309: From Zero Network to $15M+ in Volume in 18 Months

00:00:06 Ryan Wiley
Welcome to the mortgage game. I truly, truly believe that building a mortgage business, a successful one is like playing a game. There's winners, there's losers. There's certain things you try. Some of us are playing checkers while others are playing chess. I've had the ability to coach and mentor hundreds of mortgage brokers. I myself built a very nice business. So now I want to distill all that information, all the things I've learned from that and bring it directly to you in a simple to understand way. I hope you enjoy.


00:00:38 Ryan Wiley
Okay, welcome to the Mortgage Game podcast. West Coast, whiteboard Wiley in the house coming to you live. We've been mixing this up on the podcast. As you know, we do sometimes in the Dodge Ram studio. I'm at the beach doing podcasts with my eight -year -old headset. Sometimes we're in here and we're interviewing someone if we deem warranted, if we deem there's a reason why we should have someone in here and you're going to learn something from it. That's what today is. And so today we have Shubham. Hello, Shubham. Hey, Ryan. How's it going? Going very good. Very good. And so let's just get into it. You have a unique story. I thought it was interesting for you to go tell. You are a rather newer agent in the industry. How long have you been licensed for? I got licensed in 2024,


00:01:23 Shubham Suri
got licensed in 2024, June. So I would say a little more than two years in the business.


00:01:28 Ryan Wiley
So you got licensed in 2024 and now just... I'm going to just spoiler alert for a lot of people here. 2025, he had a really good year. Like for a newer agent, 18 months into his career, 2025 was a phenomenal year for him. And 2026 is stacking up to be the same, if not better. And so we're going to unpack that. That's why he's here. And he has a unique take on some things. And then we're just going to talk about the ups and downs of the mortgage industry and how he handles that. So you got in the industry 2024. You don't have a big network here in Canada. So can you give me the story around that? So came in 2022,


00:02:03 Shubham Suri
new to Canada, newcomer, an immigrant on student visa, had no contact, no one in mortgages or real estate, no support system at all, became a work permit holder, got my permanent residency, and then I started my own business. So first six months of 2024 were actually like the... formation building base of my business. I had literally no contact. So I had to like chase all my clients, all my leads, network with them on social media. And then I also had a job on the side. I still have that job on the side. I still work in a telecom company, wherein I network with all these people, do phone sales, and then get their contact information, their email addresses, their phone numbers, and then add them to my database. And that's how I actually grew my network from zero to like almost 1000 people. Every day contacting new people, getting their information and then sending them emails once a week.


00:03:04 Ryan Wiley
Okay, so let's pause on that for a second. Because when someone gets in to become a mortgage broker, the first thing people say is, go contact your circle, go contact your people. You literally had no circle, because you're new to the country. So you went and got another job working for a telecom company. in a mall selling phone plans and phones. And from that, if I'm hearing you correctly, I already know the answers, but you built up your database that way. You'd give them a kick -ass customer service and you did all the things there and you build a rapport with them, but then you got their contact information from there. So then you followed up with them after the fact and you said, hey. I also do mortgages and blah, blah, blah. Could I help you here? So that was really how you built your network and your database.


00:03:48 Shubham Suri
Yes, that was exactly about it. So first six months, I was... very blank, like I had no experience about it. Then someone dropped in your podcast in our team call. And that night I couldn't sleep. I went back and watched all your videos, listened to all your podcasts about how to up my social media game, how to get these contacts in my email marketing and then send them emails once a week. So first six months of my business, I actually didn't do even a single deal. I was almost about to quit this industry. Then actually your podcast came as a savior. Listened everything and then I executed whatever you mentioned in your podcast in my business. Just like creating a spider web around myself. Wherever I meet any person, be it a coffee shop, at gym, at my other job, just get their phone numbers, email addresses and contact information. That way they are in my database and I can stay in touch with them, follow up with them literally once a week and then make new. connections in realtors. And that's how I actually started getting leads. So you had no network,


00:04:59 Ryan Wiley
you had no network, no database, no social media. And then you stumbled upon this podcast. And then you just started doing the things that talked about on the podcast. And then 2025, can you give people how many deals did you end up closing in 2025? I did 25.


