Welcome to the The VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory, one story at a time. All right, all right. Thank you for joining us today as we explore the foundation of home and finance, where we walk you through honest guidance, building financial stability and purpose one home at a time. But as you guys have heard before, I just want to remind our listeners of how excited I am to be part of the new AG1 Ambassador Program. AG1 has been a staple in my daily routine for several years. Every morning I wake up and start my day with AG1. Just one scoop is packed with over 75 high-quality ingredients that combines a multivitamin, probiotic, and blend of superfoods. AG1 has been clinically shown to improve gut health and close common nutrient gaps. As a longtime customer, they have offered me a special deal for you. If you're interested in trying AG1 yourself, you can use my ambassador code found in the show notes. With your first order, you receive one free year supply of D3K2 drops, 10 free AG1 NextGen travel packs, and a free 30-day supply of Omega-3 pills. This is $130 value for free when you use my ambassador code. How's that sound, Jason? Good? With that, let's shift gears back to today's guest who believes home ownership is the ultimate foundation for family and financial purpose. Jason Miller is a mortgage professional in upstate New York with over 25 years of experience helping over 7,000 families. He approaches every client like he would his own family, offering honest guidance and customized solutions, no cookie cutter advice. He specializes in helping first-time homebuyers and believes in educating clients through every step of the process. As a husband of 30 years and proud dad of three, he knows just how important Home really is. Jason and I met back in 2015 when working on purchasing my very first income property. Normally, this is a type of meeting done over the phone, through an email, or in an office setting. However, Jason met a business partner and I for sushi to discuss how to get the deal done. Before even meeting Jason, I could tell he was not your average mortgage professional. He was hungry, creative, and willing to go above and beyond for his clients. Since then, Jason and I have closed on multiple properties together, and I have referred him out as the mortgage professional to work with. Jason's deep experience, honest guidance, and emphasis on treating clients like family present a strong foundation for a purpose-driven conversation. He's the man. He's the man. And now we're going to get to get to know you a little bit deeper, man. We want to hear about your purpose and some of the things you've been through on your journey. We always like to start at the beginning. You know, we always kind of get out of school or we start in the beginning. We're kind of like following other people. Then we kind of find ourselves. So, you know, You've helped over 7,000 families, but you say a home is more than a transaction. It's where memories are made and wealth is built. With 25 years in sales-driven industry, what was the most significant challenge or moment, maybe a difficult client or a tough economic cycle, that forced a breakthrough in your business philosophy to permanently shift I can think of a lot of them, but we don't have that much time. Probably, I'll think of a transaction that happened early on, which some refugees that came over from Africa and they were trying to buy their first house. And a real estate partner that I work with is like, these folks have tried a couple of different places and they're just trying to buy something small and simple. And it was, you know, 23 years ago and they were trying to buy a house that was like $30,000 in the city of Syracuse. and nobody would touch them. They're like, people just won't call them back. They're like, I'm sorry, we can't help you. It's not worth their time, essentially, to go after a $30,000 transaction. And I'm thinking in my mind, there's people, obviously, that we're dealing with here that have a need. They need to find a house. And why somebody would do that is beyond me. You know, I always come from the mindset of, if I help people, then by default, they're going to remember me and they're going to hand my name out and pass it along to other people that they work with. So I don't think of it as like a$30,000 transaction where I'd be better off running down the freeway, picking up cans, you know, instead of helping them. I thought of it as an opportunity to A, serve them. And then, you know, of course also serve myself because, you know, being in sales, like it's all about numbers and networking and people and, And so we took them from point A to point B, got them in the house, and they ended up referring probably 10, 15 people to me over the years just because of that. And then of course, the agent, I still deal with that real estate agent to this day. And that was a time when I was first kind of starting my business out and really was It's just something that I wasn't taught. It was just basically, it's like, the more people I help, by default, it comes It just makes sense, right? Yeah, it makes sense. And