Forge Your Mental Toughness For Super Bowl Level Success With Oleg Tkach

 

Unleashing unstoppable mental toughness is the key to shattering limits and achieving extraordinary success, as demonstrated by mortgage icon and peak performance mentor Oleg Tkach. In this powerhouse episode, Oleg shares his inspiring journey from immigrant roots to becoming a globally recognized leader, unveiling the strategies he uses to cultivate an unbreakable mindset. Discover how this Seattle-based coach applies athlete-level dedication and Super Bowl-winning tactics to transform not only his business but every aspect of his life. This episode goes far beyond mortgage insights, delving into personal growth, defying the average, and building the resilience needed to conquer any challenge. If you’re ready to amplify your mental game and achieve your best year yet, Oleg’s wisdom and experiences will provide the ultimate blueprint.

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Forge Your Mental Toughness For Super Bowl Level Success With Oleg Tkach

I am super honored to host my good friend and mentor and personal coach out of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Oleg Tkach. I owe this man a lot of gratitude. He’s literally changed my life and my business. Oleg is a mortgage superstar, like top two in the entire world in the mortgage space and we’re super lucky to have them. We’re not going to talk a whole lot about mortgage stuff but we’re going to talk about mega growth and mindset, mental toughness and no limits and all of these really fun things. Some business-related things for sure, but also just to have a better life. Oleg, thanks for joining me.

Thank you for having me. Super excited to be a part of this let’s go.

Unconventional Mavericks & Immigrant Roots: Oleg’s Inspiring Upbringing

Let’s roll. BAM stands for Bad Ass Mavericks. As you know, Maverick is the name of my little mortgage company. The reason I called it Maverick is because a maverick is someone who is unconventional and independent and doesn’t necessarily think or behave as others do. If I mention that comment to you, do you relate to any of that? Do you think or behave differently than most others? What are your thoughts on that?

You know, it’s funny. I’d like to think that I don’t, but when I look back at just different periods of my life, it almost seems like for the most part, I’m always going against the grain or against the tide or whatnot. I don’t know if I’ve ever thought much about or went deep into as to why. Part of it could also be just I never want it to be average. If the average is doing this, I want to do so much more and some. I think for a lot of people, if you’re told that you can’t do something, it motivates you more and gives you extra pep or extra chip on your shoulder if it’s something that you care about.

Even though I don’t want to feel that you’re doing something you shouldn’t or you maybe are going against, you could say whatever is publicly viewed as conventional or politically correct. At the end of the day, yeah, you definitely have to stand out in any business or in any environment. I feel like you definitely have to go against average and push beyond whatever the standard is, so to speak.

 

 

We’re going to talk more about that because you are the epitome of not the standard, just in terms of like if here’s the average right. Here’s Oleg. We’ll talk about that a little bit more. If you would enlighten, me a little bit about your family and your upbringing.

At the end of the day, you definitely have to stand out in any business or in any environment. You have to go against average and push beyond whatever the standard is. Share on X

We immigrated here when I was three and came from Ukraine. I was born there. I grew up here. I feel like I’m American just because I grew up here. You don’t remember anything before you were three anyway. The upbringing was, I would say, probably the best that I could have asked for in the aspect that it put me in a position and made me who I am now. I grew up like everybody else who immigrated over here and you don’t really have much. We grew in government assisted apartments, then we bought our first home and my parents worked super hard. They worked all the time.

As a child, you see your parents working. You have that need for things and stuff and you wonder why in school you can’t get this or that. Not that any of that stuff really mattered, but it built that hunger, that drive, the hard work ethic of seeing people show up every day and work hard and do job. My dad was a truck driver, my mom cleaned houses, just the blue-collar type jobs out there. Seeing all that that put me in this position where later on in life, when I was given the opportunity to get into a career that I love and I’m passionate about. You never take that for granted.

That drive of just always wanting more, always pushing harder, always thriving to be better, I think a lot of that has to do with the childhood and growing up and growing up in an environment where you’re not supposed to really be super successful or anything like that. A lot of us from that environment grew up and became super successful, we’re super driven. We’re extremely motivated.

I feel like motivation and drive happens in moments where, I don’t want to say dark moments, but in moments where you’re maybe as a child you’re bored. You’re sitting there and you want something. You’re window shopping and you’re desiring something for a long period of time. That gets embedded in you. When opportunity comes, at that point, you take it and you run with it. I would say my childhood was incredible. There’s nothing that ever happened to me that was negative in any which way other than we grew up with little less things than other people. We caught up and then when opportunity came, I ran with it.

I’m going from memory here. You’re one of five siblings, is that right?

Yeah, five siblings, middle child. An older brother, older sister, younger brother, younger sister. I have them all.

Right in the middle. That’s awesome. How long have you been married?

I’ve been married since 2008. I got married as soon as I turned, pretty much, 20, 21.

As soon as you could, basically.

As soon as I could. When you get the right one, you’re done with it. I didn’t want her to change her mind. I saw that window of opportunity and I took it. We have three beautiful kids. We definitely have a gap in between all of our children. We wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s definitely exciting to be a father daughter, which is awesome. It definitely gives you a different perspective on life in a good way.