00:05:17 Shubham Suri
or deals I had like 15 million I reached out to you in 2025 start that I want to join your team I'm your biggest like fan like self -proclaimed fan and I always talk like great things about you how you know you have changed my life even though I was not a part of your team just listening to your podcast gave me so much positive energy that I spent all my time and efforts executing them so I always used to tell my wife who has been my biggest supporter in this business that one day I want to join Ryan's team that would be the biggest dream come true so I spoke to you you told me a few things to do for the next six months like I wasn't doing my deals on my own I had a mentor in my team who was underwriting my files who was trying to help me underwrite the files like you know learn the back end of the stuff You told me, stop doing that. Like, go and do your own deals. Know how lenders work, underwriters work, build that connection, build that relationship. I started doing that and I saw a massive impact, a massive increase on funding deals.


00:05:29 Ryan Wiley
I always talk


00:06:28 Ryan Wiley
So you reached out to me. You were basically first six months of your career, no deal. podcast, started doing things. You then reached out to me and you said, hey, I want to join your team. And I said, no, man, it's too early. Throughout our discussions, we were on a Zoom call like this. I said, go do these three things and just come back to me in three months, keep in touch. And also you should go and start running your own files, not handing them off to someone because you really need to learn and cut your teeth. Eventually you can hand them off again to someone. So you did that. You started to do your files and then you started to do all the things that we talked about on our call, just like this Zoom call. And then we checked in every three months. We jumped on a call. And throughout that time, you just doing this simple, basic things with no network, no database, no social media. You started to call every person you came in contact with, track their info, post on social regular. You closed $15 million in a 12 -month period for 2025. 15 million,


00:07:24 Shubham Suri
million, yeah.


00:07:25 Ryan Wiley
We can just drop the mic right there. We can just drop it and just be like, poof. And so... Just that alone, I want that to marinate with people listening that like, what's your excuse is where I'm going. I'm going like, all we said was like, track the people, contact the people, do social every day, contact the people watching your social every day. Like just do that and never stop and you'll have whatever business you like. Okay, love it. So that's what you did. We stayed in contact back and forth. There's also another little wrinkle in there that you had. which I learned after the fact. When did you start approaching mobile bank specialists, people who work for the bank? When did you start approaching them as referral partners?


00:08:05 Shubham Suri
That was mid of 2025. I would say after the first quarter, like in second quarter, wherein I noticed like a lot of deals which were not happening at bank, the mobile market specialist was actually losing that client for life. So I started to make contacts with these people at the top five banks wherein the deals which don't fit the bank due to higher extended ratios, you need to take them to an alternate lender or like, you know, it doesn't generally fit the bank, right? Or their rate shopping in general. So I started making contact with them that, hey, you know what, I can at least save the deal for you guys. I can save the client. You guys keep that client. You guys keep that relationship. I would do that deal for you. and give you a part of my compensation.


00:08:51 Ryan Wiley
Okay. How did you find the mobile bank specialist?


00:08:54 Shubham Suri
Just going into the branches, networking with people,


00:08:58 Ryan Wiley
taking them out for a couple. So you'd walk into a branch. You would say, hey, can I speak to a mobile bank specialist? They have their little cubicle or their little office. They come out and they go, hi, nice to meet you. You say, hey. You meet them there, you get a business card, you follow up, or are you coming in, sitting in their office? How does that play out? So usually they are not sitting in one branch.


00:09:17 Shubham Suri
are not sitting in one branch. They have like multiple branches in one community. So I used to reach out. to them through LinkedIn meet them for a coffee or meet them probably somewhere outside closer to their branch like the main branch then have that conversation with them one -to -one get their contact information add them to your database and then follow up with them once a week I think the main game is in follow -up same thing with realtors like I had no connections with realtors like I got so many deals in 2025 until date I get deals through my realtors it's just because of follow -up staying top of the mind, always staying top of the mind, call them once a week, call them like, you know, once in two weeks, take them out for a lunch, take them out for a coffee, take them out for a dinner. Because these are the people actually helping you run your business. They are sending you the deals and they have built so much trust and commitment in you. So you need to make sure you fulfill the deal and reach the client to the finish line.