I would imagine, they may still be in that house now. Did they move? Did they call you? Have you stayed in Well, I actually they upgraded probably about 10-15 years after and they called me and, you know, came in and sat down and we hugged and, you know, so it's cool, you know, it's cool and being in the business long enough, I see people come back and I see their families grow and then kids go off to college and they take new jobs or they get divorced, unfortunately, or different milestones and it's cool. The relationship part of it is awesome. I moved here in 2000 and didn't know one single person when I moved here. My wife grew up here. and I know more people than she does. I'm not surprised. That story, I don't think a lot of people can appreciate the vulnerability it is to be in a new country and not know anybody and people not willing to sit down and listen to you and take the time to understand but you did that and that just came naturally. And I think that's why you just come across so genuine, authentic, and you just get along. And that's why your name is, I mean, I'll refer people to you and they'll be like, oh yeah, I know Jason. Like, well, there you go. You know, it's like, that happens to me often. Now, as a husband of 30 years and a proud dad, does your commitment to family shape the advice you give to young couples or Because, you know, I put my, I Basically, from, you know, where I've come from, building my family and, and going through, you know, all the milestones and just different, you know, facets of life that we all go through. And a lot of people just don't know. They go through and you may know because you go through an experience or something happens or what have you. I always share tidbits of things that have happened to me throughout my life with clients. And it may be simple things like, hey, listen, You're going through a process here where you're selling a house, you're buying a house, you've had a couple kids along the way. tell me about like, and I go a little deeper than some, tell me, do you have a good financial planner that you'll work with? Do you have a good accountant that you can work with? Have you thought about savings for the kids? There's a lot of important things that you need to take into account when you're buying a house or selling a house and buying a house and you have a chunk of money. And then I give examples like, listen, if you don't have a financial planner, you need to, you know, cause you're, you're taking$50,000 from the sale of this house and you're in your mind, you're thinking, I need to use all of it to keep my payment the lowest. Well, in fact, you know, that may not be the best use for it. You know, I'm not going to tell you what it is, but, you know, and then I use an example, like my wife inherited $5,000 worth of stock on her grandmother passed away. And, Her sister also did as well. And her sister went through and she, you know, used part of it to buy a house and this and that. And then, you know, that's all good stuff. I said, we took that $5,000 and stuffed it away and sat it in a corner. And now 25 years later, that $5,000 has turned into $90,000. because of understanding finances and the markets and having a person to talk to about it. And so I just plant seeds with people and try and use examples like that one from my own life. And even you know, my, my, my children, you know, I'm honest with people like, listen, yeah, my, my son suffered from depression and anxiety. And like, you know, I get it. I try to, you know, relate, relate to people and bring in those, you know, a, to create a connection with people. Cause I think that's important. And then just be, sometimes people find added value. Yeah, I think that's uncommon to see someone in that lending industry that talks about their family and makes that connection and then turns that into an educating moment. Why is educating a client, especially a first-time home buyer, so central to your purpose? And what's the biggest mistake you see people make So obviously education on anything is, everything is important. You Student loans is an example. People oftentimes take out a bunch of student loans and they just don't understand, oh, that's what you do. And they don't think about the final outcome and the career path and can I pay them off? If they were more educated and saw examples and illustrations and just really thought about it, Same thing with a house, a mortgage. I there's a lot of order takers out there. Somebody will call in, they'll just take the client's order and then spit them out an approval or a mortgage or whatever. And that mortgage may be a disservice to that family because they don't take the time to ask more questions. And then also to go through a process of explaining options. If I talk to someone on the phone, I more than likely already have a general sense that they're probably not gonna use a few different loan types, but I like to walk them through that process to say, this is this type of loan, and here's the pro and the con. This is the other type of loan. Here's the pro and the con. Here's another one. There's a pro and a con. And knowing that