Chef’s Secret & Super Bowl Dreams: Oleg’s Double Life

A lot of people reading this know both of us from the mortgage industry. This is not at all a mortgage show by any means, but for the folks that have known us or ran across us or met us once before, in our world, what would be something that would surprise somebody reading this that has known you or met you or whatever the case, what’s something that somebody would be surprised to know about you?

Probably that I really love to cook. Making dinner with the family is one of my favorite things to do. It’s funny is because it actually stemmed from a comment that my dad made a very long time ago when I was growing up. We had an uncle that used to visit us all the time and he was single, but he would come over for food. My dad would always tell me like, “Look at this guy. He can’t even make himself food. What man can’t make himself food?” He would like, make comments. Like, “What would he do if we weren’t here and this and that?” From a young age, I started being way more interested in even making something simple as an egg.

From there, then every guy wants to be great on the grill, but beyond that. From that point forward, I was always just very aware. I just slowly got into it. The more I got into it, the more I actually really enjoyed it. It’s super funny because my kids, my oldest kid, he’s phenomenal at cooking, at grilling. He meal preps all the time. I don’t have to ever worry about them. The younger one, same thing. He’s waking up early, he makes himself breakfast now.

I really think it just stemmed from that moment with my dad and it just got passed on. I’ve told him that story many times that my dad would tell me this. I think that that message, even though it was something probably unintentional from my dad’s end, it changed everything. It stuck. It’s something that I truly love to do day in, day out,

Building The Dream Team: Oleg’s Winning Blueprint

You and I talk a lot about winning. We’re going to go all over the place a little bit here. One of the things that stuck with me forever is that you talk about winning like a Super Bowl type strategy, building a team, running the plays, where does that come from?

I always loved watching sports, not because I cared about which team won or which team lost. What we do in business and in our world, the mortgage world, I viewed it the same as what athletes do from a player perspective and then from an, from a team coach perspective and then from an owner perspective.

If you think about it from a player perspective, everything that you do outside of game day matters. Who you hang out with, the information that you put in front of you, whether you’re reading and you’re super focused or you’re not, if you’re just watching movies, whether you’re diet’s right or it’s not, whether you are consuming alcohol or you’re or you’re not. All of that impacts your performance at such a high level.

From a player perspective, everything that you do outside of game day matters. Share on X

I always was fascinated about it because you’d have people athletes that would win one time that would celebrate the party and the crash and burn and then they’re the one hit wonder, for a lack of a better term, or the people that had a great year and I was always fascinated with the people that had a great career. It wasn’t you won one time, but you became a legend in your field. These are the Michael Jordans, the Kobe Bryants and you can keep going with that example. I was always fascinated by that. Just like in in the professional world, I think in the business world, if you think about it, we’re all performance-based employees. We’re based on our performance.

The way you show up day in and day out determines your worth, determines your salary, determines your commissions and so on, the same way players have different incentives based on performance, how many times you win, whether they make a Super Bowl. They’re all celebrating and everything because they want to win, but they’re also celebrating because they’re getting paid. A while ago, somebody told me, “You’re always working on your next contract, not the one that you’re currently have. The one that you didn’t get yet.”

The thing about it is, I love that part of it because then I treat myself like an athlete, which if you treat yourself like an athlete, you start thinking about your body differently, your mind differently. You start obsessing over things that will either increase your performance or decrease your performance, all of that. The best part about that is it’s a formula, that once you crack that formula, and for everybody’s different, but once you crack that, all of a sudden, now you take off.

I think that a lot of people don’t give that enough credit. They’re like, “I’m just a loan officer.” That’s why you do the mediocre volume that you do and everything else because I don’t view it that way at all. I view myself as basically on an athlete level where if I perform at a super high level, all of the other good things come with it. Huge contracts, the extra bonuses, the support from your referral partners, your team, from your clients that love you and trust you and care about. The more of them you get, the more of a presence you have, the more easier it is to keep that all going and the more hard it is to keep that all going too, as your motivation levels change and all that, which is something we cover later on.

That’s the player side of it, then you have the coach side of it. If you look at any Super Bowl winning team, it didn’t happen o in one year. Football’s probably one of my favorite sports to watch. Hence, why Super Bowl versus World Series or whatnot. The point is like the team doesn’t just give built overnight and they win the Super Bowl that year. Usually it has to do with like 2, 3, 4 years of putting all the right people in, running the right plays, getting the right mix of people because it is funny because you’ll see some people, some players go to a different team and, all of a sudden, they suck.

They were great on one team because that environment was what made them great. The player was there and I’m not taking away from what they did, but that environment also propelled them. It’s a combination of all that. All of it. For me, when you start thinking about your team as a team that wants to win the Super Bowl, you’re no longer making decisions based on short-term relationships. You’re making decisions based on the long-term play.

When you start thinking about your team as a team that wants to win the Super Bowl, you're no longer making decisions based on short-term relationships. You're making decisions based on long-term play. Share on X

You’re doing long-term things with long-term people and it changes that because then you start investing more into the training, into them, into making them better. You’re not looking for the quick fix person that’s just going to come in and help you temporarily with your biggest pain right now. You’re looking for the game changer, not for a filler.