00:10:17 Ryan Wiley
So you're a new agent, newer agent, you're one year in, you decided I'm going to contact. bank specialists off of LinkedIn, get airtime with them belly to belly, see the lights of their eyes. Your proposition was... hey, you lose clients because you just can't get the deal done in the box you're playing in. Why don't you introduce them to me? You can keep the banking relationship. You can sell them the credit cards and the loans and lines of credit. I'll take the mortgage. I won't take it to a competitor. So you're protected there. I'll get the deal done and you get to keep the relationship and we all win. And to start this relationship out, I'll kick you back X amount, percent, a referral fee in the meantime. Awesome. That's a great value proposition. And it obviously worked for you. How often a week were you reaching out to mobile bank specialists? So I would call them like every Thursday.


00:11:05 Shubham Suri
I would call them like every Thursday. I used to set a day aside for my realtors and mobile market specialists. That Thursday is my follow -up day. reach out to them on LinkedIn, I get their contact information. Then every second Thursday, I used to reach out to them, follow up with them, meet for a coffee. I know they would not refer you deals right away. But you need to have that long lasting relationship. You need to prospect and follow for at least three to six months. And then you start seeing those results kicking in. End of the day, there would be a deal which doesn't fit the bank. And they will pass on to you. So when you stay on top of the mind, It's like a marriage, right? They already have a contact somewhere else or some other broker who have already reached out to them. But if they're not following up, the other broker is not reaching out to them and I am doing the follow -up, I am staying top of the mind. I'm technically breaking their existing relationship, breaking their marriage with that other broker and getting top of the mind, right? I just feel like people out there are very lazy and they do not follow up. Yeah,


00:12:10 Ryan Wiley
dude, that might be the most powerful thing you've said. People are lazy. Yeah. This isn't rocket science, what we do. It's follow -up. Follow -up is a big superpower, and that's one of your biggest superpowers. And also, I know we all have a version of imposter syndrome, but... yours, you got over yours sooner than most brokers because you had the confidence to just put yourself on social, reach out to the people from the other job you have where you're getting paid essentially to prospect. You're getting paid quite nicely to prospect. You're reaching out to them, telling them what you do. You've only been in the game six to 12 months. You're reaching out to bank specialists who could be bank specialists for 10, 15, 20 years and may or may not know more than you. You pushed all that aside to go do that. Now you're humming along on your business and then all of a sudden you got married, which I made that sound like a bad thing, but it's not a bad thing. But walk me through the commitment that you had on the marriage side to go do things and what happened to your business because your energy was going somewhere else. Yeah, so long story short,


00:13:16 Shubham Suri
story short, I can start from the beginning. I can give you some background. So I came here in 2022 and I met my partner in 2022. We were in the same college. So I told her, like, we have the same financial mindset. You are going to do the studying part. You're going to make sure I pass with good grades in college. And I'm going to do the work and the financial aspect. So I'm very lucky, privileged and grateful to. get that partner in the first year of being in Canada, being in the same college. So she made sure that she's studying well, having all the financial respect. So we started financial planning just to give some background in one of the top colleges here in Canada. So I was grinding, like I was literally saving every single penny. I was working my ass off, getting paid really well in my other part -time job. just to save up for our down payment. So we decided like, you know, we're gonna build our future together. We're gonna get this dream house and then we're gonna get married, right? So 2022 stayed within the means, not buying a car, even though I could afford any car with my credit and finances in Canada. People were telling me to go and buy this fancy car, go get this. Nope, straight within the means, traveling in TTC buses. saving every single penny till 2025. So we both saved 20 % of our house. You know how the house prices in GTA are. So 20 % in three years while being a student and on work permit. I think that people can save like that's their life savings. In Canada, people save that over 20, 50 years. So we have the same financial mindset, same growth mindset. We started doing that. Then I actually helped my brother and sister -in -law get their first home in Canada because we were doing financial planning. We got to know about these tools, FHSA, TFSA, RRSP. And I feel a lot of people don't know about these tools. Like a lot of first -time home buyers don't know about these tools and investments in general in Canada. So I started making my content. around first -time homebuyers, around investments and the tools available for the first -time homebuyers. That's how I helped my brother and sister not get into their first house as well without even me being a mortgage broker. So I was like, if I can do this to my family and... myself and my partner. Why can't I do this to a bigger community? So then is when actually I got into mortgages and I got licensed, that there's a lack of financial knowledge and education in Canada, which needs to be fulfilled.


00:15:56 Ryan Wiley
Oh, I like it. That's a good one, man. The diligence you both had, the discipline you had to just save up, like you said, riding the TTC buses. I love that story. Watch your home. You're helping people. You're educating through social media. Then you get married. And now you have a celebration you need to go to. You go away for celebration. Walk me through how long you were away, what that meant to your mortgage business, and when you came back, what you came back to.


00:16:25 Shubham Suri
Yeah, so 2025 was a solid year. And then we were doing all the planning for our wedding. That was in 2026 February from here. And I was back home managing 700, 800 people comes with a lot of stress. I'll just let you know. So it was a lot of back and forth with my parents, with our parents to like, you know, arrange everything. So we both were technically very stressed at the last quarter of 2025. I was like, I'm going to slow down on my mortgage business. And January, February, March, first quarter of 2026. I actually slowed down because I was feeling that stress. I reached out to you as well that, you know, we decided to jump ship and I'm going to move over to your team after my wedding and honeymoon. But I've started to like slow down. I'm not getting those leads. I'm not doing the prospecting. I'm feeling burnout. So it was actually a very good time in my personal life. However, in my professional life, I had to slow down. Just because I wasn't able to cope up with the stress that this business comes with, right? It's a very lonely business end of the day. If you don't surround yourself with the right people, with the right brokers, you can get lost, right? That's why I always used to keep calling you like once a month just to stay grounded, just to stay positive, just to surround myself with that positive energy because I felt I was getting lost. I could sense that.


00:17:50 Ryan Wiley
could sense that. Yeah. I could sense that. Well, you came off a high. You did 15 million in 2025. Bought a home, planning seven, eight hundred people, wedding ceremonies back home. You're taking your foot off the gas of your business. You were still juggling the part time job, which you still have now. Like you had a lot of stuff going on that a lot of people experience in a decade, yet alone six to eight months. And so you came back from the wedding celebration and now you're back to like. business time. And you're like, so now you got to switch gears into work mode, get the motivation back, get back into your old habits. Cause the pipeline was dry, right? You came back, you called me, you're like, Hey, the pipeline's dry. What do I do? And I'm like, well, what did you do before? Just go back to doing that. Like there was no magic thing. And you're like, yeah, I'm just going to go do that. You just needed like someone else to say what you were already thinking. So you did that, right? You shifted gears, you came back. went through a little lull there where you might've been down on yourself and, oh my God, I got to ramp this thing back up again. Like you're too hard on yourself as we all are. And then, so you went back to basics. Yep. Like in quarter two of this year,


00:19:01 Shubham Suri
quarter two of this year, started doing the basics again, social media, calling, prospecting, follow -up, getting the emails, starting the email campaign again. So I joined your team, I think April 1st. First quarter, I was lost. So I joined the team in April 1st, starting doing these activities again. You usually see the benefits in this business after two months. So you have to put in that 30 to 60 days of efforts. So April and May, what efforts you do, those benefits you get in June and July. It's always a 30 to 60 day turnaround in our business for refinances and purchases. So the activities I didn't do in first quarter, my business hampered in April and May because of that. So got back to basics, started calling people out. I closed myself in this office and made sure to get back into the track, do those activities again. It's all about the repetitions and muscle memory. And yeah, back on track now, funding a lot of deals. We did like four deals in June, going to do three to four deals in July. Back on track, going to hit more than the target I did last year. or at least the same. It's been a tough year. I won't lie. It's a challenging year. Well, it's a nine -month year for you,


00:20:13 Ryan Wiley
year for you, right? Yeah. And so can you give us a sneak peek, like a week in the life of what sort of time are you spending in prospecting and social media?


00:20:23 Shubham Suri
Yeah. So Monday to Thursday, I'm fully into this business. And then Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I have my other part -time gig wherein I get contacts from.


00:20:32 Ryan Wiley
from. So you're working four days. See kids listening to this? We start peeling away. It's like an onion. We start going, oh, he's not even working five or six days. He's working four. Okay. You're working four days, Monday to Thursday.


00:20:43 Shubham Suri
Yeah. Mortgages. And then Friday, Saturday, Sunday in my other job. So whatever contacts I build over the weekend, I make sure to contact them next week. So Monday is my follow -up. contact game for the leads that I've gotten in on the weekend. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I get the people, their email, their phone numbers, add them to my database, send out an email drip campaign every Monday, once a week, and call them or just drop them a text if they don't pick up my call, just to stay top of the mind. Hey, I am this person who helped you over the weekend, as I mentioned to you about. my other mortgage business as well. Just keep me on top of mind. If you ever need or anyone in your family needs any mortgage help, I'm here to help you out. Just staying top of the mind, you know, so that they have my contact information now and they know that I've added them on my email drip campaign. That helps me. So Monday is just prospecting game for the work that I did on the weekend. Gotcha. Tuesday, I do actually run the deals. Tuesday Wednesday are like fully underwriting and prospecting like just focusing on the deals that I have for the week then the paperwork compliance underwriting fulfillment everything by myself so Tuesday Wednesday are just like first half an hour one hour is like opens just reaching out to 10 people In your social circle could be past clients, realtors, people in my other job, right? So just reaching out to them. That's first half an hour, one hour. Money -making task, as you mentioned, never stop the money -making task, even though you're working on live deals. Just keep open, like sending a text message. It's like literally five seconds, 10 seconds, right? So reaching out to 10 new people every day. So that's the first thing that I do every day. And then get into my... leads, like the deals that I'm working on, right? Yeah. Tuesday and Wednesday is mostly for that, sitting in the office, actually doing the deals. Thursday is my going out day, like meeting the realtors and the mobile market specialist in person.


00:22:53 Ryan Wiley
Dude, you're hitting all, remember when you talked about the spider web and I tell it being omnipresence, that's what it is. So you're in people's social feeds, you're in their DMs, you're in their inbox, you're calling them. You're tracking all the data, all the contact info. You're constantly telling people, like opening them through phone and DMs and texting and call. Like you're doing all the things and you started with nothing. Like, are you impressed by where you're at right now? Or is this just you always knew you were going to be here and it's another day at the office? Like, have you ever reflected back and went, holy shit, I've actually like done some. pretty crazy things my first two years in the business. Yeah. So this is a fun fact.


00:23:38 Shubham Suri
Like when I told you that I was saving every single penny for the house down payment, I used to not even eat outside. I used to eat at home, save every single penny. Like those were petty expenses. Those added up. But this business has given me so much financial freedom. that I don't even think about bills anymore. My wife is a very fancy wife. She loves to travel. She loves to go out on vacations. She loves shopping. And even my parents, like this business has given me that mindset that I don't even check the bills or tags anymore.


00:24:10 Ryan Wiley
So going out for dinners,


00:24:12 Shubham Suri
spending on vacations, buying out stuff for my wife or my parents, that's my purpose of my life. That helps me, that gives me joy. And that's how I keep working every single day. I don't care about myself. I still drive like a 2016 Civic before I had a 2010 Corolla. People tell me, why don't you buy a new car? Go get this fancy car right off a business expense. I don't care. I just want my family and my wife to be happy. That's my purpose of life. And this business has given me every aspect of this financial freedom.


00:24:43 Ryan Wiley
freedom. So in 18 months, we're not talking five years of this. You're saying. You grinded so hard. You saved so much. You put your family in an awesome situation. And then now fast forward 18 months, your mindset around all that has completely changed. Yep. Love, love, love it. I want to talk about, because not everything's rainbows and butterflies. This industry, as you referenced, it's a lonely gig. There's a lot of stress we take on our shoulders. With that stress, we internalize it. It comes back to us where we... bring that in, the stress gets pushed down, all of a sudden we're living an unhealthy lifestyle, we're making bad decisions, we're not sleeping at night, we're not, like we take all that on. I know clients just don't have a clue about any of that, either do our referral partners. But you've been on such a run, such a great thing. Are there challenges you deal with on the day -to -day with mindset and your motivation? You don't need that. You've got it. But what are the other things that people don't see? What challenges do you deal with?


