and brokerages is a struggle to interpret the data and to put it into action.

Okay.

And so I saw an opportunity there, and that really was a catalyst for Maverick Systems.

So it's really finding that pain point. Right. Ultimately, and solving for that has led to a lot of really successful companies.

Yeah.

I want to ask you this question. You talk about the Franken systems, which I'll be using a lot of that now. But that's great. There's so many, so many promises of end to end solution.We take care of everything. You know, you've heard there's lots of companies that have used that phrase.Has anyone really nailed it in your opinion or is it kind of almost impossible to be com. The one thing for every, for, for multiple types of people? I don't, it doesn't make sense to me, I guess.

I think, I think there are companies that obviously are, are doing it, but are they doing it well?And I think sometimes if you spread yourself too thin and you try to acquire too many companies or build too many solutions that you kind of have many that don't really work for the consumer. Yeah, I think that would be sort of the pitfall of trying to develop too much too quickly and try to meet everyone's needs. Yeah, that.So I don't, I'm not saying that that's what they're struggling with or not, but it's certainly a pitfall that a company could fall into. But I think solutions that are flexible are probably going to work better for the consumer.And so what we do at Maverick is we have our sort of out of the box platform, but we use integrations to be able to semi customize that platform to our clients needs because not everybody needs everything and that's what makes us a little bit different.

Yeah, your company is focused on really helping brokers solve a really big problem and that is recruiting and retention. I guess those have to go together, I would imagine. Yeah. So talk about that a little bit, how that works.

Yeah, so we're certainly starting with the data. I think data is really the foundational piece of it because that's the insight.So we do license MLS data at our clients request and then we will process all of that information and turn it into insight about the agents that are not just in their market that they're trying to recruit, but the agents internally that they want to try to keep. Because honestly, especially in today's climate, it really is a lot easier to retain an agent than it is to recruit an agent. So.But, but as brokers and as leaders, we don't want to take that for granted that agents are just not super mobile right now. We still want to work on retention strategies and that's primarily done through coaching and so we can use that data to have better conversations.So at Maverick Systems we supply over 70 data points on an agent and it's everything from like not just production, but production years in business, sales trends, top markets, listing capabilities. I mean you name it, it's in there. And then we do a really fine job at interpreting that data for our clients.And what I mean by that is we'll actually grab a segment of the prospects that are in their market and we'll say, hey, there's this little sub segment here that's really struggling with getting listings to close, for example.Or like, we'll use that strategy more internally to say, hey, you've got some agents in your office that are actually taking quite a few listings or not really closing on them. When they do close on them, the days on market is really high and the list to sell ratio is really low.So maybe it's a marketing and pricing issue that they might have. And so if you do some training around that or coaching around that, I think that would go a long way.And so that's how we work with our clients on the coaching and retention side.But likewise on the recruitment side, we'll help them develop Personas that are suited to the types of agents that they want to bring into their firm and then help them with their messaging. Like, what does this Persona generally struggle with? What should your overarching marketing message be to them?Like, how do you have messaging that's resonant with this group of people?

Yeah, I hear all the time that culture plays a huge role right inside a brokerage. I would imagine you would agree with that.

Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. I think. I think culture is probably the number one reason agents will either join a firm or leave a firm, followed by compensation.And you've heard people say it's, you know, it's compensation, it's not.And in fact, Inman did probably one of the most comprehensive surveys that I personally have seen about a year ago, where they surveyed hundreds of agents across the US and they asked them several questions. They asked them many questions, but there were several were around recruitment.And so they asked agents what they valued most about their current brokerage. Okay, what they valued most. And the majority, 35%, said it was their culture.And then they asked them of the ones that had switched brokerages in the past year, what the reason was for the switch, for the change. And again, the majority, over 40%, replied, Culture. It was a change of culture.And then they asked them if they were to make a move of the ones that hadn't, what would be the reason for. For a move, if they were to consider a move. And again, the number one answer, and it was about 30% said they would move for a better cultural fit.

Wow.

Yeah.

So That's a big conversation with a broker when you start working with them, like what are you doing here? And maybe that needs to be ironed out first or at least codified. Right. Some way so you know exactly what it is. Wow.

