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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Micah Johnson speaks with Ervin Ward, a private lending expert who shares his journey from music production to real estate investing. Ervin discusses the importance of organization in the funding process, how he helps clients become fundable, and the significance of collaboration in real estate. He emphasizes the need for consistency, preparation, and attention to detail in achieving success in the industry. The conversation highlights the challenges and rewards of being an investor and the value of building a supportive team.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Ervin ward (00:00)
One thing my mentor, Mr. Danny, told me when I first started investing was, will take you further than just a quick flip. I said, okay. What he meant by that was don’t get in it just for the money. Get in it to understand that if you’re consistent with something, you’re able to become successful by being one thing, consistent. Always showing up, even when it’s hard.Micah Johnson (01:59)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the real estate pros podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m speaking with Ervin Ward, who’s been making some serious moves in the private lending space. Ervin, welcome in, man. How you doing?Ervin Ward (02:10)
Hey Micah, how are you? Thank you so much for having me. How are you?Micah Johnson (02:14)
I’m doing well, man. I’m excited for you to be here today. I think our listeners are really going to take away some value from how it is you approach what you do, making sure folks understand exactly what that process is in private lending so they can be successful at it. So let’s dig in on that, man. For folks who may not know you yet, what’s your main focus right now and what markets are you operating in?Ervin Ward (02:17)
youAbsolutely.
My main focus right now is helping our business, ⁓ small businesses and real estate investors get funded. That’s really what my main focus and becoming fundable, not just funding.
Micah Johnson (02:49)
Gotcha. Interesting. And then do you do it nationwide?Ervin Ward (02:52)
We do it nationwide, yes. The only thing we do not help funding with is in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.Micah Johnson (03:01)
Okay, okay, so you got all the states, that’s excellent, man. So let’s jump back real quick. What led you to this industry? How’d you end up where you are today?Ervin Ward (03:08)
Well, let me tell you the truth, is I started off as an investor. I’m still an investor, active investor. I bought my first property when I was 20. I did Britney Spears’ Warblerizer when I was 20. So that afforded me the opportunity to be able to buy my first property. And so I had a hard time finding someone to help me fund the property. I…Micah Johnson (03:27)
Yeah.Ervin Ward (03:33)
I’m a nerd, so I like to know the intricate details of how to get everything done. so from there, I learned about everything, about lending and about the process of getting lending, the credit, the documentation, how the lender likes everything done and set up. So that was really where it droveMicah Johnson (03:52)
Well, if you’re a music producer, that completely makes sense. My, got a friend that produces music at a high level and he’s nerdy too. And it kind of just goes along with the fact that you’re the nuts and bolts behind it all. The things we hear only sound that way because you’ve made them that way, man. So taking that skill into real estate is pretty powerful. also congrats on producing that song, man. That’s a cool story to say too.Ervin Ward (04:04)
Bye. ⁓Yeah, man, thank you, man. Thank
you, thank you. It’s a lot more songs, but I just, was my first actually big song when I was 20 years old. So I definitely always have so much homage for that.
Micah Johnson (04:27)
Yeah, heck yeah, man. Well, it’s lining up with that entrepreneurial spirit that you have that led you into investing now the world that you’re into today. So let’s take, let’s, let’s take a walk through how it is that you help folks. Cause like you said, you pretty much started something by experiencing it yourself. How do you actually set this up? And I love talking to folks who did that because you saw this door that was closed and then you open the door and then solve the way to leave the door open behind you. So take us a little more in depth there on how you help.Ervin Ward (04:44)
So, I can’t accept it’s not gonna work.Micah Johnson (04:57)
your clients with organization, how you help them get prepared and then funded.Ervin Ward (05:50)
So I have a portal, it’s called Scoreshift. So for the credit, right, it’s three different portals. So if you have bad credit, we have a Scoreshift funding app that helps you fix your credit, build it back up, and then takes you to the business portion.that takes you from, if you don’t, if you haven’t had your business created, but it takes you from creation, all the way to tier one with the net 30 cards, how to get the business credit cards. And then when you’re ready to get funded and actually show you the, how to fund your, I how to have your bank statement set up actually as well for the banks to view how they like to view them, me.
