Stay Modern With Murray
Welcome to the Stay Modern with Murray Podcast, your go-to source for the latest trends and insider tips in the homebuilding industry. Each episode, we delve into the dynamic realms of design and construction, providing valuable insights that can elevate your understanding and approach to building and renovating homes.
But we don’t stop there! We go beyond mere construction topics to engage with influential figures such as business owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. These conversations highlight the experiences and expertise of those who are making significant impacts in their respective fields. Here, you will discover not only innovative ideas and practices within homebuilding but also inspirational stories that showcase leadership and creativity in action.
Whether you're a homeowner, a potential builder, or simply interested in the housing industry, our podcast will offer a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. Join us as we explore the intersection of home construction and the vibrant discussions that can help shape the future of your projects. Tune in to enrich your understanding and spark new ideas in homebuilding, design, and business leadership!
Please tune in to hear from industry experts, non-profits, and local business leaders shaping our world. Visit our website at www.murraycustomhomes.com/podcast for more information and to catch the latest episodes. Subscribe today and stay modern with Murray!
Stay Modern With Murray
Rob Sanders: From Wrestling to Real Estate, a Journey of Discipline and Determination
How often do you hear about a small-town guy making it big? Well, my friend Rob Sanders is one such inspiring figure! From wrestling for the Huskers to becoming a brand ambassador for Murray, Rob's journey is proof of what discipline and determination can achieve. We delve into his experiences of weight-cutting in college wrestling, a demanding process that requires both physical and mental strength. Rob's insights on how his father's past experiences shaped his approach to wrestling are particularly enlightening.
Shifting gears, we explore Rob's professional life, marked by a robust work culture at Murray. Rob found his calling and has skillfully used his coaching background to foster relationships with subcontractors and customers. Rob's expertise extends beyond sales, as he takes the extra step to provide referrals to clients, ensuring they find the right service provider, highlighting the crucial role networking plays in his profession.
Our chat offers a fascinating look into how he manages his time and adapts to new surroundings, a crucial skill in our ever-changing world. So, tune in for an engaging and insightful conversation with Rob Sanders, and perhaps pick up a few life lessons along the way!
Welcome to the Murray Minute Edition, a series in the Stay Modern with Murray podcast, where we dive into custom home building, roofing and home inspection topics with one of the members of our team. Sit back and enjoy the ride with your host, Matthew Taylor.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on the second episode ever of the Stay Modern with Murray, a Murray Minute Edition. I am joined today with my guy, rob Sanders. Rob, how are you? Sir?
Speaker 3:Doing great sir.
Speaker 2:Hey, who are you and what do you do? Let's party today?
Speaker 3:That is a loaded question because I grew up in Utah, came here to wrestle at the university. That's where I met Matt Murray and stayed in contact with him for shoot 10 years until I started working here. But my parents grew up in Southern California, so kind of have a hippie growing up a little bit.
Speaker 2:So Cal baby, you grew up with that.
Speaker 3:Yep, they grew up in Southern California, didn't want to raise kids there, and so they moved to Utah where it's a lot safer to raise kids. My dad taught on an Indian reservation for 35 years and I had all kinds of different friends from different walks of life, and it really helped me when I moved here to Lincoln from a town of 4,000 to 250,000.
Speaker 2:The craziest thing about Lincoln right is it's the biggest, smallest town I've ever traveled through, been a part of, lived in. To me it's home and it's always going to be home. I think you and I talked off-mic a little bit about this. You go and travel these places and then you come home and it's got that all right. Deep breath, we're back to reality. It's not for everybody, but it's for people like us right Now. You moved off to Utah and then you started wrestling right. We talked about that a little bit, but what brought you to Utah outside of the family move? Did they have roots tied down there? Did you have family from there? What brought you to the family there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my dad he wrestled at Southern Utah University and so he got through college, all that, and he and my mom actually got married before we moved to Utah. So I was born in the Utah area, gotcha, and then we moved here for school and wrestling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you met Matt through the university, right. We kind of joked around about it a little bit. I said, man, I can't believe you guys aren't in the same weight class. And you're like, well, have you ever seen us before? Now, with that, how did that friendship kind of develop? It just one of those locker room things. Or let's talk a little bit of Matt before Matt Murray, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were the same weight class and I was a red shirt most college wrestlers red shirt their first year. Because if you're 18 years old trying to basically fight another guy who's 22 years old and he's got four years of training weightlifting a few more years after puberty under his belt, he beat the tar out of me that whole year. But the really cool thing about it is at the same time he brought me under his wing and really showed me different techniques that were going to make me get better, which in turn got him better. I always had the work ethic and I fought tooth and nail for everything in every practice. I know when he was getting down to weight towards the end of the week, I didn't go with him as much, because when you're getting close to weight and he cut a lot of weight you don't really want to wrestle with guys that fight the whole time. So that made me feel good that he didn't want to smoke that close to competition.
Speaker 2:Man do. Cutting weight. That's so crazy to me and it's a completely off topic of where we're heading with this direction and I love all of it. But cutting weight, man, that's discipline to its core. I mean you're hungry all the time and you got to battle the mental state of it. Let's talk a little bit about the cutting weight and how you went about that. Well, how did you do it? I mean just completely working out. Was it zero food? Did you have to watch your intake Back in the college days? How'd you go through it?
Speaker 3:What helped me was my dad wrestled in college. He had years where well, mostly his high school years he did not cut weight correctly, wore plastics to every single practice, tried not to drink water at night. So through his mistakes and his errors, he said if you're going to cut any weight at all, you're going to do it right, You're going to exercise, going to eat right, You're going to do every single thing right. And then we can talk about little things after that. But moving on to college, I did it as right as I could.
Speaker 3:One year, when I dropped down a weight class, I went vegetarian for about six months just because I had to lose some muscle, Because the guy that I couldn't beat was Jordan Burroughs, who he hadn't won a national title at that time. But after he took my spot he won two national titles and then a lot of world and Olympic titles since then. But yeah, I wanted to be in the lineup. I didn't want to be a non-starter. So I started in May, right as school ended, really watching my diet and really took the whole summer to start getting my weight down.
Speaker 2:Bro, is that a year round thing? I mean, there is no off days when you are literally that's everything. You don't make that weight class and you're done. I mean you're not talking about high school where it's like, okay, everybody gets to play. Here's what I'm saying and it's not like that. But in a sense, you're there, you're on the roster in high school. When you get to college, man, you're playing with money, You're playing with your scholarship, and I want to dig into that a little bit too. Before we get into the real estate factor of this, you and I spoke about how you kind of got looked at by Nebraska. I mean, you were sending off like VHS tapes, correct?
Speaker 3:Yes, this is 2004, where I don't remember if DVDs were a thing, and if we did, you had to burn them and it was a big, long process. So, yeah, I sent my VHS tape to the coaches in Nebraska and a couple other schools and they were one of a few that got back to me and I just started talking to one of their coaches and everything fit. I knew Matt Murray, who he was because he had just got second at the national tournament that year as I was a senior and I knew that he had one year left and the weight class above him. Same situation Guy was an all-American, he was going to be a senior. My thought process was I'm going to get the trash kicked out of me while I read shirt and be ready to hopefully step into a starting spot at either one of those weight classes. I was still growing, I love to lift weights and I ended up getting big enough for the weight class above Matt.
Speaker 2:I don't think enough goes into the history of the employees here, and that's kind of why Shannon and I talked about the Murray Minute. It's kind of getting to know the people who you're going to be working with, and these are our people, we're their family. Once they walk through the door, they should know a little bit about the people that they're working with, just like we all do. Going in. Now let's fast forward here. How did you become an employee of Murray?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So my brother Paul, he used to work here, he wrestled in college also, and he moved back to Lincoln after a few years in Utah and he was looking for something a little different and was doing some manual labor, kind of grunt work, here at Murray. And he did that for a couple of months and then moved into inside sales on the custom home side and he said to me said hey, this is a great opportunity to get paid for your work ethic and get paid for your performance a little better than just a straight salary job. And I knew what Matt was about and I'd been following his company over the past few years and just decided to make the jump. But culture was a big thing and it was nice having my brother Paul already on the inside so he could tell me pros and cons, really what's going on.
Speaker 2:Dude, I'm just adding it all together. I had no idea Paul was your bro, your brother, yeah, no idea. And we got the pod guide, our producer, in the background, even laughing at me. Now, wow, matthew, way to go. Small details, right.
Speaker 2:What I like about you, man, and what I like about working with you, and why I would steer anybody that's on the market to either Jonah or Murray or you, is the fact that you're on site. You want to be there with us throughout the process, and it's not just so you have pictures for social media. You're legitimately asking questions. You're asking why in the house, and even though you probably know the answer, you want to know everybody's different way of doing it.
Speaker 2:And now, that being said, when you're going into this stuff with the real estate and the builds and the custom homes too, let's take our spec house right now, sierra Madre, for example. Somebody walks through the door and they want to talk to you. Now, where are you going to go? Because right now, it's just framing guts, right? I mean, there's not a lot going on at the house outside of the subcontractors doing their thing. They walk in and they say, hey, I want to go. Look at Sierra Madre. Do you take them on site, do they're to the construction site, or how do you go about your day?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I start by asking a bunch of questions and just kind of see what they're looking for. If they really need to see it Some people, if they know that it's just in construction, they'll want to know what it looks like. So then we can pull up our renderings and give them an idea what it looks like or show them pictures of homes that we've built in Southwest Village Heights, that neighborhood, of a very similar floor plan and very similar finishes so they get that feel. Some people can be visual that way looking at it and some people need to experience it and walk in the home.