Yeah, we work with our clients to find out like, you know, are, are you guys doing daily standups? Do you have training classes? Like, you know, do you have events that you just get together and have fun?You know, because all of that can be used in your messaging when we are segmenting your database for you.

Right.

Especially when it comes to training.

You know, we're talking about brokerages here but you know, there's this rise of the teams that's been growing. You've had some people say that one day the big box brands are going to be gone because it's going to be teams that are driving everything.Do you also work with teams because recruiting is a big part of their world?

Yeah, we definitely work with teams.And one of the things that I would say about like the biggest difference that I've noticed about teams and brokerage is especially when you're talking about like multi office brokerage, teams are just way more nimble, you know, they, they can move with a lot more speed and teams are more system oriented and like process oriented. And so what I didn't touch on earlier is yes, we provide the data insights but we're integrated with a CRM and other solutions.We have like built in sales enablement solutions and things like that.They give you a comprehensive system and I feel like in my experience teams really seem to get that and get the importance of having a comprehensive solution and to be real systematized in how they approach recruitment, retention, coaching.

Yeah, so there's, look, there's pluses and minuses to both opportunities, you know, but I think it's, it's very interesting that you're, you're able to service both, which is, which is great for the company. You like to write.

I do.

You do because you're an author for Inman Housing Wire Riz Media who goes against Immin all the time.

So.

Yeah, yeah. So that's really cool that you like to do that.So you like sharing out to the industry what you're learning, what you, the, the trends and kind of things that you see. Talk about that a little bit. I think that's super cool.

Yeah, I just love connecting with people and I feel like writing has allowed me the opportunity to share my thoughts, but it's also allowed me to better connect with our pretty small, tight Knit real estate community, you know, and I go to conferences and you know, like many of us go to events and it's funny how many times I've had people say to me like, oh, I read your article and I honestly didn't even think people read it that much. But people say like, they'll reference articles that I've written and they'll share their thoughts. And to me that like is the best feeling.It's so rewarding and it's cool because, you know, we, nowadays, I feel like we all sort of have a platform with social media and I just think that if we can share things that resonate with other people or maybe are thought provoking or share something that somebody may not know, we, we build deeper connections than just taking pictures of our food, which I also do. But.

Who doesn't? Come on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's, it's a lot of fun. And honestly, I feel like it's even like cathartic in a way.Like I, like, I feel like I've solved a lot of my own problems or you know, struggles like just being able to write, you know, because you start to share your thoughts and sharing your thoughts in that sort of like that platform will provoke other thoughts, you know, and it'll lead to other things that you want to research or think about. So, yeah, it's been fun.

Is there something that you're thinking about that is next for Maverick Systems? Is there? Or are you kind of always hard to do what you're doing now?But sometimes I always like to find out if there's something in the future that you can talk about.

There's, there's always something. Especially, you know, being a young company. It's.

Yeah.

I was talking with a friend the other day and I'm like, you know, I think the hardest thing about being like a young company is you have a lot of opportunities that come at you, people that want to work with you on different really cool sounding projects and then you have a lot of your own ideas on things that you want to try or do or implement. And the hardest part is narrowing that focus to what is going to advance the company.When is it the right time to build on what we're already doing and when is it the right time to sort of put the brakes on it? So yes, we have a lot of ideas. Nothing I can share today.

All right, good. So deeper like that. Deeper versus wider conversations just happening all the time. Right?

It's happening. It's all the time. It's all the time. I Think whenever you're in business, you have to constantly be looking at what's coming.You have to look at different trends, emerging technologies.I quite often will go outside of our industry to learn about things that are happening in other industries, different technologies or business processes or different methodologies of doing certain things. And I try to bring some of that back into Maverick and implement it in what we're doing. So, yeah, so it's always you.Just as a founder, I think you have to be really. Or as a business leader, you just have to be very flexible and you have to always be on the lookout for opportunities and emerging trends.

I didn't bring this up, and normally I talk about it in most episodes, but AI in data science, I would imagine there's definitely some help there. Am I right?

Yeah.

Or not.

AI, I think AI is. Is great. We're going to see a lot more of it. Obviously, it's like exploded onto the scene.