I think it’s huge because when you approach your team that way, you make different hiring decisions. When you make different hiring decisions, you invest in the people with the most potential to be great. The question is, are they superstar level or do they have the ability to be superstar level? If the answer is no to both of those questions, then you shouldn’t have them on your team. If they’re superstar level, great, keep them there. Keep that environment, make sure you don’t mess it up. Make sure you keep them motivated, all that. If they’re not superstar level and they don’t have the ability to be superstar level, in reality, why are they still around?

You're looking for the game changer, not for a filler. Share on X

The answer is we’re too lazy to let them go or to upgrade them, because we’re not thinking we’re not thinking about winning the Super Bowl. We’re thinking about the current pain that’s in front of us, which is maybe we’re either overwhelmed or we have this client that’s upset or we have this pre-approval that’s behind or whatever. The point is you make different hiring decisions when you look at it from a perspective of winning the Super Bowl.

Take that one step further, how many teams have won it and have become a dynasty versus one time and never have done it again? The same thing is with your team. Once you crush it on a super high level and essentially in our world, play at a Super Bowl level, then the question is, can you maintain that team and you keep going or is it going to fall apart?

It could fall apart for many different reasons. One is you. Two is them. People on your team might get might want bigger contracts, more money, all that, or they might want different things or there might be infighting within the team or whatever. The point is you then have to shift from the player side of your role to the coach/ownership side of your role to say, “How do we keep this going for a long period of time?” At the end of the day, without a team, we’re no one. You’re only as good as the team behind you. Your realtors are only as good as the LO behind them. They’re only as good as the team members behind the LO.

All of it plays a role in the overall success. For me, that’s what’s fascinated me the most. To shift gears a little bit, when I started watching the Netflix documentary that they released a few years ago on Formula One, even though I don’t watch Formula One, it was so interesting because you could see in order for them to win, whatever team was winning, the person changing the tire, the team was so passionate about going so much faster. Everybody was trying to play their role so much better. A combination of everyone is what made that team either successful or not.

Obviously, there’s a lot of passion behind it. There’s a lot of fighting behind it. I think with your team too, if there’s people that are passionate, they’re fighting about different, better ways to do it, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s bad if it becomes toxic and it goes out of control. That passion should be complimented. You, as the team leader, has to be able to take that and spin that around where it essentially create systems that everybody’s bought into. They’re the ones that came up with them, not just you as like a dictator style, “Here’s what we’re doing because I said so,” but more of that team buy-in style. That’s when you see that team really progressed. It took me forever to really understand and learn this. As in the first few years of my career, I completely screwed it up with the team.

I had people leave, I made the worst hiring decisions. I was thinking about everything short-term. I was trying to hire the most experienced person versus the one that was had the most potential because I didn’t want to train because that took time. Once it all really clicked and I was able to see the big picture and really think about strategy versus I just want to get through another day. A lot of business owners, a lot of lenders, realtors are just trying to get through another day. That could be because it’s super busy or super slow, it doesn’t matter. When you’re not working on a 2 or 3-year strategy, knowing what’s important now, I think that’s when it could lead to this slow self-destruction stage, which I try to really try to avoid and stay away from.

The Hard Truth: Oleg’s Addiction To Results

Shifting gears and this is along the same lines and you answered it a little bit in what we just went through, but you’re really into this crazy stuff, which I used to look at as crazy until you took me under your wing to join in the crazy. You and I now think of as normal, a lot of people think as nuts. I’ll give you a couple examples. Goggins is a guy that we follow. 75 Hard, you and I have multiple done multiple times, almost to the fact where it’s like almost ongoing. 75 Hard, you introduced me to, it’s 75 straight days of no alcohol.

It’s a gallon of water. It’s finding a meal plan, two workouts every day, a gallon of water, like all this stuff for 75 days straight, 10 pages of reading. If you skip one thing, you start over. You and I have both done this multiple times. You called me in January of ‘24 and said, “I’m doing it four times this year.” I’m like, “You are fucking nuts.” Doing it once is nuts. Here’s my question. How do you come up with this stuff? When you’re in the moment, does it seem crazy or are you like, “I like these big challenges and things like that?” Talk to me about some of that stuff a little bit.

I never really thought about it on a super deep level, but what it comes down to is I think there’s two parts to it. One is I’m really addicted to the results. I’m not talking about personal, I’m talking about business results. I really like the business results that I get when I’m in the zone. The feeling, knowing that I’m in the zone, number one. Number two is I never wanted to be in a place in my career where I felt like I was just coasting through and letting it ride. Maybe that’ll change one day, but I always felt like I always wanted to be the guy that was in it, that was giving it his all, pushing hard.

What do I have in me? Can I push harder? The answer really is, yeah, you can. Even what we’re doing, we’re only scraping the surface of what we could really do in reality. I never wanted to be the person that looked back at my year and was like, “That year really sucked. I could have went harder, I could have done more. I thought I had more time.” I had all these things that I wanted to do and I talked about. I think a lot of people could relate to that. I think that’s most of the world. A lot of times, I look at people around me that some of them are my friends, some of them are not.