Micah Johnson (06:34)
Right. And in the real estate investor world, is it pretty much the same track?Ervin Ward (06:39)
Same try. So in the real estate investor world is the Scorcher funding, ⁓ which helps people get funding. So basically what it does is if you submit an application, it pretty much automates everything from start to finish. It takes your files, takes everything, automates everything from start to finish and sends it to the lender, packages everything correctly, how they like it, and sends it to them. Sorry for stumbling.Micah Johnson (07:08)
No, you’re good, man.And dig into that, because you’re right. How lenders like to get stuff is really important. They have a certain way they like it. And when you can get it that way, the process is much smoother. And when not, man, it’s something I used to warn about when I first got in real estate as an agent. I would just tell people, look, save all of them on your home screen and just reply to the email. I know you’ve sent it three or four times. Just…
Ervin Ward (07:19)
So much faster.Micah Johnson (07:34)
Do it again, don’t fight. Like if you want this to actually go through, and I like how you’re getting ahead of all that saying, hey, this is everywhere everything needs to be. Just get all of this stuff. This is what they need. Cause it’s not really a mystery. They just seem to ask for it. Not in the best ways and not the best times.Ervin Ward (07:46)
Yeah, lot of respect. Absolutely,absolutely. I feel like it works best for both parties because of course, as a person that’s helping you get funded, I want you to get funded, but I want you to understand that it’s a process to get funded. And then from the other side, the lender that I work with, I want it to be presented to her the way that she likes it so she can move through it faster.
And that’s the biggest thing. A lot of people like to piecemeal things and it actually slows the process down.
Micah Johnson (08:22)
And it makes sense to man having all the things in one place. There was an old commercial I remember where they were talking to a hospital was joking around about how it saved a bunch of money by just putting everything on the first floor or something like that. It was like just putting the radiologist right next to the x-ray department. And we can eliminate like 30 minutes from people just walking stuff around. Right. And it makes so much sense that way because especially in real estate folks are on a move. They’re they’re not trying toWe can be in a hurry and it doesn’t help. However, getting
Ervin Ward (08:50)
youMicah Johnson (08:51)
things in the right place that you set up yourself to go as quick as you can, man, doing that out of the gates really, really beneficial.Ervin Ward (08:54)
Absolutely.Absolutely. It’s actually beneficial. I’ve seen it help a lot of my clients, actually, especially one of my clients that one of my brokers brought in. His name is Tayvon Diggs. He brought in a client that needed to get funded in 10 days because their other deal fell through. So I sat down with them, took them all the way through my program and
As I took them through my program, they were wowed by how organized it was and how organized I am. And when I sent it over to the lender, it was able to close in nine business days and save them. And it was like a $750,000 fixing flip bill. So it was perfect for them just understanding organization.
Micah Johnson (09:32)
Boom.It’s super helpful that you’re an investor too. Like one thing I really encourage folks when they’re working with someone is working with people that understand what you’re going through too. And if they can get that, then they see it from your point of view. They have the perspective understanding you’re excited, you’re anxious, you’re trying to get a deal, you’re trying to do all these things and your mind can get running, go a hundred places. So when you have someone that knows that factor and then says, okay, wait, we just need these things.
Ervin Ward (09:45)
Yes.Micah Johnson (10:44)
That’s where man, I get blown away by good organization too, because when you experience it, it just makes things easy. It makes things way easier.Ervin Ward (10:54)
Yes, absolutely. I feel like everybody wants speed and everybody wants good flow. And the only way to have a good flow in this speed is organization. That’s something that my mentors always beat in my head. You have to be organized. That’s one thing my girl, she’s a very A type person. So she actually embeds that into me. Like you got to be on your stuff so you can make sure that everything flows the way you want it to flow.Micah Johnson (11:20)
It’s right, the river’s already flowing. Just get the rocks out. Like pull out the things that are getting in the way of it is the way I like to think about like what, what could keep it. And that’s really how you’re thinking about it with a music producer mindset, which is kind of fascinating. I like those, those combinations because man, you’re seeing it from an angle and also being an investor that it lets you develop a product that’s useful to the people using it, which isErvin Ward (11:25)
Yeah, for sure.Micah Johnson (11:47)
Man, the ones that I’ve experienced in my career were also created by investors, ones that knew about it, that understood what was actually happening and saw, wait a second, there’s a gap right here. There’s this little section that I can fill into here, it’ll fix this process. It’s what I experienced. If I can fix it for me, I can fix it for a bunch of people.Ervin Ward (12:08)
Exactly, and that’s really the whole idea that helped me spark ShortShift. I just wanted to really help people. It started off as an idea, it started off as just an idea of, I’m like, what if I can do this and what if I could do that? And then actually in the world of technology now, I was able to actually bring it to pass my thoughts. It’s just creating all of it. You said music producer, just to me, it just really boils down to me just being able to create.bringing my ideas that God gave me forward and making sure that it works. And I actually don’t have, when I die, don’t be like, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. I didn’t create. So that’s my driving force, even an investor.
Micah Johnson (12:36)
Right.I love
that, I love that identifying as the artist, no matter what occupation that you’re in, because really deep down, I view it that way too. it’s, it’s not, it’s how do you say this? It’s not that it’s just plain old stuff, but that, that ability to create that drives a lot of entrepreneurs is that that ability to produce that ability to create where that is really tapping into your artistic side. Like
It doesn’t matter if it’s painting or music or a great deal. Like I’ve seen guys that are master artists by how they put together a deal like, whoa, man, that was incredible. And that same heart mentality goes into it that goes into what a singer’s doing. What a heck, even what a what an athlete’s doing to me. Those kind of things are that it’s you’re watching art in motion due to how much dedication went to the process.
Ervin Ward (13:25)
Thanks.Micah Johnson (13:42)
Cause you can tell the difference, man. You can tell somebody just winging it and somebody that’s dedicated.Ervin Ward (13:46)
All right, it really builds confidence though when you think about it it builds confidence when you actually able to visualize something and you actually Walk it through the process and you bring it to life and that’s what I said I love business owners because that’s what they’ve done. It started with the idea started with the idea and theywere able to bring that idea all the way to us to be able to enjoy that idea that they were given. And that’s the whole front of life, being able for us to be able to enjoy the universe and what God has given you individually for us to really enjoy it. And that’s the whole purpose. I love to enjoy what you may have made, because if you didn’t make this, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this. So that’s just what I love.
Micah Johnson (14:27)
Right.Right, right, man. That makes sense. it’s, it’s that feeling of enjoying to do it that and walk in other people through it is powerful, man. I don’t know. I’m kind of at a loss for words because that is what I find a lot in real estate is the hearts of people. They’re here to help. They’re here to like the best at it are willing to talk to you, show you how it works, walk you through it because
They realize it’s not that nobody, it’s not that someone can’t do it. It’s are you willing to walk through all the stuff, right? Like on anything that you’re creating, there’s the hard parts. There’s the things that it’s not, it feels like there’s sand all in your gears and you’re not getting anywhere and you’re frustrated, but it’s all that that makes what actually comes to life that more vibrant, that more worth it. You get to look back on that day that you swore you were gonna quit and this is stupid and I don’t ever wanna do this again.
Ervin Ward (15:08)
Absolutely.Micah Johnson (15:26)
to man, I’m glad I pushed that through. And that remindedErvin Ward (15:29)
Yeah.Micah Johnson (15:30)
me of a second part is nobody does this alone, this business. We all work with people. You can’t close a house by yourself. You just can’t. You at least need a title company or an attorney to do it and someone to sell you the house. like it is, there’s all these little pieces where working together to bring things to life, when you’re doing it with people that also enjoy doing that, man, it just makes the whole process better.more enjoyable
Ervin ward (15:56)
we’re meant to walk alone. So that’s the thing we have to build together as a team. We have to learn how to use the strengths of everybody because you can’t do everything by yourself. You can’t score. Just look at the way the team is structured. They have a big man, they have a small forward, they have a point guard, someone that is skilled in those particular areas.Not that they can’t do the other things, right? But they’re skilled at those specific areas. that’s what we have to be able to do is actually as a person learn how to play our position to be able to bring everything together as a team.
Micah Johnson (16:35)
No, man, that’s a great way saying it. I love using sports teams as analogies because in the end, the highest level of sports is a business. Those guys are all, and girls are set up to their strength. Like you’re saying, you are positioned to do that thing you do well. So when you’re in real estate and applying that, look for those people that are niche down. That’s what they do. This is what they’re good at. They have specialized in doing this particular thing and put them in your tool belt.Ervin ward (16:36)
That’s it. ⁓Micah Johnson (17:05)
Because that’s how you get through all of these deals, everything you’re going to go through in your career. And celebrating alone is not that fun, right? You can’t have a party for that long by yourself. You know, you’re just going to get bored after about 20 minutes, right? So it’s like that part of doing things with other people, it’s what makes the hard days better and the great days amazing.Ervin ward (17:15)
No, you’re gonna pass out my business. Yeah.Micah Johnson (17:28)
is when you do get to slap each other on the back, high five, make that phone call, man, congratulations, we got this done. That’s a great job. There’s just that euphoric feeling that you get with it. I remember talking to, again, my lenders after customers bought and other times, man, you just, you’re talking to everybody like, whoa, let’s go. And it just, man, it fires you up. keeps you driving.Ervin ward (17:49)
Absolutely. love, my thing is I tell my girlfriend all the time I’m a sore loser. So I love to win. I love to win. When I lose, I take it hard. So that’s why I prep so much because I love to win. I like to make sure that I’m able to lessen my percentage of losing to as minimal as possible because at the of the day, we all like to celebrate. We all love to win.Micah Johnson (17:55)
Great. ⁓Ervin ward (18:16)
And that’s the thing. I love that feeling. So that’s me. I’m a sore loser. I don’t know about you.Micah Johnson (18:22)
I don’t like losing either, man, but you nailed it on how you lose less. You prepare better. You do the work, right? If you’re using basketball, you’re in there when nobody’s watching, shooting free throws. You’re running your drills. It’s all the stuff none of us see, right? I you think about a ⁓ professional’s career, even if they played for 20 years, we still didn’t see most of what happened. They’re playing like 30 minutes at a time per game, right? Like it’s not…Ervin ward (18:27)
Yeah, you prepare me.Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Micah Johnson (18:50)
and you’re only seeing a peak performance mode for a short period of time. And then they go, they’re right back to work and they’re right back to work. And that’s what makes the best the best. Like you should win. Winning shouldn’t be a surprise. It can be surprising for the first couple and you can feel good. But after that, it should be a way of life. Not that you win all the time. I understand that. However, there’s a method to winning. The way you go about preparing to win sets you up to win.Ervin ward (18:52)
Yes.Micah Johnson (19:18)
It’s not a fluke thing when it happens. It’s usually a fluke thing when you lose, honestly. You didn’t run to write your deal right, or you didn’t do something that you should have done that you knew better. You skipped a step. You did something without knowing. And that’s again, it’s what the pros, they make sure they don’t do, because they do the reps. They educate themselves. They take their time. Like there’s no rush to being the best.Ervin ward (19:18)
Yes.Yeah, you missed the stuff.
Micah Johnson (19:45)
The best all got the best after years and years worth of work, man. And that’s what I want people to see. Real estate’s a get rich slow scheme. And if you stay in it for your whole life, you’ve almost guaranteed it. If you can just keep playing the game, you’re gonna win.Ervin ward (19:49)
Absolutely.One thing my mentor, Mr. Danny, told me when I first started investing was, will take you further than just a quick flip. I said, okay. What he meant by that was don’t get in it just for the money. Get in it to understand that if you’re consistent with something, you’re able to become successful by being one thing, consistent. Always showing up, even when it’s hard.
I remember my first house that I built, because I tried to start a bid. I started off from ground up and I’m crying to him. I’m like, yo, please help me. I don’t understand. Why am I having to pay this much for concrete? Why is it costing this much? Or why is my lender not giving me all the money that I need? And I’ve done this already. He’s like, did you read your contract? Did you go through everything? Did you submit everything that they need to get you these things? Did you
double check everything. Are you sitting there watching the contractors do the work? Are you leaving and trusting that they’ll do it? Do you trust people with hundreds of thousands of dollars who would just leave $100,000 sitting on the table? No. So you need to sit there when the construction workers is working. need to sit there all day and sit. You need to be the first one there, last one to leave. Just like a gym. The first one there, last one to leave. And so I built that principle around everything.