Yeah.

So, you know, it's. I think it's something that it's gonna. It will. It will replace some jobs, but it will also create many other jobs.So I wouldn't be worried about that as a general public, but I would also just stay on top of these sort of trends in whatever industry somebody is in. Certainly in real estate, we see it taking over.And so I think it's really important that whatever your role is within our industry is to look at your role and think about how AI may change that. And I think there's a lot of truth to the saying of evolve or die.And I think people that fight the trends and try to hold on to the old way of doing things are going to really hurt themselves that way and are going to struggle. So you don't have to go out and, you know, have everything AI. But I certainly would start to explore it, like, stay. Stay on top of the.Stay with the trends, you know, because if you let. If you let the technologies go by too much and you let the world go on too far without you keeping up, it just makes it increasingly difficult.

Yeah, it's hard to start at the beginning when the pack is, you know, 100 miles down the road. It's really tough. Right.

It's very hard. And just. Even on the data alone. I actually recently read a study, and this is like this. It kind of blew my mind, but not really.I was kind of like, yeah, that makes sense. There was a study Oracle did a couple of years ago. It was called the Decision Dilemma.And they ended up interviewing, like 14,000 business leaders across. I want to, say, 17 countries. And yeah, it was a really comprehensive study. And they. They were asking him.This was specifically about data and using data and data driven decision making in their businesses.And what was like, what really stood out to me was that people, as much as we say, we're like, we have a data culture and this sort of thing, people are struggling to keep up with how to use it. And this is just one thing that, you know that. And there's so many other technologies that are coming out. But they.They found in this study that 85% of respondents said they suffered from decision distress, which meant that they either had a lot of anxiety over a decision they made or were really stressed out about using data. Like, whenever the conversation would come up about using data, it caused them great stress and anxiety.And another 72% admitted that the sheer volume of data has actually stopped them from taking action.

Wow. Yeah, yeah, that's. That's tough there. Someone's got to solve that, right?

But it goes to my point that, yes, yes, we need solutions that are. Are working for people rather than working against them.So I didn't want to have a company that provided you a ton of insight that you couldn't utilize.And so for me, our approach and the way that I run Maverick is we're very consultative with our clients, but we use a lot of technology to try to carry a lot of that because you have to balance being consultative, which is like, very hands on, very time consuming, and balance it with being efficient. And so I think we do a really good job of.Of that right now where we can serve our clients sort of in a way that feels very personal and consultative, but we can use technology to do it really efficiently.

As a founder, that's very important for you to make sure you get that balance there. Yeah, that's cool. Well, Diana, this has been amazing.I'm going to let you go, but you have to answer one final question, the same question we've asked every guest since August of 2015. And that is what one piece of advice would you give an agent just getting started in the business?

Okay. If I had to boil it down to one, Write a business plan before you get a license.

Sweet.

Yeah, write a business plan. And. And I. If you don't know where to.Where to get a template or how to write it, you probably have a business development center in your county, probably through the SBA or something like that. So reach out to your county business development center, make an appointment, go down there and say, I want to launch a business.What Do I need to know? How do I. How do I write a business plan?

That's awesome. Look, because it's so many people, it's. They don't think in the terms of a. And really, they're. They're little startups.They're just little startups just getting going, you know, and there's lots of help, but you still gotta perform and do all the things that are laid out there for you. But, yeah, it's. I love that answer. That's great.

Yeah, yeah, it really helps tremendously. It just sort of is like, that's your roadmap. That's. That's also your way of vetting your business, you know?

Yeah. So, Diana, if someone wants to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Yeah, you can go to our website. It's www.mavericksystems.com. if somebody wants to schedule a demo of the solution, they can do so on the site.If they want to reach out to me personally, please feel free to email me. It's just Diana D I A N A Mavericksystems.com well, thank you so much.

Give a shout out, another shout out to Marcy. When next time you see her, tell her. Bill was super happy this referral. Yeah. I love your story. I think it's fantastic.It'll be fun to watch your company grow and be successful. And once again, thank you so much for being here.

I appreciate it. It's a lot of fun. Thanks, Bill.

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