00:25:42 Shubham Suri
Yeah, so first three months of this year, actually, when I was not putting the energy into my business, as I mentioned before, I got lost, right? So this business comes with a lot of stress and responsibilities as well. Like, you know, there are so many stakeholders involved in your business, underwriters, appraisers, lawyers, lenders, like business development managers. There are so many people. And if anyone drops the ball, your client suffers for that, right? But the client doesn't know what happens on the back end. You have to control the game and you have to handle everything that's happening at the back end while just smiling in front of the client that everything is going well, giving them updates. every time like you know I don't have an update yet from the underwriter but I'll get back to you so no update is an update for the client yeah all this comes with a lot of stress and I felt that this year I was stressed out after the first quarter because not getting enough business right so my word for this year was health and being intentional with the energy so I started to slow down and I felt like, you know, I need that shift in my mindset. I need to first fill up my cup of tea before I can help other clients, right? So I started to do yoga in the morning. I started to wake up early, started meditation, go out for a walk, do that five to 10k steps a day, proper sleep management, having a proper sleep hygiene, no screen time, like after nine, all that stuff became a part of my daily routine. And my wife was a very big supporter. in this timeframe, because I was feeling the stiffness, the pain, and the burden in my body, right? So I had to make sure if I'm not my 100 % best, I cannot help my clients with the same mindset. So that needs to stop, nip it in the butt, and change your mindset, be back in the frame. So yeah, I mean, all these things, like I think, when I start my day, I check off a few things, what I have to doing the day. And after end of the day, I have to make sure like I actually did those things. Drinking 10 glasses of water, doing 10K of steps, sleeping seven to eight hours, doing yoga, doing medication, no alcohol, all that stuff, bad habits, turning into good habits. That's how mine's almost broke.


00:28:09 Ryan Wiley
mine's almost broke. You know what, man, you are, and I'm sure anyone listening and watching will agree, you are without a doubt, you are so wise beyond your years. The fact that you even caught yourself in the moment and said, I need to fix this because I don't like the path this is going on health -wise for me and my mental state. I need to change this. And you can, and you did. That tells me how powerful of a support center you have, support network you have, and it all starts with your wife. So that tells me just how close you guys are, that you can pivot that quick. And then you're obviously, you're with us and you and I talk all the time and you're on the team and you... to the calls and you're an active participant and whatnot. And so it's just so nice to see because you're so young, you're so early on. I expect big, big things from you. I don't mean from a volume perspective. I mean, in a happiness level that I just want you and your family to be as happy as you can. And I'm sure you can see now the world's your oyster. You can have whatever version of your life you want, but that's all you, man. you freaking created that and you and your wife have created that. So this is just me kind of like giving you like one of these, like a standing O I'm sitting, but I'm very proud of who you are in such a short amount of time and where you're going. So it's awesome, man. I'm glad I have a front row seat to it. And your story will for sure inspire other people. Let them know anything's possible. When we break down all the challenges you had coming to Canada and where you're at now in 2026, it's insane. It's absolutely insane. I hope you realize that.


00:29:42 Shubham Suri
Yep. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ryan, for having me. And I think having you in my corner is my biggest support system, apart from my wife, of course. So yeah, so always glad to have you, like be it mindset calls, team calls, business related calls. You are. a very positive person and I love that energy that's how I you know keep myself busy with positive thoughts happy thoughts and just keep going because there are a lot of people in this industry who would pull you down with that negative energy so stop that just shift your thoughts because end of the day you only have two choices either you can be grateful about it or you can just keep complaining about it so just choose the grateful part gratitude part and keep showing up every day.


00:30:31 Ryan Wiley
every day. Love it, man. Hey, brother, much respect, much love to you. For those listening here, I really, really appreciate the support for the podcast here. So please keep reaching out. We'll keep putting out what I think is really good content and extremely authentic stuff. So I love the support. Shubham, man, just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Love having you, brother. Glad you're on the team. We'll see. Maybe we'll have you back 12, 24 months from now and we'll see what's cooking in your business. But that's it, brother. Go enjoy the rest of your day, man. Awesome. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day. Peace out, everyone.