Speaker 2:Got you. So, speaking of all the fine details and everything, you're kind of a hybrid employee, I would say right of Murray and of the real estate world. So what is your title and what is a day in the life of Rob consist of?
Speaker 3:Brand ambassador, outside sales really just drumming up business and building relationships. That's the easiest way to sum it up. So when I do ride-alongs with you, I not only figure out how you work with people so I can market you, but also learn from you, and whether that's in my business or whether I apply that to my coaching duties that I'm very fortunate to have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you were a wrestler at UNL and now you are coaching at Westland. Is that correct? Correct?
Speaker 3:Vision Three School here in Lincoln I'm an assistant coach. The head coach does most of the work. I show up for practice and help with recruiting when I can, but always having a constant conversation with the head coach about the program, where we've been, where we're at right now and then where we're going in the future.
Speaker 2:Man, it all kind of ties together. Honest to God, that is so crazy to think, because I'm always listening to what you're saying and when we're on the walk-arounds and ride-alongs and you're constantly saying things like man, you're coaching this place up. Real nice, and to me it is two of the same things. And during my interview with Megan and Matt that's, I kind of hit on that a lot. I was like I'm a coach at heart and what I wanna do is help people. I'm gonna help young people, I'm gonna help the youth, I wanna help people with their dream homes, and it sounds like that you brought a lot of that personal life into the career as well, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I really try to and wanted to give you a quick shout out. The first thing I noticed when I saw you interact and heard you interact with our subcontractors on a job site is just how much you appreciate them and thank them for what they're doing, see if they need anything and that's just something that I need to do more of as a coach but also just whether it's the realtors we work with insurance agents who refer roofs to us is see if they need anything else. And a quick example is a couple months ago an insurance agent just texted me asking if I had a referral for someone that does tree removal for one of their elderly clients that needed some help, and so luckily I had somebody. That works as pretty good. They work with budgets really well. They do a great job but not a high cost.
Speaker 2:It's so awesome. Yesterday I went home and I was trying to clean out my age fact unit because I do it for our clients here at work, right, and I'm like, well, why am I not doing this at home? Open it up, clean it up, put it back together and I'm getting in a blinking green light. Six months ago, I don't know who to call for that. I'm getting charged for that phone call and I'm getting charged an outrageous price, man it's. We use the word culture a lot in this building alone. I mean, especially on this podcast in the first two episodes and anything that Matt talks about. He's talking about the culture, the culture here, man, it is straight family and you walk through the door. You're a family member. You're an employee. You're a family member. You are encouraged to bring your family to work so they can meet the people that you're spending your time with. What's home life like for you, rob? Wow, you got kids. You got a wife, I know, but let the people know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, every day's different. Kind of going back to the question you asked later. What's a day in the life? Some days it's up at 4 am knocking out emails and getting them scheduled to be sent during office hours or whenever that is. Some days it's waking up at five and lifting weights. Some days it's sleeping in until my kids wake us up. I, the night before, I really try and write down, whether it's in an email Draft, or physically write it down. Write down my to-do list for the next day, prioritize it. I have to get this done. What's urgent? What could come up, even just like knowing which of my clients are getting the roofs put on that that day or that week? Yeah, so I can be ready to Answer any questions that they have. Yeah, that's from there. It's driving kids to school three days a week, picking them up a couple days a week. My grandparents and my wife's parents live in town. All four of them are retired so they help with child care a lot. But it's really trying to be as efficient as possible While having fun.
Speaker 2:Dude. Okay, let's talk about the having fun thing. I know this pirate that keeps showing up to all my job sites. Man, there's this pirate that walks through the doors and he gives it. He has the best introduction for every single person in this office. Right, let's hit on the social media factor. Let's hit on the networking factor. Doing this job in 2023 is much easier than what it would have been when you were in college, man, because you're talking about recording things on VHS tapes. You're talking. Half of the people listening right now have probably never seen a VHS tape. I mean, honestly, anything below my Whatever. The millennial factor of whatever that age is right, 30 to 34, whatever pre or post that like they had to physically show up to people's doors like you were a door-to-door salesman. If you tried to do what you're doing right now, back in the day, you would literally be foot traffic. How, how do you get your name out and Do you have advice for somebody that's coming into this career path of a real estate agent or brand ambassador?
Speaker 3:I would say it's a combination of both. So you, you should try and have a social media presence, and I'm not as good as I should be about being consistent. I have a lot of ideas and sometimes I'll spend way too long working on my pirate accent instead of just being more consistent, posting videos, whether it's educational, entertainment wise. I Just need to be more consistent, but you also have to. You have to physically show up. Some of the Some of my favorite insurance agents to work with who refer roofs to us regularly. I just randomly walked into their office, giving example American family agent Lindy Mathis, and I walked into her office and and she goes, who?
Speaker 3:the heck are you? And I said I'm Rob, I'm with Murray roofing. You know I was trying to be like, don't hurt me, yeah, she goes. Well, I just fired my roofer. He treated one of my clients so poorly that he's out of here. And then I said what? I was joking. I said, oh, lindy, I would never treat your clients poorly. And she said I like you, rob, sit down. Oh, an hour later, talk to her. We'll talk to her for an hour and then I think we're one of very few roofers that that she refers.
Speaker 3:But I've dropped off birthday cards and balloons at her house during COVID when she was Not able to go out, just because she's got got her uncle and then some other elderly family members. But just doing little things like that to Like get to know somebody. And once you know somebody, you care about them and your brain just goes and thinks, oh, this would be good for them, oh, their birthdays coming up, so. But then also she, she likes a lot of my posts when I do the silly pirate videos or the leprechaun videos. So Relationships sometimes they're just on social media, sometimes just in person, but when you can mix it all it it's a great combo.
Speaker 2:I love when those two worlds collide. I honestly do. It's so. It's so such a breath of fresh air like the human factor, that that human connection that we missed through all of 2021, whatever you know, that whole COVID days. The biggest thing that was lacking and I think for, like our kids, is age right is that connection, that eye to eye, that knowing what the Below your nose looks like, right, because every no one what your smile looks like, I should say to me that being a human, that's that's kind of what you do so well is just connecting with people, so that that brand ambassador, the networking, whatever that job title is for you that day, just know that you do a great job at it. Man, I'm proud to to say that out, that I work with you and I tell everybody that I know that too, it's, it's, it's, it truly is man, knowing where I worked and what I did for you know, a decade it there.
Speaker 2:That connection wasn't there, it, it. Let's just be real. You know that's why, and he's, we had the culture fit interview. That's what I knew. I was like, okay, he wants to be sure you know before he just brings anybody on, so how can people get a hold of you. Where can they contact you? And, and, and, and. What do you got coming up?
Speaker 3:Yep. So my cell number is 402 310 3361. Call or text anytime. On Instagram, my handle is Rob Sanders real estate. On Facebook, my business page is Rob Sanders, nebraska Realty. That's the brokerage I'm with and, and on Twitter I'm on. I'm at Husker grappler. Started that in 2009, right after I graduated, and I've been at like 1900 followers for man seems like a year, slowly creeping up to 2000.
Speaker 2:Let's get this guy over the hill. What are we doing, folks?
Speaker 3:I Forgot what else was.
Speaker 2:What I got coming up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we are working. We started a town home in the Ridge. Gonna be listing that here in the next week or so I don't know the exact Close, close date on that but definitely sometime in the spring of 2024 and then, hopefully in the next month or two, got a home coming up in Davy, nebraska that I'm going to list and a few other things that are in the pipeline.
Speaker 2:Yep, and then 5, 9, 2, 9. Southwest Sierra Madre the pirate was just out there that you've got a new. You got a new video up as of this will be released next Friday. So last week you had that video up and I tell you what, man, that that was comical. I loved every second of it, man, I really did. And you're not just working on Murray homes, right? I mean Nebraska realty, you said, is where, where your other hybrid branch with maybe is that correct?
Speaker 3:Correct. So the nice thing is, when you're in real estate you can help people buy, sell and build. And there's a few realtors that told me Year or two years ago You're already in with the builder, get your license. You're dumb if you don't, because the hardest part is getting in with the builder. So I just, when enough smart people tell me something, I eventually figure it out and do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, why not seeing? That's the game? Going back to the code, I will get you out of here, I promise. But going back to the coaching factor, man, I've always said if a coach tells you they know it all, they have it all figured out. If a boss tells you they know it all, they have it all figured out there. That's not somebody I want to learn from, bro. I want to constantly be changing, I want to constantly be evolving, I want to constantly be learning, I want to, I want to open up my network.
Speaker 2:Bigger and bigger and bigger, right, bigger than baseball, something you see me say all the time. That means life, that's being a better student, better athlete, a better friend, a better brother, a better sister, better employee. Like that's what bigger than baseball is for me, man, and you hit it on the head, man, you, you. You are perfect for what you do, my friend and I appreciate all your time and thank you for stopping by today. Member. To stop by 1631 Cushman Drive, sweet number two, and talk to Matt, megan, jonah and now Rob. Anytime today, tomorrow, give Rob a call, hit them up on social media, rob. Thank you for being here today, brother.
Speaker 3:Thanks, man.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on this episode of stay modern with Murray, the Murray Minute edition. If you have topics you would like us to discuss, please email us at info at Murray custom homes dot com or Message us at Murray custom homes dot com.