Micah Johnson (21:28)
Yeah, man, you got to inspect what you expect. That’s one of my favorite quotes is if you’re sitting there with big expectations, you better be looking into what’s going to set those. Cause if it, I say this a lot, hope’s not a strategy. If you’re just hoping it’s going to work out, whoo, sorry. I’m saying what the worst thing that could happen is it does. And the next time when it doesn’t, it’s going to be 10 times worse. Cause that you get that, think I’m bulletproof feeling, but it’s,Ervin ward (21:32)
Yeah.Absolutely.
Micah Johnson (21:57)
Consistency is the key to the whole game. And like you said, it’s not about one flip, not about one build. Are you building a machine that trades in real estate? That is what the best investors I see do. They get a couple of deals done, they realize this is a process, there is a method to this. How do I go learn that? And then how do I build that machine that’ll do that and just keep adjusting it along the way so that it can hold?Ervin ward (22:01)
youMicah Johnson (22:23)
You know, we all start out with an F-150. We might want the Ferrari, but you got to build that work truck first. And then you put up adjustments on that work truck. And eventually you got that sports car, man. That’s high running and high octane. That thing we all want at the beginning, right? Like it’s, it’s, it’s funny. If you’re getting into real estate, the scoreboard for real estate is not how many deals you’ve done upfront or at the end either. It’s, how well are you understanding the process? Are you getting the reps in?Are you, you know, if you’re comparing yourself to someone 10 years in the industry, their machines built, don’t let whatever they do feel bad, make you feel bad. Use it as fuel to say, okay, what did you do, man? So if you built that, what do I need to build right now? What’s that next thing I can get done today? Cause that’s that, that’s that consistency. It’s that day after day. What’s that little thing I need to do. Cause usually day by day, it’s not that much. It’s just a little bit each day, right? We like to get in there and
bust our tails for 15 hours and feel like we did something and then now we’re lagged out for three or four days because we’re so exhausted versus that, know what, get in there, get that consistent thing done. That’s something I’m so obsessed with doing the little things well.
Ervin ward (23:34)
Yeah, I feel like doing the, ⁓ man, my girl says this thing, just fall in love with the details. And I think that is actually the best thing is through learning the process. And I tell investors, you have to fall in love with the details because a lot of people, they can picture the big grand thing, but they can’t, they miss the small details or they overlook the small details. But when you don’t miss the small details, everything else.flows the way you want it to flow without too much hiccup.
Micah Johnson (24:06)
Right, right. And it is tedious. It’s supposed to be, if you’re listening to this. It just is. You have to, you have to learn it. Anything you skip is gonna come back and bite you every time. So if you’re feeling maxed and can’t think anymore, take a break, then come back. Don’t just say, nope, all right, it’s done now because you’re just leaving this black hole for everything to get sucked into.Ervin ward (24:10)
Yeah, you have to love the process.Yeah, I understand.
Yes, let’s go ahead.
Yeah, for sure.
Micah Johnson (24:31)
Well, Ervin Man, I really appreciate your time today, your story, perspective. Thank you for one man building something that left the door open behind you, helping others understand along the way, making the process simple. So for those that are listening who want to find out more, possibly work with you, what’s the best way for them to find you?Ervin ward (24:36)
Bye.So the best way for you to find me is to go to my website and my website is www.scoreshiftfundinghub.com and just fill out the intake form and my team will reach out to you within 24 hours or less.
Micah Johnson (25:04)
Excellent man. So if you’re listening or watching in check out the show notes We’ll make sure that link is there for you go fill out that intake form get a hold of Ervin and his team See where you are in the process and you know, let’s get them deals underway again Ervin man. Thanks for your time today. Appreciate you being with usErvin ward (25:19)
No, Micah thankyou so much and thank you for being patient with me on my second podcast.
Micah Johnson (25:25)
you’re good, man. You did a great job. For those listening in and watching, if you got value out of today’s episode, please like that, like today’s episode, share it with someone else you think would get value out of it. As always, please don’t forget to subscribe. We appreciate every single one of you that follow along with us on our podcast. We have more conversations coming up with operators just like Ervin out there doing it the right way, building a real business in the industry. So thanks again for joining us today. We’ll see you all in the next episode.