they're probably not going to take, you know, they're going to go to one, but they feel empowered. They feel good about the decisions they make because they're educated. Right, and it requires some ethical behavior on your part to make sure you're not getting your clients into something that they're not fully understanding. So, you know, my next question is the mortgage industry has faced periods of high scrutiny and complex regulations. You stand out by offering honest guidance and a no cookie cutter advice approach. Have you ever faced a challenge where you Were your commitment to that honesty conflicted with a potential high dollar value commission or a quick fix? Honestly, no. I mean, I've been in positions where somebody was working with an online company you know, push button, get a mortgage, and just, they weren't getting callbacks, they And the realtor they were working with said, you know, call So I talked to him, walked him through everything, and helped him run numbers. And basically, everything at face value looked good. Yeah, I can come up with this much money, my payment, I'm comfortable with that. I could have put the deal to the table, sold it, let him close and off we go. I looked at what he was buying and I'm like, listen, bud, the taxes are $200 a month. the assessed value is this low, and when you buy it, the taxes are gonna go up more than likely. Let's put a phone call into the town, talk to them, see if they can give us an idea of what those taxes are gonna go up to. Sure enough, they came back with a number. I formulated what the payment would look like once that happened. He's like, there's no way, I can't buy it. And I talked him out Yeah, and that's the above and beyond attention to detail that I've experienced with you. And you could have potentially saved that guy a lot of misfortune down the road, and you missed out on a commission there, but it was worthwhile because it wouldn't have mattered if that client had a terrible experience. And before you know it, that's the perception that other people have. Let's talk about leadership and personal pillars. Your team at Supreme Lending shares your core values of communication, honesty, and top tier service. What is the biggest leadership challenge you face in maintaining that culture across team, especially Yeah, probably there's several things that have happened over the years, but our industry specifically. Just from 2020 to where we are now has gone through a lot. We went through COVID where things changed a ton and interest rates went so low that basically it was free money. So we went from a time where we were doing average business to like the floodgates opened and you were so busy that everyone was working, you know, 10 plus hours a day, seven days a week. And, you know, that's tough from, from around, you know, so that, that was a, that was a, a big challenge, but then you take that and then you move it to where a few years later, the market flips and business goes down 65%. and things go the other way. And when things are good, you're building a team, you're hiring people, it's great and And then when they go the other way, 65% drop in business, you're like... And my personal, I had a team of probably about seven people. And unfortunately, I had to let probably four So it was that. I wasn't always with Supreme Lending. We owned a mortgage company called Paragon Home Loans. And that market downturn, we saw the writing on the wall, it's a small player. We're like, we need to do something. So we ended up having to sell the company and close the doors and let people go that had been with the company that we bought for 30 plus years. And, you know, so a lot of challenges, but yeah, you, you and I were talking during I, I got canned right around COVID just towards like, you know, the end of 2020, like in September, 2020. And, uh, that was right around the time when, um, you know, we're talking about 2% just above 2% rates. And I missed, I missed on that. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever see that again. I did But in those high pressure times, you know, you're working 70 hours a week, you know, how does your personal pillars of faith or fitness stay, uh, to stay, how do your personal of faith and fitness to stay grounded and set the Yeah, that's a great question. Because, you know, everyone struggles when things are, you know, when things are bad, change, any change, people don't like I've always, I've always been of the mindset of positivity, and sadness and health, you know, and I preach that to my people, like, listen, I'll go just try this, go every morning, get up and take 10 minutes and go and think back of five or 10 positive moments in your life and reflect on those moments and really think about it and spend some time on it and internalize it and then start your day because I guarantee if you do that, you're Read books, you know, read for five minutes, read And then exercise, like do yourself a favor, roll out of bed, get going, go get your coffee and just start your day or roll out of bed. go for a quick walk, do five push-ups, do something, get your body moving, and then compare and look