I look at them and they’re just very complacent with everything. I get envious of that. I actually envy somebody who’s like, “I just want to take it easy and I am going to work just hard enough not to get let go and show up just that much as I need to, just to get my bills paid.” I always was envious of that. However, for the couple days that I went there mentally or maybe occasionally I hated myself in that moment.

It’s not in your DNA, is it?

I see the other side of it, the people that are just constantly pushing and this and that and everything and achieving things, whether they thought possible or not. Now that I look at my career and where I’ve gone with it, if you were to tell me fifteen years ago, “Here’s where you would be,” I wouldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t think it was possible. Now it just seems normal. I got to tell you, a lot of people will tell me like, “What’s it all for at the end of the day? Does it really matter?” I have these deep thoughts of at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, enough is enough.

However, at the end of the day, the way I feel when I’m just doing nothing or acting like a, for lack of a better word, an NPC and I’m not trying to offend anybody, there’s no joy in life when you’re an NPC. Taking all that action and everything, even though it comes with all the great stuff with it, like the financial side, the relationship that you build, who you become, the mental side of just feeling great. Besides that, it’s like deep inside, I feel you could say fulfilled. I feel like I’m actually doing living out my purpose or my potential.

Even if you took all the money out of it and took everything out of it, I still would rather feel like the guy that was giving it his all than the person that just sitting there saying, “Enough is enough and let’s take it easy and all that.” For whatever reason. We could say you were born that way or maybe it’s the environment that caused you to be that way. Maybe it’s a combination of the two or maybe it’s just different standards that you decided one day and you set for yourself. Those are the standards that you live by. Whatever honor code between you and yourself. I can’t explain that part. What I could explain is that I’ve tried being the other guy and it sucks.

It a shitty feeling. I think some of the people that are reading this, they could probably relate. If you can’t relate to this, then it doesn’t matter. No one’s trying to sway you to one side or bring you over or anything. If you’re happy, be happy. I don’t mean that in like a hippie way. If you’re reading this, you’re probably not. You’re probably driven by something else and you can’t explain it.

I can’t even explain it. You, Brian, can’t explain it. We all have a different explanation on it. What you’re driven by is, is real. The only real way to satisfy that is by doing hard shit all the time. Getting results along the way, pushing yourself and be and because of that, the fulfillment is there. That’s ultimately what it is.

One thing I want to just add to this real quick, just because this is probably the best way I could explain it. I hunt enough. I shouldn’t say I hunt a lot because relative to some people, I don’t hunt at all, but I hunt regularly. I’ve been doing it for years and have had lots of success in it. The one thing that r has really changed for me in the last few years is in the beginning, when you start hunting, all you want to do is tag an animal. You just want to tag an animal.

You just want to say like, “I actually could do this. I actually did do this.” Now, it’s like with me and some of my hunting buddies, it’s no longer about tagging. It’s how you did it. It’s a complexity. I had a shot that I did a couple of years ago in Montana. It was 815 yards. It was a complex shot, side of the mountain, there was snow on the ground and it was between trees, everything. Long story short, it ended up being a perfect shot. Lots of luck involved, I’ll say, and training and luck too from that yardage. Even though the animal itself wasn’t the biggest, the complexity of that, that was my favorite hunt.

The point that I’m trying to make is the same thing with what we’re talking about. People out there that want to win, that want to do hard shit and all that, it’s like the result, as important as that is, but the complexity sometimes is so much more fulfilling. That complexity is all mental. Everybody could look back and say, “Of course he puts up big numbers all the time,” and, “He does hundreds of millions of dollars in volumes each year. He’s been number one in the state multiple times.” Yeah, now, but 10, 15 years ago, in my mind, I’m running at the at night thinking, “Is it possible to do this?”

Whether it’s an athlete business-wise or if it’s in sports or anything, I think they’re the only ones that truly value the complexity of here’s where I was, whether it was mentally, whether it’s physically, whether it’s whatever environment that I’m in. Here’s the environment. I’ve overcome all of that. I’ve been able to achieve this and keep it going. Only you know deep inside what that means. I think that means more to people like us more than more than anyone. A lot of times, not even about the recognition, it’s all just internal. You versus you.

I love that. You versus you. You know enough about my wife’s past just in terms of mental challenges and depression and things like this. Her therapist, our therapist, it’s a family therapist, is a dear friend of, obviously, her and I, we’ve had her on the show before, and she went into a deep dive about this whole thing about just doing hard stuff. It’s called neuroplasticity. She just goes into all that.

There’s something really fulfilling about doing things that are hard. Your brain literally is growing and improving as you’re doing things. If you’re not and sitting on the sidelines, it’s shrinking. I love that you put just such a different spin on that because it echoes what we’ve learned in the past, but it’s just fun to hear it from a grinder and a blue-collar guy like you just to go do hard shit. I love it.