at the difference. And I've always led by that, just trying to get people to help them to change their mindset, the way they think, their habits, their routines, things like that. And I do it by leading by example. So every time we would have a weekly team meeting, I'd be like, OK, listen, here's a quick blurb from a book I read, or here's something I took away from a podcast, or so forth and so on. And I knew that just by leading by example, by default, that it would improve the lives of those around me. do positive things, right? I think we overcomplicate it. Be grateful, take some intentional gratitude, read positive things, read books that teach you things, that teach you to shift your mindset and take care of your body, right? It's like the best form of antidepressant there is. get out there and go for a walk, do a workout. These things, you know, they require energy, they require their, but they're not complex. They're simple, easy things that, you I mean, and it doesn't have to be big, you know. My son's like, I want to work out. It's just so overwhelming. I don't know what to do. I'm like, well, what did you do yesterday? Nothing. I said, okay, today do two Absolutely. And walking, I've said this before, it's gotta be the most underrated thing you can do. A lot of people would say, ah, what's a walk gonna do? A lot, you know, it gets the blood flowing and like, what's the alternative? Sitting on your ass? binge watching an episode after sitting on your ass all day at work, you know? Some professions, you're on your feet all day and you're walking a lot. So, you know, you're got the blood moving and maybe you need to sit down, but a lot of us are sedentary. You gotta get up, you gotta move around. A walk will not only get the blood flowing, but it will get your mind going. You'll be able to process thoughts. You'll be able to think through things. And if you've had a rough day, you know, you don't want to bring that home. Trust me, you don't want to bring that home. You go for a walk before you get home or when you get home or after dinner, and maybe you're with your spouse or another family member, and you get to kind of just talk things out and think through things. And walking has got to be the most underrated thing that that You know, like I said, before you walk in the door, sit and sit in your car and just think, like, what am I thankful for? what's happened to me, if it's not today, get something going in that mind like, yeah, there's a lot of good And then when you shift, you can't go in the Yeah, it works. It absolutely works. The power of positivity and mindfulness. And I can think of some other people that are happy. There's over 7,000 families that you've helped achieve their dreams, right? You've essentially built a legacy of financial stability in your community. When you look at the vision, integrity, clarity, and impact, and if you spell that out, it's Vici, that defines purpose-driven life, what is the one current challenge you are still actively working to overcome in Well, professionally, when you know, you get, and you've gone through so many different cycles and things and changes and all that. You can, you know, you can get to a point where you You know, you get burned out. Everyone gets burned out. So the last couple of years have been tough in our industry and then selling a business and going through a lot of different things And it seems like it happens every handful of years, And when that challenge arises, what I do is I'll take and head out to say, Beaver Lake or something and just take a notebook and sit down and be like, what am I doing? You know, why do I do what I do? And Just write, lay it out, say, what am I Why is it important to me? And after I do that exercise, it really helps to refocus. I'm not just slinging mortgages. I am, but also, what am I doing? So professionally, I find it's typically every three, four years or so, I get to that point where I'm like, okay, enough. We gotta get back on track. And personally with the family is balance. Not losing track of balance, because it's easy to do when you're the breadwinner and you're 100% commission. And if you don't work, well, you don't get paid. So sometimes you can tend to let the balance go more towards work. And in the beginning part of my career, it was really out of balance. And then I ended up hiring people and But I think more recently, it's just from the balance standpoint is just, again, like knowing and saying to myself, you know, what's more important for family? And they're both important, but family is more important. And I hold And when I get up, I mentioned before, I go through the exercise of what I'm thankful for and grateful for and all that. And when I do that, it's not work. It's not work accomplishments, it's family, it's moments with them. And so I forced myself to become more intentional to be in front of the family and their presence. instead of thinking about work and all that, where in the past, that's what I was doing. I was there, but I was not present. So I had to learn more so like the last three And it's just that intentional movement Yeah. And I think balance is a tough