Mopping Floors To Million Dollar Deals: Oleg’s Rise

Before you got into the mortgage industry, I’ve heard you say this. You’ve talked to Alex about this, my son. It’s just this whole mindset about get to versus have to or have to versus get to. I love that premise and you told me a story about how you were cleaning offices way back in the day for $600 a week and working noon to midnight and all this stuff. Talk to me about get have to versus get to.

It was such a long time ago and whenever I tell this story, I honestly really looking back at it and I’ve got to tell you, it’s one of the biggest blessings of my life that I was in an environment where I had to, at a young age, go help my parents and my relatives work. It really put me in these environments where there was never a plan B. There was no option not to succeed. I always felt like if you don’t take advantage of this opportunity, you’ll never get this opportunity again. When you have that, it’s almost like the whole burn your ship’s mentality or burn the boats mentality.

I remember when I interviewed as an LO and I was 17 and a half, I wasn’t even 18. I was working at a bank and there was a broker who was hiring junior loan officers, which were essentially dialers, telemarketers. I told myself going into that interview that if I don’t get hired, I’ll never have a shot at being a loan officer ever in my life. Let’s go back a little bit and talk about the offices, because that’s actually where it stems from. I have this uncle, super hard worker. I think I’ve been around just grinders my whole life. A grinder’s a grinder. A grinder grinds. It’s not the outcome of like, “I’m grinding because I’m trying to keep going up.”

No, they’re just grinders. My uncle who’s a grinder and he, still to this day, cleans like 40 banks from the time of 5:00 until midnight. Seven hours, 40 banks. If you could imagine, you’re running through these things because you have to get to the next one. There’s some traffic involved and you have to strategically stop. Sometimes it’s not midnight, sometimes it’s 1:00, sometimes it’s 2:00. Sure enough, you try to get home by midnight.

Anyway, so I’d go with him and I would vacuum and that was a simple, quick thing for me. You vacuum really fast and everything and I’m 14, 15 years old and at that age, most kids are playing video games, which I played a lot of too, but at that time, I’m with him. Your imagination runs wild as a kid. I think one of the best things that you could do for a kid is actually get them away from the screen because their imagination grows. It goes into all these different and daydreaming and all that.

Going back to it, I noticed that everybody with a nice office was a either branch manager, a loan officer, consumer loan officer, commercial loan officer, some sort of a lending title. I don’t want to clean for the rest of my life, which my family members have been doing and everything. I want to have a professional job where I dress up and I don’t want to be working night hours. I’d love to work a 9:00 to 5:00. It’s a scenario for me. In addition to that, I’d love to drive a nice car to work and all, so at a young age, I knew I wanted to be in a lending. I didn’t even really understand anything of that.

You just saw somebody with a nice office and thought, “What the heck, let’s roll.”

I want to be in a banking environment with a nice office, either a branch manager or loan officer. I don’t know either one means. I want it. That’s how it started. A lot of people are like, “How’d you get into lending?” I’m like, “That was my dream job when I was like fourteen years old.” They’re like, “What?” I stumbled across it in a different way. For me, I really wanted to be an LO. I remember when my parents got a loan on their house. The LO came over and he worked at Washington Mutual at the time, which is now Chase.

He drove it over to their house. They had dinner and they signed loan documents. I remember he drove a nice car and was dressed nicely. That was like the second confirmation. I’m like, “I want to do that. That looks great. That’s such a great job and I want to show up.” Anyway, fast forward, I’m in this interview and I get into this room and before the interview, I call on this telemarketer. This is a really great story.

I call on this telemarketer position or junior loan officer position. This guy picks up the phone and his name is Harold. Harold starts reading off the script and he goes, “The role of the junior loan officer is to make an outbound call to a qualified list of homeowners,” and I’m like, “Let me stop you. This sounds like a telemarketer position.”

He’s like, “Yes, you could put it that way.” I’m like, “I’m not interested.” I told him on the phone when I called, I said, “I am not interested.” He goes, “Tell me why not.” Here’s the crazy thing about life. Most people would’ve hung up the phone. I think about this moment a lot, because this actually really changed my whole career or it could have changed my whole destiny and everything. I tell him I’m not interested. It’s a telemarketer. I’m too good to be a telemarketer.

You’re how old at this point?

I’m seventeen. He goes, “Why?” I’m like, “I work at a bank.” At the time, I was a teller at a bank. I’m like, “I work at a bank.” I’ve made this up. “I’m working on my way of becoming a loan officer. I’m taking all these lending classes. I’m not going to be a telemarketer.” I told him that on the phone and he goes, “I’ll tell you what. How about this? Why don’t you come in? If we think you have what it takes, we’ll hire you on as a loan officer right away.”

I’m like, “This is actually really happening now.” I don’t even know that you have to be eighteen years old to be a load officer at that time. I had no clue. I was shocked. It’s my only chance in life, so what do I do? This is like a Monday. I set up an interview for Thursday at 6:00. I’m really nervous and I don’t know, I’m like, “I can’t mess this up.” I go and I buy two business books on how to run a company.

I do as much research as I can on this company before I get there. I know that it’s a broker. I know that they were around since 1998. I know enough about the general idea and I literally read a book a day, two days in a row on how to operate a company. As I show up to this interview, I’m really nervous. It’s 6:00 PM and they’re the typical broker shop. If anybody here watched the movie with Ben Affleck, Boiler Room, same setup. It’s really cool. You don’t see that anymore around here.

I come in there, they take me to the back and there’s three people sitting there. One is Harold, which is the guy I talked to, the other one’s Leon, who owns the company. The other guy is George, who is one mean looking Asian guy. He just looks angry and he’s freaking huge and rich. They’re all in their like late 20s, early 30s and I’m 17. They’re suited up, three-piece suits, vests, nice watches, everything. I come in and they start looking at each other and they’re like, “We’re wasting our time. I see the look because I’m seventeen and a half. I’m 38 right now and I look like I’m in my early 20s.

Yeah, you were a baby.

I looked very young. Probably fourteen. I could read the room. They all are giving each other a look like, I can’t believe we’re all here.” The guy goes, “All right, tell me a little bit about yourself.” I talk for an hour and a half straight. That was the only question. How to run a company, about their company, what they’re doing wrong, all of that. In the end, I’m so fired up on what I’m saying at the end, I don’t know what it was, but I slapped the desk and I’m like, “That’s how it’s done.” That’s how I ended it.

I was fired up and I’m sweating. About three quarters through the interview, I saw them look at each other and they had this smirk and like a spark in their eyes. I knew. I shifted their mindset on me. What they told me, they’re like, “We don’t hire anybody in the first day, so let us talk about this and we’ll give you a call tomorrow.” I’m pumped. I’m walking out of there. I’m beyond excited. I get into my car and I just remember it was cold outside. It was like in January and it was still cold outside and it was dark already and everything.

I just remember just the feeling of driving home, feeling a rush about that interview. Next day, I’m waiting, watching my phone the whole time. I get the call from Harold. I pick up the phone, I’m all nervous. He picks up and he is like, “Thank you for coming in yesterday. We are really impressed. We did not expect to like you as much as we did. We are going to offer you the job to be an LO. However, there’s only one condition.” I didn’t even need to know the condition. I’m in. Pumped. They’re like, “There’s only one condition and that condition is whether you want to or not, you’re going to be a freaking telemarketer for six months because you’re seventeen and a half.”

“Whether you want to or not, you’re going to be dialing for six months. Put in your 2 weeks’ notice and then you’ll be in LO at 18. I’m like, “Done. Absolutely, no problem. I’m in.” There’s no discussion about anything else. I was in. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to know anything. I put in my two-week notice, super pumped and show up. I dialed for six months and was happy doing it. It’s funny because now that I look at back at it, that skill of just being on the phone and making a ton of outbound calls was actually the one major skill that I needed, that everybody needs right now who’s in business. You have to be able to outbound.

It doesn’t matter. I know a lot of people are going to be like, “Cold calling doesn’t work.” Okay, don’t cold call, warm call. I don’t care. The point is, you have to be able to make call of outbound calls to set meetings, get face to face, all that. While I look back at it, if I had started right away without being a dialer, I could have potentially been out of it at this time. I don’t know. That skill was phenomenal to learn. Again, the day I turned eighteen, I got my business license and was a 1099.

What role?

Senior loan officer.

Dialing For Dollars: Oleg’s Daily Success Ritual

There are all kinds of gold in that conversation. We’ll have to go back and rewatch this a little bit. I’m super excited to go back to this, but yeah, that was insane. That’s just part of your path, getting in there at seventeen. That stuff’s just amazing. It reminds me a little bit, you and I both knew who Alex or Mosey is. I’ve seen him speak a couple times. He’s great. His whole piece built lots of monster businesses and he’s like, “Whether you’re 5 minutes into your business or 10 years into your business, half of your day needs to be spent telling other people about it.”

It’s so cool that you just mentioned all of those calls and who knows where you’d be now because that’s the foundation for really what’s built your trajectory to go up quite a bit, which is really cool. It’s just a fascinating story. Thanks so much for sharing that with us. Wrapping it up, that’s the get to versus have to. You didn’t have to do all that stuff. You’ve got to do all that stuff. That was the baseline for this monster career that you’ve had at your ripe age of 38. That’s awesome.

Moving past that, every client that I was in front of, every agent that I was in front of, I always felt like it’s your only chance. You’ll never have a second chance at this. Every company interview that I went on past that, I still had that same mentality. Whenever I joined a coaching program and I’ve been part of a few, it was the same thing. It was, “Here’s your only chance at it,” otherwise, it can happen again. Even to this day, I still have that mentality. It was embedded, again, at that young age of people like, you don’t get second, third, fourth, fifth chances.

That’s just my mentality behind it. I think when you go all in on yourself, which is easy to say, but if you truly go all in on yourself and you have a perspective that you’re not going to get a second chance, all of a sudden, again, that whole burn the boats mentality really comes into play. Most of the time, you take the island, if not every time.

Passing The Torch: Oleg’s Secret To Mentorship

This isn’t mortgage-related at all as far as the show and stuff goes. My whole premise of putting this together, it’s selfishly for me. I went to a class at a church and they’re just like, “What can you do to create, expand and creative type thing?” Somewhere in here, I’ve got that. I was like, “Everybody else could do a show. Why can’t I?” That’s where this started coming up. I started talking to friends like you and I’ve learned so much from you already. Let’s shoot this and I’ll learn something else.

Through the show, my whole intent is I just want one person to watch one nugget on each podcast and learn just the smallest of things so that they can move forward, which is what I want to lead into next. You’ve got this premise of helping others get what they want and then you get what you want. Where does that come from? Is that a learn something like you’ve just got this, this piece to you where you just pour into other people? Talk to me about that a little bit.

I think that that’s something that stems from I noticed a lot of people have that when they have, whether it’s a childhood or an environment where they weren’t supposed to be successful or maybe there was a period of time where they had a real rough patch where they weren’t supposed to be good at what they do or never where it was supposed to make it.

You could say in the non-business world, like you run across somebody that maybe is younger than you and it’s almost like you play the father figure to them indirectly, but you give them the same advice you’d give your child. I feel like in the business world, it’s the same thing where a lot of times, the people that struggle the most when they see somebody that they could help one way or another where there’s one conversation or multiple or one tip or all that, it naturally just comes out because they had those people along their way along their path.

I had tons of great mentors and people that I absolutely aspire to be like or ran into and it was like, sometimes, the people don’t even realize it. It’s like that one moment you met them, they don’t ever even remember, but they said that one thing and that one thing stuck with you and it resonated with you. All of a sudden, it really helped you greatly.

I think that one is you have the people in your life and then you start becoming that person in other people’s life. I think it’s almost part of like that business circle where agreed you pass it on to the people that are behind you on their path. Along the way, you have the people that are mentoring you to your next step to that next mountain that you’re climbing.

You have the people in your life and then you start becoming that person in other people's life. Share on X

It goes both ways. I think to be a phenomenal mentor, you have to be a phenomenal student. To be a phenomenal student, you have to not only submit and trust the and all that, that we know about, but you have to be able to spot the mentorship moments for you. Sometimes, those are in a song. Other times, they’re in the podcast. Other times it’s in scenarios that we get into and we fail miserably or succeed.

It’s just having that mindset where you’re so open to growth and you’re in that growth mode mentally, in that mentorship mode from both ends of it and that allows you to continue to continue to get better. Sometimes, you’re getting better at a rapid pace and other times you’re just slowly getting it a little bit better. As long as you’re progressing, that’s the key. I think that’s where it probably comes from for all of us. That’s probably the best way I could explain it.

Not Just Numbers: Oleg’s True Definition Of Success

Before we wrap up, I just want to talk about one last thing and then we’ll, we’ll try and get out of here. You’ve got a mindset and a premise and for me, it’s a little different. You most of my story, my background and there’s been some health challenges and things, but you’ve got this premise of every year, it’s the best year ever. For you, it’s very production and business oriented. You’re just a superstar when it comes to having that.

No matter the market conditions, no matter the noise, no matter who’s president, no matter if the sun rises in the East and sets in the North, you’re going to have your best year ever. I think of 2024 my best year ever. It wasn’t from an income perspective by any means, but through your leadership and mentorship and being a friend, you’ve really pushed me physically to do some amazing things that I never thought was possible. To that tune, where does that come from? Is that just part of the legacy and the Super Bowl dynasties and all that, is all that related in there?

I love that you said that 2024 was your best year ever, even though it wasn’t your best income year ever because I think that too many people put too much weight on just numbers. Let’s just say, for example, you made ten times as much as you ever made this year, but you lost your health. You’re super out of shape. You’re drinking all the time. All your friends are gone. You’re not going to church anymore. You are doing dumb things. You’re becoming a worse person. Who cares? Is it really your best year ever? I think that sometimes the income is aligned with you personally having your personal best year ever.

I really think that at your level, at my level, it’s really having our personal best from a standpoint of you’re working on yourself, your relationships with your family, how you feel you pushing your yourself. Instead of you doing 75 Hard, you could be doing so much more business activities, but then you’d be more out of shape.

I’d be fucking dead if it wasn’t for that.

I really think at our stage in our careers and season that we’re in right now, it, it’s not just numbers. It’s really how we feel about if we give it our all, are we in great shape? Are we feeling great? Are we waking up? We’re motivated. Are we doing hard shit that we’re proud of? Not worth doing hard shit. All that stuff combined. I really think that having the best year ever mentality just comes from the mentality of just being a little better every day. Beat yesterday.

Having the best year ever mentality just comes from being a little better every day. Beat yesterday. Share on X

I remember reading that one time of beat yesterday and it always is like, “Yeah, you just beat yesterday. Just things keep getting better.” It doesn’t have to just be financially, it’s not just that, but beat yesterday. For me, it’s what you shoot for every year and now more than anything, especially in the last two years., because up until the last two years, it’s always been way more about the numbers, way more about the deals.

The last two years that actually shifted. What I noticed is that more numbers have come because of the shift, because I started focusing more on myself, my sleep, my health, my team, the training. For example, right now, instead of doing this, I could be knocking out a bunch of calls, try to get another deal. At the end of the day, it’s like long-term, are you going to win versus, you get to share, you get back, you’re more fulfilled. You’re paying it forward? All that just goes into this flow that you put yourself into, where then you all ultimately don’t burn out. You execute a higher level and you have arguably your best year ever.

Here’s the deal. All go through extreme challenges in our life. Sometimes, those challenges are open and they’re known. Other times, those challenges are not known. Other times, it’s something we got ourselves into or something that happened to us that we couldn’t get ourselves into. I think at the end of the day, no matter how big the or how crazy the storm is, whether it’s crazy, we’re just a light rain, you’ve got to make decision. Are you going to show up and do your stuff or are you not?

The people that look for reasons not to do something, the few drops is the reason why they won’t go outside and go on a run today. I think the people that look for that no excuse, doesn’t matter, I’m still going to do it anyway, I think it doesn’t matter if it’s a few drops or it’s a thunder crowd, it doesn’t matter that the run’s getting done. I think that’s something that applies to everything it has to do.

In our business, it’s the phone calls. It’s are they getting done no matter what’s going on, whether you have ten files going sideways or everything’s perfect because most of the time, if you’re waiting for perfection to execute, because in your mind, that’s how you picture yourself executing, you’re not going to have that often.

You could be waiting around for a minute.

You’re going to be waiting around for a while or as soon as you start executing, something’s going to change. I just think that the biggest hack that I have for anyone that’s reading this is like, when you picture yourself executing, picture yourself executing in the roughest environments in the hardest time. If I’m going to do something hard, it’s going to be the hardest. It’s going to be the worst weather. I know you had messaged me, it’s like minus 10 degrees outside.

Windy, snow blowing sideways. I’m like, “I freaking love it, dude.”

Picture yourself executing in that environment. Same thing goes to the mortgage business for any type of sales. Picture yourself making calls when everything is going wrong and you still did it. If you are mentally there and you could picture yourself getting through that, you’re going to have a higher chance of getting through that. When it is sunny and nice and beautiful, it’s great. That’s good too. You don’t need it.

Pressure Cooker: Oleg’s No-Excuse Execution

So much freaking gold in this whole thing. I cannot wait until I can go back to this. A few of my top nuggets, the strategies to win kind of thing. This is the whole Super Bowl thing that we talked about at the beginning. There’s just so much gold in that piece. The biggest one I think I have is what you just said is like, no matter the conditions, just get it done.

There’s just some solitude to that and the perseverance and everything else. It expands our human bodies just to do more. Anyway, a couple of my top nuggets there. Seriously, thank you. You’re a huge inspiration and a mentor of mine, Oleg Tkach, out of Seattle, Washington. How do people find you and connect with your buddy? Are you on social media anywhere?

I’m not on social media. It’s pretty funny. I’ve actually avoided social media forever. I have a Facebook that’s managed by the team and all that, but all my contact information’s online. My cell phone’s online, so if anybody really wants to connect with me, my cellphone’s listed everywhere.

Thank you again. I hope that together, you and I can connect with maybe a single soul out there just to get them to the next level, push them a little bit harder. Even mid-40-year-old fat guys with diabetes Type 2 can go do 75 Hard four times in a row, thanks to Mr. Tkach here. Thanks for the push and thank you for joining.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Brian. It’s been a pleasure.

See you soon.

 

Important Links

• Oleg Tkach
• Oleg Tkach on LinkedIn
• Oleg Tkach on YouTube

 

About Oleg Tkach

Oleg began his career as a Loan Officer in 2005. He is currently a Branch Manager and Senior Loan Officer on The Tkach Lending Group at NFM Lending. Oleg is also a Business Development Coach at The Core Training, where he coaches some of the Top Mortgage Lenders and Realtors in the country.

Oleg is skilled at structuring all types of loans including residential, construction, conventional, investment, FHA, VA and USDA. Oleg is currently ranked #44 in the nation of all loan originators and #1 in the WA state for total mortgage Volume for 2016. In 2015 he was ranked #3 in WA State and #149 in the nation for total mortgage volume. He has ranked in the Top 1% of loan originators in the nation for the past 5 years. In 2014, Oleg was ranked #1 in FHA volume in Washington State and #46 in FHA volume in the country verified by Scotsman’s Guide & Mortgage Executive Magazine.

Highly sought after by real estate agents, investors, clients and colleagues for his expertise on mortgage financing, Oleg has demonstrated the skill and caring in a combination unmatched by his peers. He offers a rare and unique blend of exceptional service and efficiency coupled with extremely competitive options. One of the most important attributes of his operating philosophy is to deliver expectation exceeding results well before the deadline.

Oleg’s determination and hard work are impressive. He provides stellar service to his partners and clients and forms lasting relationships as their consultant. He continually strives to find better ways and better systems for both himself and his team.

It’s easy to see why Oleg forms so many trusted relationships between his real estate agent partners, investors as well as his clients. He is at the pinnacle of success in the mortgage industry and combines this drive for success with dedication, market knowledge, and compassion.