thing. I feel like something's always out of balance. I always Some weeks are heavy with the work schedule, some weeks are a little bit lighter and you can kind of redeem yourself a little bit. I think it's always, there's a book I'm reading called The Goal right now and it talks, it's a manufacturing book about the theory of constraints and it talks about how, The goal is to be balanced manufacturing, but that never happens because once you're balancing, you're maxing out capacity in this one area, you're lacking in these other areas. I feel like balance is something that's almost impossible to have, but it's good to be mindful that, you know, you'll have, when you have those lighter weeks in work, take advantage of it. You know, be more intentional with your time and spend it with your family. And when you have those tough weeks at work that you're having good open communication with your spouse and your family. And like, even with my, when my family, like I come in and they can kind of, they can kind of read it on my face when I come in the door or they hear it in my voice. Uh, but I get out in front of it and I'm just like, Hey, yeah, listen, not a great day. I'm going to do my best to be present with you. I'm going to probably take a little bit longer in the, in the bedroom to get changed just to kind of gather myself. But when I come out, like it's, it's game on dad time, husband time. Um, and I'll try to be the best version that I can be, uh, today. And then other weeks, you know, I'm great. Things are going good. We're outside. And, um, yeah, it, it balanced balance is important. And, you know, really visiting like, why you do what you do, cause it's easy to get complacent, you know, when you're, especially when you're good at it, it's like, okay, do this, do this, do this, do this. And then it's repeat, right? It's always good to kind of come back and, and, and, and question yourself, like, am I still doing what I, what I got in this to do? Am I, am I, am I intention still in the right area? So that's, that's It's work too, man. That's a lot of work to be intentional and, and, and, You're good and then you're bad. And then when you're bad, you're good. And Yeah. Yeah, it's important to recognize the cycle. And like you said, it's difficult to be intentional, but it's worth it. If you're not trying that, if you're not being intentional, give it a try. I recommend you give it a try. You can ask me how I do it, ask Jason how he does it. We'll get into how you can stay in touch with Jason shortly. But, you know, I think there's some really good key takeaways from this discussion. You know, the necessity of honest guidance in the mortgage process, right? Like I think of the Jerry Maguire scene where at the end, you know, they're both hugging each other and the one agent's looking at this player and the player's like, how come we don't have a relationship like that? Listen, if you don't have a relationship with your lender, like Jason and I, You gotta rethink things. I consider Jason family. We see each other outside just to catch up with lunch and stuff. And we follow each other. And that leads to the next takeaway, the power of treating clients like family. When I talk to new clients or existing clients, I thank them for being part of the Vici family or I welcome them to being part of the Vici family. I have clients over the house. I see them outside. It's not just a transaction. First of all, it's a better way of living. It's a more enjoyable experience going into work when you feel like you're working with family members on your team and as your clients, but it also pays. It works out well for you as far as your reputation and your brand. And then the other takeaway I found was how financial stability is the foundational breakthrough for achieving broader life goals. Money can be an evil thing, but it can be also a very valuable tool. And understanding it and leveraging it is really important. And honestly, there's a saying, you can't help anybody unless you're helping yourself. Well, a big part of having a healthy version of yourself is having some financial stability. Doesn't mean you gotta be a CEO and bring in the huge bucks, but you gotta understand, you gotta have some financial literacy and some stability so that you can be your best version for helping other people too. Jason, thank you so much for your time, your candor. And if we wanna get ahold of you, do you mind if I let people know some of your socials? Yeah, I love it, man. I love it. Yeah, man. So you're on Instagram, right? You're the mortgage dude, right? So at the underscore mortgage underscore dude, you can find this in the show notes. You're also on Facebook. I love following your hikes and your family trips on Facebook. Jason, Jay Miller, 15, and then also on LinkedIn, go ahead and get connected with him on LinkedIn, Jason Miller, Supreme Lending, Jason Miller, Supreme Lending on LinkedIn. Thank you so much for everybody for listening to Veachie Co. Join us next time as we continue to explore the journey of purpose-driven leaders. Thanks for tuning in to the Vici Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels