Tim Markland on Grateful Connections, Strong Conversations and Courage

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living Presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

I love this guy. You're not like Shia Lam! [Laughter] I never went to the market. [Laughter] It's kind of a few seconds at Hartford, but I can't believe it. No, no, no, no, it's not. It's true. 

Rich Bennett 0:27
What would make someone walk away from a sixteen and a half year teaching career to start over a real estate? For Tim Marklin, it was the realization that helping people didn't have to end when the school day was over. We began as a father and son venture in 2015, grew into the Marklin of Danage, a successful Bel Air-based real estate team built around relationships, exceptional service, family, and given back to the community. Today, Tim works alongside a growing team that includes his wife, Amy, while the two of them raised their three daughters right here in Hartford County. But 

Tim Markland 1:03
[Laughter] 

Rich Bennett 1:03
Tim's passion for connecting people goes well beyond buying and selling homes. As host of the TMA connection, which we've thought about several times on here, he shines a light on local, different makers, community organizations, business leaders, real estate professionals, and people whose stories deserve to be heard. Through it all, Tim has learned that building a successful business isn't simply about transactions. It's about trust, resilience, relationships, and making a meaningful difference in people's lives. And just to let y'all know, yes, I was on Tim's podcast a while ago, and I told him the story about me breaking cameras. And sure enough 

Tim Markland 1:46
that was the son of a god, 

Rich Bennett 1:47
probably the only episode 

Tim Markland 1:50
of 140 of 

Rich Bennett 1:52
140 where you can use the video because the file was cropped. 

Tim Markland 1:54
That is correct. 

Rich Bennett 1:55
How's it going? He's like a drool here. 

Tim Markland 1:59
Is this is this thing working? Is that Is that working? Yeah. Are we recording? 

Rich Bennett 2:05
OK. I 

know 

Tim Markland 2:13
it was weird, man. It was weird. 

Rich Bennett 2:14
I jinxed 

Tim Markland 2:16
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 2:16
it. 

Tim Markland 2:16
you 

Rich Bennett 2:16
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 2:16
did. Not 

Rich Bennett 2:17
who about it and just jinxed 

Tim Markland 2:18
it. You better not 

Rich Bennett 2:18
So, 

Tim Markland 2:19
have. 

Rich Bennett 2:19
look, before we get into the real estate and the podcast and 

Tim Markland 2:24
everything 

Rich Bennett 2:26
with you being a teacher and you were teaching what? 

Tim Markland 2:29
Yeah, I was being a teacher. Yep, 

Rich Bennett 2:30
OK. 

Tim Markland 2:30
that's high school. 

Rich Bennett 2:32
what did you love most of it being 

Tim Markland 2:34
So, 

Rich Bennett 2:34
that role? 

Tim Markland 2:35
Yeah, wow. You know, the ability to make a difference, you know, relationships. I mean, you teach a subject matter where 95% of the kids enjoy it, y know. They have fun, it's active. But my goal was always to reach that 5% that didn't enjoy it and turn them into trying to enjoy it. And for some it worked and there's other ones that just couldn't get through it too, which is fine. 

Rich Bennett 2:59
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 3:00
But walking away from teaching was probably the most difficult decision I've ever had to make or one of the most because I loved it. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 3:10
yeah, 

Tim Markland 3:11
I loved teaching. I, the second day I was there, I was standing in the middle of the gym and saying I could be doing this 

Rich Bennett 3:17
for 

Tim Markland 3:18
40 years. 

Rich Bennett 3:19
Wow. 

Tim Markland 3:19
Wow. You know. 

Rich Bennett 3:20
So what was it that set off that triggers like it's just time to get out of this and into real estate? 

Tim Markland 3:26
So back back in the, probably like, 2007, 8, 9, 10 error 

Rich Bennett 3:32
yeah. 

Tim Markland 3:33
kind of. They froze Hartford County salaries for seven years straight. 

Rich Bennett 3:37
It was for seven 

Tim Markland 3:38
Seven 

Rich Bennett 3:38
years. 

Tim Markland 3:39
years straight, no cost of living, no step increase, so a seven year teacher was making the same as a first year teacher. Yeah. And I, we had just had our third child in 2010. And it was tough. You're constantly robbing one account to pay off of this bill and it's the same battle. To this day, in the springtime, the teachers are going up to the county and the county's pointing the finger at the school board and the school board is blaming the 

Rich Bennett 4:09
Right. 

Tim Markland 4:09
county. And and I got to the point where it's like, well, if something's got to change, it's got to be with me. I 

Rich Bennett 4:16
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 4:16
can't rely on some outside source to so, uh, so that kind of my, my dad had a business. He sold that business, came into some money for the longest time. We talked about flipping houses. 

Rich Bennett 4:29
Right. 

Tim Markland 4:29
We flipped the couple houses. We did well on the first one, not so good on the second one, but learned just a huge education. And that drove us to get our real estate license so that we could do our own deals. You know, and represent ourselves and haven't flipped the house since. 

Rich Bennett 4:45
All right. So when you guys are flipping the houses, were you actually doing the construction yourselves too? Or you're 

Tim Markland 4:50
A lot of the grunk work, 

Rich Bennett 4:51
okay. 

Tim Markland 4:52
a lot of the grunk work and we would sub out like the more important things with license contractor. 

Rich Bennett 4:57
So what year was 

Tim Markland 4:58
that? Uh, so that was 

Rich Bennett 4:59
that you've mainly gotten in the real estate, I guess you could say, 

Tim Markland 5:02
yeah, so I mean we flipped our first house in 2030. 

The idea of doing it and just never felt confident enough 

Rich Bennett 5:19
to 

Tim Markland 5:20
actually pull the trigger. So when he came into that amount of cash to buy our first property, there wasn't a whole lot of risk with it, you know, 

Rich Bennett 5:27
yeah. 

Tim Markland 5:27
And it took like a five month process. So it was, you know, because we didn't have any hard money lender to pay back. So it was we went on vacation in the middle of it. But we struck gold and we made like 30,000 on our first flip, which was, yeah, we were like, pumped. And then the second one we only made 3000 and, uh, 

Rich Bennett 5:45
but 

Tim Markland 5:45
the lessons that we learn from that were, 

Rich Bennett 5:47
yeah, 

Tim Markland 5:48
invaluable. 

Rich Bennett 5:48
What are you got to fail to succeed anyways? 

Tim Markland 5:51
absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 5:51
So 

Tim Markland 5:52
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:52
I'm still shocked because you're at what 16 years with the 

Tim Markland 5:56
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 5:56
public school system. 

Tim Markland 5:56
Yeah. So 2015, we got a real estate license in July. And the first year we sold, the first full year we sold nine homes were not knowing that the average was like one to two. 

Rich Bennett 6:10
But, 

Tim Markland 6:11
you know, so and then from now to went to 16 and I went to 23. So that by 2018. 

Rich Bennett 6:18
Wow. 

Tim Markland 6:18
I had a mate. I like, I miss 22 days of school. 

Rich Bennett 6:21
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 6:21
You know, because as much as, you know, we call it ourself the market on advantage originally because you had two agents working for you. My dad could take care of anything that was one of the day. I could take care of anything that was 

Rich Bennett 6:31
So you were 

Tim Markland 6:32
after the 

Rich Bennett 6:32
still. 

Tim Markland 6:32
evening is we could, I was still teaching for three 

Rich Bennett 6:34
Okay. 

Tim Markland 6:34
years while license. And 

Rich Bennett 6:35
Wow. 

Tim Markland 6:36
it got to a point where, It was just too much and I had to 

Rich Bennett 6:39
yeah. 

Tim Markland 6:39
make a decision. And ultimately, my family comes first and, 

Rich Bennett 6:43
Well, yeah. 

Tim Markland 6:44
and, and the whole risk of like making that jump mid career was certainly a challenging one. Again, 

Rich Bennett 6:50
probably scary as hell too, 

Tim Markland 6:51
scary as hell. And the fact that I loved my job so much was like, do I, what's I wrote, but the you know, it was like, okay, well this doesn't work out. I can just go back to, you know, I have a, I have a master's, you know, in education and in leadership, you know. So I can go, I can go back to it if I need to. But that was, that was never the plan. You're 

Rich Bennett 7:12
Right. 

Tim Markland 7:13
going to do it, you go all in. So, 

Rich Bennett 7:15
all right. So when you came home and you decided you were hanging up your gym shoes, 

Tim Markland 7:19
yeah, that was good. 

Rich Bennett 7:20
That was good. And putting on 

Tim Markland 7:23
I 

Rich Bennett 7:23
the, 

Tim Markland 7:23
still, I still wear tennis shoes every day. 

Rich Bennett 7:25
Going into full real estate, what was it? What was your wife's reaction to that? 

Tim Markland 7:32
She was the one board man. 

Rich Bennett 7:33
She, that's good. 

Tim Markland 7:34
Yeah, she was on board to the point where in 2019, she got her real estate license. So it was, it was shortly after, because I left this, I left Bella her high school in 2018. And 

Rich Bennett 7:44
Wow. 

Tim Markland 7:45
she got her license in 2019. She 

Rich Bennett 7:46
wasn't teaching as well. Why she? Oh, okay. 

Tim Markland 7:49
No, no, no, no, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:50
So now it's a family business. Well, technically it was a family business to start. But now you have the wife into it. 

Tim Markland 7:56
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 7:56
yeah, maybe the kids will get into it eventually. 

Tim Markland 7:58
No, they don't want anything to do with that. They don't want to, they see how much time it takes and they're just like, you know, no. 

Rich Bennett 8:05
You know what? And I'm glad you brought that up because, and I want it, and I think it's a big myth that a lot of people don't understand. A lot of people think real estate agents are basically working on the weekend showing houses. 

Tim Markland 8:16
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:17
How much time are you putting 

Tim Markland 8:20
it? I'm never off. I mean, even when you go on vacation, 

Rich Bennett 8:25
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 8:25
yeah. And I try to put, I've, you know, now that I've gotten a little bit further into the career, I've tried to put people in place to provide the levers that I need to have that time to. 

Rich Bennett 8:35
Right. 

Tim Markland 8:36
But you're always on and you have to be available when your buyer is available to show the house. But now I have a team around me where like if my daughter has a volleyball game tonight versus Aberdeen, by the way, good bobcats. 

If you know, if I make every one of her games because if somebody wants to 

Rich Bennett 9:00
time, 

Tim Markland 9:00
see a house in that have dandled my team who provides that leverage that goes out and shows that home for me. So 

Rich Bennett 9:07
I 

Tim Markland 9:07
we're always available, so which is weird because I have this one do not disturb. And that's my daughter. Dude, 

Rich Bennett 9:14
you did invite me to come on the show. 

Tim Markland 9:17
That's right. That's right. 

Rich Bennett 9:18
Get yo out 

Tim Markland 9:18
I 

Rich Bennett 9:19
there. 

Tim Markland 9:19
know. Right. 

Rich Bennett 9:19
Well, you always take Drew, but not me. 

Tim Markland 9:24
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:24
But with the teaching part, do you ever miss it? 

Tim Markland 9:29
Funny enough, 

Rich Bennett 9:31
Really. 

Tim Markland 9:31
no. I don't, I don't miss it. I, like, I loved it, and those were, those were, that was a great time. 

Rich Bennett 9:35
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 9:35
With my life. Um, but I don't miss it. I dream about it all the time. Yeah, I'm 

Rich Bennett 9:40
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 9:40
constantly having those wild dreams where I'm like late the class, and though the kids are being rambunctious or whatever, but now I don't miss 

Rich Bennett 9:47
So 

Tim Markland 9:47
it. 

Rich Bennett 9:47
you don't kick yourself into tail for, 'cause what you would have had nine more years than you could have retired? I 

Tim Markland 9:52
it? 

Rich Bennett 9:52
don't know, is 

Tim Markland 9:52
30, 30, 30 years of for full retirement. So I would, yeah, I would be up there right about now, right? 

Rich Bennett 9:58
30 years, 

Tim Markland 9:58
30, you have to be in the school system for full retirement for 30 years. That's 62 or 65 or whatever it is. I'll get it a 

Rich Bennett 10:05
pattern 

Tim Markland 10:05
small 

Rich Bennett 10:05
in the military, right? 

Tim Markland 10:07
That's another story for another podcast. I was in the military for six months to the day. 

Rich Bennett 10:10
Sorry. Wait, what? 

Tim Markland 10:12
Yeah, six months to the day I was in the, in the Navy went through boot camp went through a school got discharged. Yeah, it's weird. 

Rich Bennett 10:21
Wow. 

Tim Markland 10:21
I mean, 

Rich Bennett 10:22
Okay. 

Tim Markland 10:22
we could go there if you wanted to, but that's, that's just another lifetime ago. 

Rich Bennett 10:25
This is before teaching. 

Tim Markland 10:26
This is well before teaching. Yeah. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 10:28
Okay. 

Tim Markland 10:28
I went in the military like right at their high school. And yeah, 

Rich Bennett 10:32
it's funny. I quit. I may have told you just because I quit my senior year. That's all supposed to do going to 

Tim Markland 10:36
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 10:36
me. 

Tim Markland 10:37
really? 

Rich Bennett 10:37
Yeah. Oh, well. Yeah. Yeah. And then came, he moved people for the Marine Corps. My father refused to sign said, no, because he wouldn't be to go into the Navy. 

Tim Markland 10:45
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 10:45
you know, so well, then yeah, you wouldn't have been in long enough for that time to come off your retirement age. 

Tim Markland 10:52
correct. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:52
Oh, 

Tim Markland 10:53
And I'll give VA benefits. And nor would I take them. 

Rich Bennett 10:56
enough. 

Tim Markland 10:56
Wasn't in there 

Rich Bennett 10:56
You 

Tim Markland 10:56
long 

Rich Bennett 10:56
know, 

Tim Markland 10:57
you know, 

Rich Bennett 10:58
that it's funny say that because I get yelled at all the time. For not taking my VA 

Tim Markland 11:05
Uh-huh. 

Rich Bennett 11:05
benefits. I just, to me, I know there's people that need it more than I do. 

Tim Markland 11:09
Okay. How long 

Rich Bennett 11:11
But 

Tim Markland 11:11
were you 

Rich Bennett 11:12
six years. 

Tim Markland 11:12
six years. 

Rich Bennett 11:13
Yeah. But I was always. Yeah, I've been told. Like, They're the VA ain't hurting believe me. You can put it to take to get the benefits saying, yeah, but I see the other guys and 

Tim Markland 11:25
uh-huh. 

Rich Bennett 11:26
I think the only benefit I took was the VA loan on the house. 

Tim Markland 11:30
Okay. All my 

Rich Bennett 11:31
house. That was it. 

Tim Markland 11:31
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 11:32
Uh, but as far as the disability or anything I haven't put in for you, 

Tim Markland 11:36
Right. 

Rich Bennett 11:36
or even the, um, what do you call medical care? 

Tim Markland 11:39
Right. 

Rich Bennett 11:41
Maybe I should. I don't know. 

Tim Markland 11:42
Uh, maybe you should. I think you deserve 

Rich Bennett 11:44
thank you. One of these. 

Tim Markland 11:46
it. 

Rich Bennett 11:46
All right. 

Tim Markland 11:46
Well, 

Rich Bennett 11:46
So get back into into you. Uh-huh. 

Tim Markland 11:51
Sorry. That's 

Rich Bennett 11:52
okay. 

Tim Markland 11:52
whole hosting thing and being a guest. It's hard, man. You're driving the conversation. 

Rich Bennett 11:57
It's 

Tim Markland 11:57
Okay. Go ahead. 

Rich Bennett 11:58
All right. So with the, um, because the teaching part gets me, but you're teaching high school, were you coaching as well? 

Tim Markland 12:06
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. So I was a track and field coach at Bela are from 2002 to 2007 or eight 

Rich Bennett 12:13
track and field. 

Tim Markland 12:14
and field never ran, never, never was a runner or an athlete in school. But, uh, when you're getting hired to be a PE teacher, they, and they asked, are you willing to coach? Like, I'll coach anything. Let's go. You know, so, and I've always had the educational part of the knowledge needed. And I've always, I've always, always got to learn, but I love the, uh, the team building aspect of it, especially in a sport like track and field where, you know, you have your pool, vulders over here, you have your hurdles over here, your distance from your responders, 

Rich Bennett 12:40
Right. 

Tim Markland 12:40
to bring all those kids together to feel like they're contributing to one hole is, uh, that was 

Rich Bennett 12:45
Track 

Tim Markland 12:45
exciting. 

Rich Bennett 12:46
Do you see that growing track and field? 

Tim Markland 12:48
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. 

Rich Bennett 12:51
It's funny because I just had a guy on it. Was it the U S track and field? 

Tim Markland 12:57
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 12:57
and he's, uh, I forget what metal, but you used to play with, I think the Redskins and the Saints as a running back. 

Tim Markland 13:04
Oh, wow. 

Rich Bennett 13:04
And 

Tim Markland 13:05
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 13:05
messed up his knees and did better in that he's going to track and field. But I, I know a lot of your Red Methods have track and field. 

Tim Markland 13:12
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:12
I guess a lot of the schools did, but I would figure if you were coach it out, for some reason, I was thinking football. 

Tim Markland 13:17
Yeah. Oh, really? 

Rich Bennett 13:17
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 13:18
Yeah. And I never could. That would be cool coach, but we're a big volleyball family, actually. 

Rich Bennett 13:22
Okay. 

Tim Markland 13:22
Okay. And again, I didn't play volleyball when I was younger. That was the, when I got hired in the middle of the year, um, they asked if I wanted to coach track and field, absolutely. You know, I need a job, you know, and then, uh, and then they asked me the guy named Rob Noomer, who was the JV coach at the time under a guy named Larry Chomo's who's still coaching a pillar. Officity boys volleyball. And, uh, so I started off as a boys volleyball coach, did that for five years. And then, um, stepped up to be the varsity girls volleyball coach a pillar and did that for five years and, you know, first season was like three and 12 and we all did last season. We went all the way to the state finals. 

Rich Bennett 14:04
Sweet, nice, 

Tim Markland 14:06
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 14:06
did so did it ever call you back to come back in at least coach. 

Tim Markland 14:09
No, 

Rich Bennett 14:10
No. 

Tim Markland 14:11
but but the cool thing is it's actually so again, we're a volleyball family. So my oldest daughter played at Bel Air and then Graduated in 2020 and now she's an assistant coach there and she also coaches club volleyball my middle daughter played her 

Freshman in sophomore year and then there was the COVID year and then she didn't play her senior year And then my youngest daughter now is a junior at Bel Air High School and she's a player 

Rich Bennett 14:37
Wow. 

Tim Markland 14:37
and and for games at Bel Air We make it's just a big fest 

Rich Bennett 14:41
tight 

Tim Markland 14:41
of The announcer for the games and the DJ playing songs between time outs and hyping it up with the big announcer voice So I've had an introducing the players and and and just making a environment that's kind of exciting for So I do that on the side

Rich Bennett 14:58
All right, ten. Beyond us 

Tim Markland 15:00
okay 

Rich Bennett 15:00
three girls 

Tim Markland 15:01
three girls. 

Rich Bennett 15:01
three girls 

Any tight restrictions especially doors school for dating or anything 

Tim Markland 15:12
You know, we're I'm blessed to have three daughters that have a good head on their 

Rich Bennett 15:16
shoulders. Okay good I was gonna see cuz I've got to be hard 

Tim Markland 15:18
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, especially you know the youngest I don't know probably with our oldest Sarah It was like the most strict 

Rich Bennett 15:26
right 

Tim Markland 15:26
and then by the time you get down to Izzy, she's just like you know Bulls, 

Rich Bennett 15:30
it's easier. 

Tim Markland 15:31
I got you You know, it's like I go do whatever now 

Rich Bennett 15:34
Yeah, 

Tim Markland 15:36
but no, I mean 

Rich Bennett 15:38
it's hard 

Tim Markland 15:39
It's it's hard. Sure. It's especially the hardest part about being a girl dad is when your kids are hurting 

Rich Bennett 15:45
my god You 

Tim Markland 15:45
know and and and you don't like the boy, but they got to learn it on their own type thing. But you know, I try to keep a Kind of a quiet profile, so they don't I don't give in too much, you know, you can't 

Rich Bennett 15:58
I 

Tim Markland 15:59
uh, 

Rich Bennett 15:59
think I messed up My daughter's 25 and there 

Tim Markland 16:03
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 16:03
hasn't been a boy come to my house yet, they it's my permission 

Tim Markland 16:08
Yeah, that's 

of one of one of my daughters and I won't say which one 

Rich Bennett 16:15
One 

Tim Markland 16:17
The boy friend wanted to ask and I asked my wife. I was like he's gonna ask me if he can date I guess that's only when you get engaged to get married 

Rich Bennett 16:25
What? No Not 

Tim Markland 16:28
But now you know, I think it's important when they're younger that day you teach them you try to emulate what a good person a good man is And and and the guys You know my oldest daughter is now dating a boy that you know it's pretty serious, you know Andrew good And he's a good man and you can tell that he treats her the way over 

Rich Bennett 16:49
She 

Tim Markland 16:49
he treated it 

Rich Bennett 16:50
she was class of 20 

Tim Markland 16:51
Twenty twenty. Yeah, she's 

Rich Bennett 16:52
four. 

Tim Markland 16:52
twenty 

Rich Bennett 16:53
That was the hard 

Tim Markland 16:53
or twenty four. Yeah, yeah, it was it was a tough one. Yeah COVID 

Rich Bennett 16:56
Yeah, cos they didn't have 

Tim Markland 16:57
COVID 

Rich Bennett 16:57
no graduation 

Tim Markland 16:57
here. 

Rich Bennett 16:59
Well graduations like the other graduations. 

Tim Markland 17:03
So I don't know about other high schools. I think similar high schools did a similar thing But it was actually kind of cool because bellers are high a big school 

Rich Bennett 17:10
Yeah 

Tim Markland 17:10
So you your senior class was like 400 plus kids and Usually you'd have to sit through this big graduation 

Rich Bennett 17:16
right 

Tim Markland 17:16
ceremony and good Single kid at bell are what they did was The kids came in they came and they had a like a reserve time 

Rich Bennett 17:24
Right. Yeah, 

Tim Markland 17:25
they came in as an individual. They got the walk down the auditorium Across the stage They took their time. They got to see their teachers their teachers were there cheering on one and it was just it was more intimate I 

Rich Bennett 17:37
like 

Tim Markland 17:37
kind of 

Rich Bennett 17:37
you're right, it was 

Tim Markland 17:39
It was like and and they didn't rush you. It was like take your pictures your family got to come in and see you get the diploma 

what we had to do Doryn Covet 

Rich Bennett 17:50
It was 

Tim Markland 17:51
Bella high school really did a good job of making it as special as they could 

Rich Bennett 17:54
For 

Tim Markland 17:54
have done 

Rich Bennett 17:55
See nothing with my daughter same thing, but I think we can only take the pictures outside 

Tim Markland 18:01
Mm-hmm. Okay, 

Rich Bennett 18:02
which because I know maybe they wanted to rush the kids through who knows 

Tim Markland 18:06
who knows? Yeah, I don't know 

Rich Bennett 18:07
others 

Tim Markland 18:07
how 

Rich Bennett 18:07
It does Yeah 

Tim Markland 18:11
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 18:13
I mean it's all right, so with the teaching. I wouldn't get back to it because 

Tim Markland 18:16
sure. 

Rich Bennett 18:17
with sixteen years 

Besides the salary 

Tim Markland 18:21
thing. Yeah What 

Rich Bennett 18:22
was the biggest change you saw for the good and then for the 

Tim Markland 18:25
well? 

Rich Bennett 18:25
worse as 

Tim Markland 18:27
You know, yeah 

As a PE teacher, when I got into that subject area back in 2002, the measure of a successful teacher was active learning time. How active were the kids dorming? Like, if you transition from one activity to the next, like they wanted to see the most minimal downtime possible. And over the years, i gradually turned into, "Hey, you have to make sure that your objectives are written, uh, you have to have an assessment at 

Rich Bennett 19:00
the 

Tim Markland 19:00
end of every lesson so that you can measure if the kids learn what they learn. Well, my personal opinion, I feel like there's a lot of things that are learned in an environment like physical education. 

Rich Bennett 19:12
Uh-huh. 

Tim Markland 19:13
You can't necessarily measure on a rubber. 

Rich Bennett 19:16
True. 

Tim Markland 19:16
Right. And I think it got away from the active learning time and more into like cross-curricular. Are you using math? Are you using an iPad? Are you using reading within your lesson? 

Rich Bennett 19:27
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 19:28
You know, reading is important, math is important, technology is important. But like kids already have technology down. The last thing that they need is to look at a screen in physical education class to determine 

Rich Bennett 19:39
what's 

Tim Markland 19:39
going to be, if they're measuring, you know, 

Rich Bennett 19:42
they need 

Tim Markland 19:42
what 

Rich Bennett 19:42
physical activity. 

Tim Markland 19:43
They need physical activity. And there's no other, you know, you can talk about cross-curriculum with math and, and trying to 

Rich Bennett 19:49
incorporate,yeah , you 

Tim Markland 19:50
know, you know, all that stuff. But are the other subjects incorporating physical education into their lessons? Well, no, because that's math and that's 

Rich Bennett 19:56
yeah, 

Tim Markland 19:56
English, history, you know? So it's like to justify the importance of physical education, they were saying that you needed to bring more of other content areas into the physical education environment, where it's, by that time, it just didn't line up. 

Rich Bennett 20:13
Now, 

Tim Markland 20:13
for me, 

Rich Bennett 20:14
now, and I don't blame you, I mean, it's because we hear it all the time, now kids are sitting down too long as it is. You 

Tim Markland 20:21
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 20:21
know, once they get at school, they're back home, they're either on the computer, on the phone or in front of a gaming console. 

Tim Markland 20:26
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 20:26
They need the physical 

Tim Markland 20:28
Correct. 

Rich Bennett 20:28
activity. They need to get outside. 

Tim Markland 20:30
Yep, 

Rich Bennett 20:31
Yep. And try to feel would be 

Tim Markland 20:33
that. 

Rich Bennett 20:33
great for 

Tim Markland 20:33
Yeah, sure. 

Rich Bennett 20:34
Run through the woods, enjoy the nature. 

Tim Markland 20:38
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:38
So what, that's, 

Tim Markland 20:39
But then, but then it's like, you know, teamwork, communication, collaboration. Working 

Rich Bennett 20:44
that's the, yeah. 

Tim Markland 20:44
with differing activities. You know, my whole goal was to create an environment within a class where a kid didn't feel judged if they weren't necessarily good 

Rich Bennett 20:53
one thing. 

Tim Markland 20:53
at 

Rich Bennett 20:53
Right. 

Tim Markland 20:54
To be able to say, you know, a lot of times they say, well, I don't like badminton or I don't like football or whatever. And it's because they're not good at it. 

Rich Bennett 21:00
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 21:01
And you want to try to push kids to step out of the comfort zone and try things that they're not good at, and still feel comfortable that they could actually have fun with this. 

Rich Bennett 21:08
Exactly. You know what? And the thing is with this, podcasting. 

Tim Markland 21:12
Mm-hmm. 

Rich Bennett 21:12
How many people have you had on your show that are introverts, and they're not comfortable talking, 

Tim Markland 21:18
Yeah. Oh, 

Rich Bennett 21:18
and then 

Tim Markland 21:18
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:18
all of a sudden, 

Tim Markland 21:19
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:19
they're fine. 

Tim Markland 21:20
Absolutely. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:21
Yeah. Yeah, especially authors. 

Tim Markland 21:23
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:23
It seems like, I'm going to say, a high percentage of authors are introverts. They don't like to talk. 

Tim Markland 21:29
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:29
But 

Tim Markland 21:29
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 21:30
they have to. 

Tim Markland 21:30
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 21:31
You know, so. 

Tim Markland 21:32
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:33
All right. So with teaches done, you're in the real estate. 

Tim Markland 21:36
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 21:37
And you got in after they crash, whatever you want to call it. Oh, what the hell was that called? 

Tim Markland 21:42
It was crash 

Rich Bennett 21:42
Okay. 

Tim Markland 21:43
20. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:44
Okay. 

Tim Markland 21:44
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:45
So you're flipping houses, and now you're just doing full time real estate. Your father's retired, right? 

Tim Markland 21:50
He is now retired. And he's retired from real estate as well. 

Rich Bennett 21:52
Okay. 

Tim Markland 21:53
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:53
So now you're you're doing 

Tim Markland 21:55
it. Yep. 

Rich Bennett 21:56
And you got the team. What's some of the, actually, so how long has that been? Ten 

Tim Markland 22:03
We 

Rich Bennett 22:03
years. 

Tim Markland 22:03
just celebrated 11 years. 

Rich Bennett 22:05
11 years. 

Tim Markland 22:05
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 22:06
I'm giving you an extra two 

Tim Markland 22:08
I 

Rich Bennett 22:08
years. 

Tim Markland 22:09
see. It was 

Rich Bennett 22:09
so I'm 

Tim Markland 22:09
because 

Rich Bennett 22:09
getting 

Tim Markland 22:09
they 

Rich Bennett 22:10
you 

Tim Markland 22:10
didn't, 

Rich Bennett 22:10
closer 

Tim Markland 22:10
they 

Rich Bennett 22:10
that 

Tim Markland 22:10
didn't bring math into your physical education class. 

Rich Bennett 22:13
I think I slept the word math class. See, 

Tim Markland 22:18
I failed math twice. 

Rich Bennett 22:19
And physical education, I was good. I was always up in the woods. 

Tim Markland 22:22
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:23
The class wasn't, but actually, I mean I never mind. 

Hey, you threw me off your team. 

Tim Markland 22:30
I'm sorry. 

Rich Bennett 22:31
Oh, no, that's okay. All right. So with with the real estate, 

Tim Markland 22:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 22:35
because you always hear ups and downs. It's good. 

Tim Markland 22:39
It's bad. 

Rich Bennett 22:40
Yeah. What's been some of the biggest changes you've seen since you've gotten into it 

Tim Markland 22:47
To now. Yeah. So, you know, when I got in, it was more balanced. 

Rich Bennett 22:51
tonight? 

Tim Markland 22:52
You know, 

Rich Bennett 22:52
Right. 

Tim Markland 22:52
it was kind of steady. It was like there wasn't as much competition. It was, it was, it wasn't as challenging for being a buyer. It wasn't as challenging as being a seller. You know, it's just 

Rich Bennett 23:01
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 23:01
kind of balanced. Then they dropped the interest rates around 2020 to stimulate the economy and took those down into two and three percent and then all of a sudden became the law, law, less. You 

Rich Bennett 23:12
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 23:12
put a house on the market on Friday and by Sunday you have 15 to 20 offers that you're reviewing with your seller. And people were waving contingencies, waving inspections, waving, going $50, 000 over asking, being able to wave the appraisal because they're putting a certain amount of money down or having a gap appraisal where they say, "Okay, up front, Mr. Seller, if it under appraisals because we're going so high, we're willing to make up X amount of difference." So 

Rich Bennett 23:38
Right. 

Tim Markland 23:39
you had all these different, you had to think very creatively to stand out in a market where if you're working with a buyer, you have to try to put your best foot forward and try to find houses before they go on the market because once they do, it's so competitive. It was a very challenging time but it was also a very lucrative time. I think one year, in that 2020-2021 we sold 78 homes one year in 82 the next year. So it was a lot going on, but it was a burnt out there. And so you have that now in 2026, the interest rates have gone up. They just went up. So you're looking at a high-sixes right now and of course with podcasting is always dependent on time, so I could be talking right now so my listeners in the interest rates are 8% or they could be 4%, but I know right. They could get into the 5s, but there's always a double-edged sword with 

Rich Bennett 24:42
that. 

Tim Markland 24:42
So yeah, okay, you start lowering those interest rates. People are going to start wanting to make moves, but then you're going to have more competition. So really the problem lies in low inventory, not as many options, but things have, you know, the average days on the market in August was 30 days in Harford County. Which sound, that sounds good, right, but when you were used to the 2020-2021 years where the average days on the market in Harford County 

Rich Bennett 25:11
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 25:11
was eight days, you know, you got to work a little bit harder and you can't, you can't necessarily use the same strategies. Now that you did-- 

Rich Bennett 25:20
Right, 

Tim Markland 25:21
Or working with a seller that expects that when their house goes up on the market, that it's going to sell on a weekend. 

Rich Bennett 25:27
yeah, 

Tim Markland 25:27
Sometimes yes, sometimes. No. 

Rich Bennett 25:30
sometimes 

Tim Markland 25:30
You 

Rich Bennett 25:30
it gets hit for 

Tim Markland 25:31
know, 

Rich Bennett 25:31
months. 

Tim Markland 25:32
and these higher-priced listings that are, you know, say 700 and above are sent a little bit longer because of the interest rates being so high. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:42
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 25:42
Really, 

really had to take a look at where we are now versus where we have been. And you know, sometimes it changes on a week-to-week basis. You know, sometimes it can be a ghost town for a couple of weeks and on all of a sudden it's like, you see a 

Rich Bennett 25:58
movement. 

Tim Markland 25:58
lot of 

Rich Bennett 25:58
Right, 

Tim Markland 25:58
And there's just, it's very, there's a lot of uncertainty in the world. You know, 

Rich Bennett 26:04
yeah. 

Tim Markland 26:05
when the I/Ran War started, you saw like a change and slow down a little bit. There's just a lot of uncertainty that people aren't necessarily, you know, comfortable with making big decisions like that. 

Rich Bennett 26:16
Do you see a lot more people selling their houses now and moving out of the state? 

Tim Markland 26:22
I've seen a lot of transitioning. A lot of people in Florida, South Carolina. 

Rich Bennett 26:26
Oh my gosh, Florida. 

Tim Markland 26:27
Yeah, too hot down there for 

Rich Bennett 26:30
me for that. 

Tim Markland 26:31
But you know, the tax benefits and, you know, we could certainly get political if you wanted to but yeah. We don't necessarily need to go there but Maryland has been known to be a state that, you know, taxes more than other 

Rich Bennett 26:45
Right. 

Tim Markland 26:45
state. So, you know, you have, but to know the specifics of that, I think people just hear that sound bite and then they're like, oh my god, it's so bad. 

Rich Bennett 26:55
They 

Tim Markland 26:55
Bad at Maryland. 

Rich Bennett 26:55
got to look into 

Tim Markland 26:56
it. But if you look at New Jersey or New York, the people there like Maryland, you got lucky. You know, so it's all about keeping 

Rich Bennett 27:03
person. 

Tim Markland 27:03
things in 

Rich Bennett 27:04
Right. 

Tim Markland 27:05
So, you know, the biggest thing right now in coaching buyers, especially or people, or people that are sitting on that two and three percent interest And the three percent interest rate is, can you afford 

Rich Bennett 27:15
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 27:15
the payment? Yeah. You know, can you, can you afford the monthly payment? Because the interest rates, historically, will go up, they'll go down. Will they ever go back to down to two and three percent? Nobody knows. Probably not, but nobody knows. 

Rich Bennett 27:28
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 27:29
There could be some kind of crisis in the world that that's, that's 

Rich Bennett 27:32
to 

Tim Markland 27:33
going 

Rich Bennett 27:33
make 

Tim Markland 27:34
an effect on that. But obviously, I just don't know what you know is right now. And what you know is, historically, over the long term, real estate wins. 

Rich Bennett 27:42
It's almost like playing the stock game, it sounds like. Well, yeah. 

Tim Markland 27:44
And what do they say about the stock market? You can't time it. I mean, you can try to time it, but... 

Rich Bennett 27:51
You didn't 

Tim Markland 27:52
You're gonna lose, but if you put in for the long term with stock the stock market, it has one time and time and time again. It will go up, it will go 

Rich Bennett 28:00
hate 

Tim Markland 28:00
down, 

Rich Bennett 28:00
it. 

Tim Markland 28:00
and I 

Rich Bennett 28:00
Right. 

Tim Markland 28:00
don't want to- when it recovers, it'll go up a little bit higher. Uhm, so it's- it's taking the emotion and the fear out of it, and really trying to look at the numbers, the data, the details, the history, uhm, because again, time and time again, real estate has won in the long term. 

Rich Bennett 28:16
So the education never stops if this, either? 

Tim Markland 28:18
Oh, well, and 

Rich Bennett 28:19
Plus 

Tim Markland 28:19
that's- 

Rich Bennett 28:19
you're still teaching! 

Tim Markland 28:20
Well, that's the beauty of it all, right? It's like, that 

Rich Bennett 28:23
At first 

Tim Markland 28:23
first 

Rich Bennett 28:23
year. 

Tim Markland 28:23
year, after leaving the settlement table, I mean, you get into teaching, you won't get into teaching to make money. Right. 

Rich Bennett 28:29
Right, 

Tim Markland 28:29
You get into teaching because you want to make a difference, and the best way to do that is to teach somebody, you 

Rich Bennett 28:34
right. 

Tim Markland 28:34
know, to- to educate them to become part of their life. Uhm, and- and make that difference. I realized after my first year in real estate that I got that same intrinsic feeling of helping 

Rich Bennett 28:46
Yes. 

Tim Markland 28:46
and making a difference in whether somebody that's downsizing, whether somebody has bought in their first home, like, that's what this is all about. And- and if you do good things for other people, everything, everything will align and- and you'll be rewarded. Uhm, and- and that- when I realized that I could get that same feeling, but I could also, monetarily... Do good better things for my family 

Rich Bennett 29:10
Yes. 

Tim Markland 29:10
than teaching that made 

Rich Bennett 29:11
That's 

Tim Markland 29:11
the 

Rich Bennett 29:12
the 

Tim Markland 29:12
decision 

Rich Bennett 29:12
important 

Tim Markland 29:12
so much easier. Like, I- I'm still teaching- I'm still 

Rich Bennett 29:16
thing. 

Tim Markland 29:16
teaching 

Rich Bennett 29:16
Right. 

Tim Markland 29:16
people- I'm still teaching people through the buying and 

Rich Bennett 29:18
process. 

Tim Markland 29:18
selling 

Rich Bennett 29:18
And you're still 

Tim Markland 29:19
And 

Rich Bennett 29:19
learning? 

Tim Markland 29:19
I'm trying to make a difference, 

Rich Bennett 29:20
Everything's 

Tim Markland 29:21
and 

Rich Bennett 29:21
changed. 

Tim Markland 29:21
I'm keeping- like, when you're a teacher, you're keeping your students best interest in mind. 

Rich Bennett 29:26
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 29:26
Same thing with real estate. If you keep your buyers and sellers, you know, even, you know, it's like- the inspections fall in a part. Well, that could be a really good thing. They need to walk away from this house, and we're not trying to push them into doing something that they 

Rich Bennett 29:38
doing. 

Tim Markland 29:38
shouldn't be That's the rewarding part of it all. 

Rich Bennett 29:41
Do- are you still seeing people selling their houses as is? 

Tim Markland 29:44
Not so much 

Rich Bennett 29:45
Okay, 

Tim Markland 29:45
as- 

Rich Bennett 29:46
thank god. 

Tim Markland 29:46
Not so much anymore. Not so much as is is just, like, waving inspections. That's, like, that's nuts. 

Rich Bennett 29:52
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've seen some of the nightmares that people are going 

Tim Markland 29:59
through 

Rich Bennett 30:01
with it, and it's like, well, didn't you? But at the same time, or some that have had an inspector go through, 

Tim Markland 30:09
and 

Rich Bennett 30:10
the inspector even missed off. 

Tim Markland 30:12
Sure, 

Rich Bennett 30:12
sure. I mean, it happened. 

Tim Markland 30:14
Well, it's because it's a snapshot of that day 

Rich Bennett 30:17
and that- Yeah. 

Tim Markland 30:17
And who's to say that over time, you know, whether that's a month or two, something goes wrong? What blows- what blew my mind is people that would wave well in septic inspections. Things that you could- 

Rich Bennett 30:28
What? 

Tim Markland 30:29
See, like, you can't- you don't know if a weld yields, you know, what it's supposed to yield. You don't know if the septic tank has a crack in it that's- 

Rich Bennett 30:37
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 30:37
Like, you just can't see that. You have to get an inspection. You can't see that. And there were people back in the early, you know, 2020-2021, and that competitive market that were waving that. 

Rich Bennett 30:47
That's, not a shot. 

Tim Markland 30:48
That's- I can't- if you're going to- and I had one- I had one buyer that legitimately I felt comfortable with them waving the inspection. Because he was a licensed contractor. 

Rich Bennett 31:00
Okay. 

Tim Markland 31:00
He could see things and get it- and it wasn't on well in septic, you 

Rich Bennett 31:04
Right. 

Tim Markland 31:04
know, it was on public water, public sewer. So I got that, but for the rest of people, I can't encourage somebody to wave the inspections. 

Rich Bennett 31:11
No, I'd be- I mean, the one advantage of- I guess, buying a house that's on well in septic- you have more property, but at the same time, you need that property, because if you have to replace that septic tank- 

Tim Markland 31:25
Yeah. 

Yeah. And then in some areas of Hartford County, the ground doesn't perk as well as it did back when they originally had that septic done. So now you're transferring it from a septic system that has drain fields 

Rich Bennett 31:43
Right. 

Tim Markland 31:44
to one that's just a holding tank and the cost that that, you know, incurs when you have to pump that out once a month or once every two months can be expensive. 

Rich Bennett 31:52
Now you can sell more than just Hartford County, right? 

Tim Markland 31:56
Yeah, so we're primarily in Hartford 

Rich Bennett 31:58
County. Okay. 

Tim Markland 31:59
Okay. We do Cecil County as well, down to Baltimore County, Baltimore City, southern PA, Adam, one of my team's license in Pennsylvania. And you have a lot of people that are just going over the line into Pennsylvania. 

Rich Bennett 32:12
Okay. 

Tim Markland 32:12
So we, that's, I kind of drew the line right at 83 so 

Rich Bennett 32:17
yeah, 

Tim Markland 32:17
I'm going to go west of 83 just because it's, you know, the travel time. 

Rich Bennett 32:22
So you, when you get licensed, your license, not per county, it's per state. 

Tim Markland 32:27
Yep, license the Maryland. I could do deals down in Ocean City. I choose not to because I don't know the market 

Rich Bennett 32:32
Yeah 

Tim Markland 32:32
down there. So 

Rich Bennett 32:35
well, my wife's always looking for a cabin out deep creek. 

Tim Markland 32:38
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 32:39
I mean, 

Tim Markland 32:39
I could I could hook you up with a real estate agent, but I couldn't say 

Rich Bennett 32:41
I said my wife My wife is always looking not meet him. 

Tim Markland 32:45
Uh-huh, alright, missus Bennett. 

Rich Bennett 32:46
I could visit but yet now 

Tim Markland 32:48
missus Bennett gives a call 443 

No 

Rich Bennett 32:54
no no no no no no this 

Tim Markland 32:58
has been it. We'll talk them into it 

Rich Bennett 32:59
Maybe a vacation 

Tim Markland 33:01
do 

Rich Bennett 33:01
cabin that I could 

Tim Markland 33:02
that would be pretty cool And 

Rich Bennett 33:04
as some as long as the black bear come up and I don't try to 

Tim Markland 33:07
Got black bears in Hartford County. Come 

Rich Bennett 33:09
on You 

Tim Markland 33:11
know 

Rich Bennett 33:12
I'll tell you what we've been seeing a lot Is the fun red fox 

Tim Markland 33:16
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 33:17
we have yep where I live, well, you know where Marineland Point Park is. 

Tim Markland 33:22
So 

Rich Bennett 33:22
All right, so I'm back there. 

Tim Markland 33:23
Okay 

Rich Bennett 33:24
We have been here since I've been here a long time But I've never seen this many red fox in our neighborhood just an art colisex for this amount of time. 

Tim Markland 33:37
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 33:37
I 

Tim Markland 33:37
yeah 

Rich Bennett 33:38
mean I'm talking months And they are some sneaky little 

Tim Markland 33:43
mm-hmm. Oh 

Rich Bennett 33:44
Things 

Tim Markland 33:45
and it and at 3 o'clock in the morning when they're mating. 

Rich Bennett 33:47
It's oh my It 

Tim Markland 33:48
sounds like somebody's dying out there. 

Rich Bennett 33:50
Yes 

Tim Markland 33:50
We have we have we we live in a community called Foxbow. 

Rich Bennett 33:56
Okay 

Tim Markland 33:56
And there's a reason for that My neighbor has a bow and I'm just kidding One 

Rich Bennett 34:02
way to get rid of 

Tim Markland 34:03
them that's our one-way here 

Rich Bennett 34:04
Man, all right, so with with the real estate market 

especially your your focus is here, which I appreciate that 

Tim Markland 34:14
Yeah,

Rich Bennett 34:14
But tell people why 

they should use you 

Tim Markland 34:20
Oh , 

Rich Bennett 34:20
or your business 

Tim Markland 34:21
sure 

Rich Bennett 34:21
not not just to buy a But also to sell their home. 

Tim Markland 34:24
Yeah, um I think you know, there's a lot of great real estate 

Rich Bennett 34:28
agents. Yeah 

Tim Markland 34:29
you know, there's a lot of very good ones and a lot of people that have their head in the right place and their They're genuinely trying to help buyers and sellers think what stands us a Part a little bit Is well number one the brand. 

Rich Bennett 34:44
Yeah, 

Tim Markland 34:44
I mean, you know TMA the Markland advantage Not only well known in the community, but well known amongst the community of real estate agents So when you're working with other real estate agents, you know, and you get multiple offers and you see you know Maybe there's a chucklehead there or something and then you see us which I hope I hope I'm not considered a chuckle head 

Rich Bennett 35:04
Yes, 

Tim Markland 35:04
but and and not thought down about anybody else, but you want to have a good reputation So we have a good reputation in in the community But we also have a good reputation amongst other real estate agents in 

Rich Bennett 35:14
county 

Tim Markland 35:14
the And that's important right and then the second thing is I especially with selling homes is I believe that we Exposed the house to as many people as we 

Rich Bennett 35:27
yeah 

Tim Markland 35:27
possibly There are marketing through social media Through photography through video, you know having a video person on staff like Drew who can take a house tour and Put music to it and but not only shoot the video, but then Work with the algorithm of the social platform. 

Rich Bennett 35:45
Yeah 

Tim Markland 35:46
That can push that out to as many people as possible when people list with us They're getting maximum exposure on social media, but then 

Rich Bennett 35:55
also 

Tim Markland 35:55
also Media 

Rich Bennett 35:56
Right. 

Tim Markland 35:56
marketing to other real estate agents Something called reverse prospecting, which I'm able to identify So there's the MLS it's called 

Rich Bennett 36:06
Yeah 

Tim Markland 36:06
bright MLS and then it feeds all these third-party syndicates like Zillow realtor comm and all that So every real estate agent that's gonna list your house is going to be able to push it out on all those I'll those realtor comms homes and comms because we have the mothership. We have bright MLS in bright MLS There is a way for me to identify agents 

Agent names of people that they have a 

Rich Bennett 36:29
up 

Tim Markland 36:29
search set That meet the criteria to our listing 

Rich Bennett 36:34
Okay, 

Tim Markland 36:35
so instead of just waiting for the house to hit the market The the the weaker to prior in the coming soon status. I'm we are reaching out to those agents to Notify them that they could potentially have somebody that is you know You know, interested Property so we you know, that's a strategy that we use of course we use the video all of our listings whether it's a junker or whether it's a beautiful home Get professional photography because first impressions are everything, you know So you see some of these like million dollar homes and they're and the pictures are 

Rich Bennett 37:07
us 

Tim Markland 37:07
taking with Come on, man, come on now, yeah. I got a phenomenal photographer been working with him for probably close to all the 11 years, uh, rob that comes in and shoots all of our properties. Of course, again, I have drew. 

Yeah, 2436, uh, Linda Lane and Jared's film, 3.18 acres, it's, it's the coolest, 

Rich Bennett 37:42
the- 

Tim Markland 37:42
it's the coolest home, it's property. And we put a coming soon post that on that and within two days, we had over 50,000 views on that post. 

Rich Bennett 37:51
Wow, 

Tim Markland 37:52
you know, so we're, we're not only just put something on fake, we're not just putting something on Facebook, and I think that's why a lot of people like For Sale by Owner is there like, oh, I just put it on Facebook. 

Rich Bennett 38:01
Right. 

Tim Markland 38:02
Yeah. You know, it's incorporating Instagram is incorporating TikTok. It's incorporating LinkedIn and speaking to those platforms in a way that they want to be talked to, to best promote that- that property. You're getting just so much more reach, you know, and 

Rich Bennett 38:17
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 38:18
so much more engagement. And- and that- that home alone, just for one post 50,000, I mean, think about that. That's like a- that's like a stadium of like at the Ravens game of people seeing your your- your house. 

Rich Bennett 38:31
I saw that. I'm saying, oh my 

Tim Markland 38:33
it's a- it's a cool 

Rich Bennett 38:34
god, 

Tim Markland 38:34
house. 

Rich Bennett 38:34
this 

Tim Markland 38:34
I think you would like 

Rich Bennett 38:36
that. I know my wife. 

Tim Markland 38:37
That's a compromise, it keeps you in a hard for county, but it also gives 

Rich Bennett 38:41
closer to the 

Tim Markland 38:42
feel 

Rich Bennett 38:42
black 

Tim Markland 38:42
at 

Rich Bennett 38:42
bear- 

Tim Markland 38:43
the Creek Lake and the black bears and the foxes. It's a pretty cool house. 

Rich Bennett 38:48
It's going to have be moving out of my childhood 

Tim Markland 38:53
That's 

Rich Bennett 38:53
home. 

Tim Markland 38:53
let's go. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 38:55
Yeah. But here's so the funny thing is, because my wife has talked about it for years of moving. Maybe, but it's like a last go one year, then it'll be my town or whatever. 

Tim Markland 39:08
OK. 

Rich Bennett 39:08
My thing is, and I've said this before, I- I- how's can be beautiful, but it's what's around you as far as neighbors. 

Tim Markland 39:17
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 39:18
Yeah. And 

Tim Markland 39:18
sure. 

Rich Bennett 39:18
I have great neighbors. And I've told you, unless we can take our neighbors with us, 

Tim Markland 39:23
3.18 acres, we can get your neighbors one there too. 

Rich Bennett 39:28
It's 

Tim Markland 39:29
a win-win for everybody, Rich. 3.1. 

Rich Bennett 39:33
Oh, God. You wait a half. Three point, ooh, man, I can have a nice barbecue area. 

Tim Markland 39:39
Oh, yeah. Well, the seller's actually did weddings on the property. So they have they have two different areas where they would have like many ceremonies and 

Rich Bennett 39:50
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 39:50
small weddings, right? The husband was the efficient. She's the photographer of the wedding planner. And they use the lower level of their house as a workshop to build the structures and the flowers and all that stuff. It's like, it's a pretty cool experience that they provide and they do weddings like in like, extravagant places in the world. So, 

Rich Bennett 40:13
Wow. 

Tim Markland 40:14
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:15
I'm done officiating weddings and I'm done DJing weddings. I'm 

Tim Markland 40:19
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:19
retired from all that. 

Tim Markland 40:20
Yeah. Yeah. God, 

Rich Bennett 40:22
forget 

Tim Markland 40:22
it. 

Rich Bennett 40:23
Yeah. Yeah. All right. So with the real estate, 

Tim Markland 40:26
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:26
then you jump in to start in a podcast. When did you start that and why 

Tim Markland 40:30
after listening to the cut to conversations with Rich? 

Rich Bennett 40:32
Oh, listen to him. He is so full of it. 

Tim Markland 40:35
I mean, you're the OG. 

Rich Bennett 40:36
Oh, jeez. 

Tim Markland 40:37
Right. You're the OG of local podcasts. 

Rich Bennett 40:39
Oh, God. 

Tim Markland 40:40
you know, I've always enjoyed podcasts. You know, like, listening to them, I have a few favorites or whatever. And I love the talk. I love to. But like we're on like we're on the journey right now, you 

Rich Bennett 40:52
Yeah, 

Tim Markland 40:52
know. And it's like, how can I sit down and 

Rich Bennett 40:55
conversation 

Tim Markland 40:55
have with people that I emulate and absorb some of what they're 

Rich Bennett 41:02
right 

Tim Markland 41:02
to make what? Like, like right now I'm in this phase of life where I'm just trying to maximize what we're doing and building a life that's, you know, that's just a good life. You know, and to be able to have that conversation with people and like learn from them and what the their their trials, their tribulations. It's just been really cool. It's fun. It's it's it's fun. It's a lot of work. And I can't imagine because you put you post produce all of your podcast 

Rich Bennett 41:33
I 

Tim Markland 41:33
episode. 

Rich Bennett 41:34
do everything to. 

Tim Markland 41:34
I can't do that. I don't have time for that. and I have a real estate bit like Drew and I joke about this all the time. People are like, you're the podcasted or that does real estate on the side. It's like, no, no, no, no. The real estate comes first. I do a podcast on the side, 

Rich Bennett 41:48
Right. 

Tim Markland 41:48
right? 

Rich Bennett 41:56
Yeah. 

it used to be when I first started a one hour recording would normally take me eight hours total. But at the time I was just getting into it. 

Tim Markland 42:16
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 42:16
Um, I was taking out all the, uh, the, um, all that stuff. 

Tim Markland 42:20
Yeah. He leaves all that in. 

Rich Bennett 42:21
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 42:21
Yeah. It's 

Rich Bennett 42:22
part of the, it's part of the 

Tim Markland 42:23
It's 

Rich Bennett 42:23
conversation. 

Tim Markland 42:24
part, it's part of the authenticity of 

Rich Bennett 42:25
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 42:25
the conversation. 

Rich Bennett 42:26
And I was free software. Whereas, you know, nothing's free. 

Tim Markland 42:29
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 42:30
So it was, yeah, it wasn't as good. I go back and listen to his early episodes and I cringe. 

Tim Markland 42:37
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 42:38
It's just, it's 

Tim Markland 42:40
we 

Rich Bennett 42:40
awful. 

Tim Markland 42:40
had, we had an iPhone plugged up one out like a paper box. And if we messed up too much, we'd start it all over again, no editing. It was just straight through. And now, of course, we have, you know, lighting 

Rich Bennett 42:55
Professional, 

Tim Markland 42:55
and multiple cameras and 

Rich Bennett 42:57
professional videographer 

Tim Markland 42:59
professional videographer, who's been, I mean, he's legitimately changed the game for, 

Rich Bennett 43:04
yeah. 

Tim Markland 43:04
I mean, he came in an episode. We we had shot 50 episodes prior to joining us. Um, in fact, he was episode 50 and then we're up at 140 now. 

Rich Bennett 43:15
Yeah. I want to congratulate you on 

Tim Markland 43:17
that. 

Rich Bennett 43:18
I mean, that's that is amazing. 

Tim Markland 43:19
That's hard. 

Rich Bennett 43:20
Most people don't make it to a hunt. Most, so the stats are, last time I checked, it's six point, I won't say six point 48% of piecasters make it to 100. 

Tim Markland 43:32
Wow. 

Rich Bennett 43:33
Which is considered successful. 

Tim Markland 43:35
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 43:35
A lot of people don't realize the work that goes into it. 

Tim Markland 43:38
And it's so, the, the, and maybe I can pick your brain with this, sorry, if this is me turning the interview on to you. 

Rich Bennett 43:46
There's anything up there. Go ahead. 

Tim Markland 43:48
There's a lot of wisdom up there. Um, the growth of a piecas is so slow for me. 

Rich Bennett 43:56
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 43:57
For me. You know, it's so slow. It does allow us to slice and dice and create more content off of that, 

Rich Bennett 44:05
which 

Tim Markland 44:05
is more of the benefit than the number 

Rich Bennett 44:08
important for what you're doing. 

Tim Markland 44:09
Yes. Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 44:09
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 44:10
Right. But it's like, there are days where I'm just like, man, do I still want to do this? I enjoy the moment when me and somebody else sits down and have that conversation. It's 

Rich Bennett 44:20
Yes. 

Tim Markland 44:20
the in between of like, okay, whom am I bringing one the pug, 

Rich Bennett 44:24
right? 

Tim Markland 44:24
And I don't want to bring anybody. You know, and I want to make sure that I'm bringing good quality people that can provide value for the audience for and for my 

Rich Bennett 44:32
that can be hard. 

Tim Markland 44:33
You like start thinking like, you know, who else said, you know, 140 is like, okay, now who are we going to interview now? You know, and I, and I, it does give me an opportunity. I've met some really cool people through doing this. But it's that the consistency 

Rich Bennett 44:50
is yeah, 

Tim Markland 44:52
showing up, because we, I don't know how you do it, but we go, we record every two weeks and we 

Rich Bennett 44:57
okay, 

Tim Markland 44:57
and and I and I bring in 

Rich Bennett 44:59
people. 

Tim Markland 44:59
two So it's a 10 and I think I learned this from you. Like I block a time out, don't worry the week and it's 10 or 11 and if they can't make, I mean, unless it's like somebody that I really really want to 

Rich Bennett 45:12
talk, right? 

Tim Markland 45:13
You know, like that's the that's the podcast time. And like I said, once I'm done on that day, it all goes to Drew and then he does all the pet post-production of everything. So I don't it really doesn't take a whole lot of time off away from the real estate business, as many as much as people would 

Rich Bennett 45:29
just an hour to talk. 

Tim Markland 45:30
it's just an hour to have a 

Rich Bennett 45:31
Yeah, 

Tim Markland 45:31
conversation, you know, so that's that's the struggle that I am facing currently, you know, it's just like, you know, it's just it's the intention of what I'm doing worth 

Rich Bennett 45:43
yeah, 

Tim Markland 45:43
it. 

Rich Bennett 45:43
absolutely, because 

Tim Markland 45:44
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 45:45
I think you can even add to yours because you're talking to the local business owners and other people in the real estate market. Like yeah, Joe on 

Tim Markland 45:53
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 45:54
web, not LR. 

Tim Markland 45:55
Both of them though. 

Rich Bennett 45:56
Oh, yeah, LR 

Tim Markland 45:57
on 

Rich Bennett 45:57
was 

Tim Markland 45:57
Oh, oh my god. 

Rich Bennett 45:58
Okay. 

Tim Markland 45:59
Probably one of the top five conversations I had. 

Rich Bennett 46:01
Did you turn the microphone off 

Tim Markland 46:02
now? 

Rich Bennett 46:04
So

Tim Markland 46:05
yeah, Joe, I heard. 

Rich Bennett 46:09
You're listening to conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

I want to take a minute to talk about Harper's Heart magazine. into, and full transparency. I'm proud to say I'm a business partner with them. W? Because harford's heart is harford counties only truly local magazine. This isn't a franchise or a publication run from outside the area. It's built right here, focused on our community, our businesses and the people who make harford county special. I read every issue because it highlights local events, restaurants, nonprofits and businesses that deserve real visibility, not just an ad stuck on a page. As a business partner I believe in what they're doing and I trust the platform enough to put my name behind it. If you're a local business, look into connect with the community in a meaningful way, or a resident who wants to stay in the community and you don't need to have anything to do, and now check them out at harfordheart.com. Local matters and harford's heart gets that right. Have you ever had any of your home buyers on 

I can be interesting. 

Tim Markland 47:30
them? 

Rich Bennett 47:30
And 

Tim Markland 47:30
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 47:31
I think, because it's almost like recorded testimonials. 

Tim Markland 47:34
Yeah, that would be kind of cool. 

Rich Bennett 47:35
Even longer, 

Tim Markland 47:36
yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 47:37
You never know. 

Tim Markland 47:38
For the longest stretch, like a lot of times I like to have lenders, especially in times like this, where it's like what programs are out there? What are you seeing in the market and having that educational talker for the longest stretch? It wasn't anything real estate related. I mean, 

Rich Bennett 47:53
like, yeah, 

Tim Markland 47:53
other than like if we're talking business, it's like, well, what am I doing in my real estate business that's working for your roofing business. 

Rich Bennett 47:59
Right. 

Tim Markland 47:59
And Joe Ailer's or whatever, you know, so the business, the behind the scenes is what I enjoyed talking 

Rich Bennett 48:06
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 48:06
about. The journey, the entrepreneurial journey, the struggle, you know, the mindset, all that 

Rich Bennett 48:13
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 48:13
stuff is what I really enjoy. But no, that's a good idea. 

Rich Bennett 48:16
Yeah. Because let's face it, eventually you'll and this is why I went global. You'll run out of people to talk to. 

Tim Markland 48:24
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:24
Yeah. Just in heart for county. 

Tim Markland 48:26
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:27
Yeah. Because not everybody wants to come on. 

Tim Markland 48:28
Right. 

Rich Bennett 48:31
I'm sorry, but if you're in a business, you should be getting on 

Tim Markland 48:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:34
period 

Tim Markland 48:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:35
on every podcast that you can, same with authors. Well, that is a business. 

Tim Markland 48:40
But you got to promote yourself. You got to put yourself out there, you know? 

Rich Bennett 48:43
And yeah, 

Tim Markland 48:44
and people, people want people to hear that story. People want to, you know, hear about the grassroots things that you're doing to grow your business and people like when I got in a real estate, there's so many people that got behind us because they succeed. And you know, and people are, when they choose to work with you, buying or selling, like they're taking a chance when you, but they see the things that you've done. But if you're not putting yourself out there to show people who you are. 

Rich Bennett 49:09
Nope. 

Tim Markland 49:11
You know, 

Rich Bennett 49:11
well, I hate, um, carefree kitchens. 

Tim Markland 49:14
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 49:15
Um 

God, what you said, to you. 

Tim Markland 49:20
Yes. Um, 

Rich Bennett 49:21
I had the family on 

Tim Markland 49:23
yes. 

Rich Bennett 49:23
the father. 

Tim Markland 49:24
She ran for office. 

Rich Bennett 49:25
Right. 

Tim Markland 49:25
Oh my God. Like Sari, 

Rich Bennett 49:27
Sari, her and her brother and her father and her, their father, his story is amazing. 

Tim Markland 49:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:38
And that was for that episode. I mean, for the longest time, people just kept listening to it. 

Tim Markland 49:45
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:47
Months after new episodes are dropped, people kept going back and listening to that one 

Tim Markland 49:51
Right. 

Rich Bennett 49:52
because he came from Iran. 

Tim Markland 49:53
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:54
You know, and when you heard his story to me, that just helped, that makes me want to do business with him even more. 

Tim Markland 50:02
Right. Yes. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:03
And I think a lot of business owners are missing that mark when you go on a podcast, and I tell everybody this, it, my name may be on it, but the podcast belongs to the guest. 

Tim Markland 50:16
Right. 

Rich Bennett 50:17
Once a thing comes out, download it, use everything, however you want to use it. 

Tim Markland 50:21
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 50:22
If you want to use it for clips, if you want to use it for marketing, do that. I 

Tim Markland 50:26
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:27
don't mind. Right. 

Tim Markland 50:27
Right. 

Rich Bennett 50:28
Yeah. Well, it's, but a lot of people don't, 

Tim Markland 50:31
hmm. Isn't 

Rich Bennett 50:32
don't get 

Tim Markland 50:32
it, 

Rich Bennett 50:32
it. 

Tim Markland 50:33
it surprises me how many, and I'm not holding this against anybody, but like you put it out there and we put it out on Facebook and 

Rich Bennett 50:40
Mm 

Tim Markland 50:40
Instagram we do clips, we do rils, we do all that stuff. And the people that you interview don't share it. Like what? Like what? And that's okay. But it was either that they don't, they just don't know to share it or maybe I just suck that bad. 

Rich Bennett 50:58
we just, 

Tim Markland 50:59
No, 

Rich Bennett 50:59
we just talked about that one of my podcast and mastermind groups is what, it's hard to understand why people, and you get a lot of people out there that will get on a ton of podcasts and then you don't share 

Tim Markland 51:12
it. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:13
Yeah. It's like, well, why not? 

Tim Markland 51:14
It's great content. 

Rich Bennett 51:16
So you get on a podcast and it only has one listener. Well, so you have one one person finding about your business. But if you shared it to others because different questions could be asked for every podcast. 

Tim Markland 51:28
Yes. 

Yep. 

Rich Bennett 51:39
No, you're not. We just taught them as like, how can we get people to start sharing 

Tim Markland 51:45
it? 

Rich Bennett 51:46
Yeah. It's 

Tim Markland 51:46
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:47
tough. 

Tim Markland 51:47
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:48
Um, yeah, 

Tim Markland 51:49
I think I think you're one conversation away from a completely different life. Like, you know, Or just changing your life. Like, you don't know when it. There, there are these, there are these moments in life that are like sliding door moments 

Rich Bennett 52:04
yeah. 

Tim Markland 52:04
that can take you one way or the other. I believe that you're always one conversation away and you just haven't met that person yet and and not to say that my life needs to change. I love what I love what we're doing right now. But, you know, what, what if that one conversation that somebody listens 

Rich Bennett 52:19
to? 

Tim Markland 52:19
Is the next connection that goes to making a huge difference in somebody's life. 

Rich Bennett 52:24
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 52:24
Boom, you know, 

Rich Bennett 52:26
just to give you an example, and I know I've mentioned this several times, but I just talked to the guy last week 

Tim Markland 52:31
again. OK. 

Rich Bennett 52:32
So when I had Wendy on 

Tim Markland 52:34
day. 

Rich Bennett 52:34
from rage against the 

Tim Markland 52:34
Wendy back. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 52:36
Ever since I started having her on she would go, she bring all these different people on that are recovery. Well, Rachel came on. Rachel, why do you know from. 

Tim Markland 52:45
OK. 

Rich Bennett 52:46
Really? 

Tim Markland 52:46
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 52:47
She told her story. OK. And after I posted it, I got a call, because you can leave a voicemail through my website through my podcast website. So guy left the voicemail I contacted him. He heard the episode and his daughters in addiction. 

Tim Markland 53:06
And 

Rich Bennett 53:06
didn't he had no idea how to get her into recovery And that episode helped him 

Tim Markland 53:11
boom. 

Rich Bennett 53:12
get her into recovery. So I talked to him again last week. Now this that episode came out. God, five years ago. And I asked I said, how's your daughter doing, but she said, you know, you think because she is doing great. She's done recovery hasn't relapsed. And when you hear things like that, it just fills your hearts. Sorry, Dr. Keep hitting your microphone man. But it just fills your heart. 

Tim Markland 53:37
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 53:37
that's. Oh my God, when you hear things like that. It's, you're bringing that out for people to hear. 

Tim Markland 53:44
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 53:44
You know, it's otherwise it would have been hidden. 

Tim Markland 53:48
Right. 

Rich Bennett 53:48
Right. Nobody would have heard that story. You're saving lives. You're there's so much that you can do. When you had the mic in front of you and you put it in front of somebody else. 

Tim Markland 53:58
Yeah, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 53:59
and we talked about this before we start recording. You know, you've had a lot of people on that we're not comfortable recording. 

Tim Markland 54:05
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 54:06
And likewise. And now they want to go out and do other podcasts. 

Tim Markland 54:11
Yeah, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 54:12
I started there. You know, but it's, it's crazy. 

Tim Markland 54:16
Yeah, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:17
It's 

Tim Markland 54:17
You're 

Rich Bennett 54:17
nuts. 

Tim Markland 54:18
one conversation away from making, making a huge difference. 

Rich Bennett 54:21
What's next for the podcast. What's the next big thing you want to do? 

Tim Markland 54:24
Oh, figuring out who I'm going to interview in two weeks from 

Rich Bennett 54:28
now. Right. 

Tim Markland 54:30
now. 

Rich Bennett 54:30
Oh, 

Tim Markland 54:30
I 

Rich Bennett 54:30
I 

Tim Markland 54:30
mean, 

Rich Bennett 54:31
was going to say 

Tim Markland 54:31
I 

Rich Bennett 54:31
right 

Tim Markland 54:31
mean, we'll kind of, I mean, kind of that's true. 

Rich Bennett 54:34
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 54:34
You know, flirting with the idea of monetizing and we've talked about that before. Just to just be able to grow it to a point where I feel comfortable that people believe in and it enough to sponsor an episode. Um, 

Rich Bennett 54:48
your pay us that point. 

Tim Markland 54:50
Yo think so? 

Rich Bennett 54:51
Absolutely. 

Tim Markland 54:52
See, and that's where like I, you know, I look at the numbers and I feel like it should be so 

Rich Bennett 54:56
Ignore 

Tim Markland 54:56
much. 

Rich Bennett 54:56
the numbers. 

Tim Markland 54:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:58
Ignore, and I told you this before I was monetizing before I recorded my first episode. 

Tim Markland 55:02
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:02
You know, ignore the numbers because everybody always looks at downloads, downloads don't equal listeners listeners don't equal listens, 

Tim Markland 55:10
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 55:11
you know, 

Tim Markland 55:11
That's a tough part of it is like there's no 

Rich Bennett 55:13
yeah. 

Tim Markland 55:13
metric out there that's measuring that. 

Rich Bennett 55:15
Nope. And they're, they're probably never will be. 

Tim Markland 55:18
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:18
Yeah. You can't because now with, especially with video ad it. Um, so you, because a lot of times, if people view it on YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, 

Tim Markland 55:30
man, we're getting on Netflix. That'd be cool. 

Rich Bennett 55:33
Actually, 

Tim Markland 55:34
they do have podcasts. 

Rich Bennett 55:36
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 55:36
You're right. 

Rich Bennett 55:37
Yeah. They do. 

Tim Markland 55:38
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:38
And 

Tim Markland 55:38
Are you on there? 

Rich Bennett 55:40
No. No, no, 

Tim Markland 55:42
All 

Rich Bennett 55:42
no, 

Tim Markland 55:42
right. 

Rich Bennett 55:42
no, no, no, no. No. 

Tim Markland 55:43
No. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 55:44
No. Because that's the ones you see on Netflix and Spotify. 

Tim Markland 55:49
Yeah. Right. 

Rich Bennett 55:49
Those are the big names, right? Third, the celebrities and everything. 

Tim Markland 55:53
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:53
Because this is driving Netflix. Numbers. 

Tim Markland 55:56
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 55:56
That's why they do it. 

Tim Markland 55:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:58
I look out for the independent podcast. There's like you and I and Brad and so 

Tim Markland 56:01
forth. Right. Those 

Rich Bennett 56:03
are the ones that are I believe are really making a difference. Yeah. The ones you see on Netflix. That's our podcast. It's a talk show. I'm 

Tim Markland 56:11
Right. 

Rich Bennett 56:12
sorry, but it is. 

Tim Markland 56:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 56:13
You know, 

Tim Markland 56:14
Joe Rogan three hour episode. 

Rich Bennett 56:16
Yeah. You know what? I'd rather listen to Joe Rogan and watch. I can listen to Joe Rogan for three hours, 

Tim Markland 56:21
Uh-huh. 

Rich Bennett 56:21
but I can't watch it. 

Tim Markland 56:22
Yeah. Good. Outside of Joe Rogan. Who are some people that you 

Rich Bennett 56:26
that? 

Tim Markland 56:26
listen to 

Rich Bennett 56:27
I used to love WTF with Mark Marin. 

Tim Markland 56:30
Okay. It's 

Rich Bennett 56:31
no longer doing his podcast. 

Tim Markland 56:33
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 56:34
I listen to a lot of podcast about podcasting. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Um, so podcast and made simple, which is done by Alex San Filippo. He um, runs a business that I use all the time called partners. That's where I get most of my guests from. 

Tim Markland 56:50
Oh, interesting. 

Rich Bennett 56:50
Because, you know, ever since Christy told me to go global and change the name, I get guests on from around the world. 

Tim Markland 56:57
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 56:57
just had 

Tim Markland 56:57
I 

Rich Bennett 56:57
a lady on twice in Australia. 

Tim Markland 57:00
That's 

Rich Bennett 57:01
It's 

Tim Markland 57:01
why. 

Rich Bennett 57:01
pretty wow because years ago, you would have to do it by phone and pay long distance charges. 

Tim Markland 57:06
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 57:06
Yeah. Now you're doing it through your computer and virtual. 

Tim Markland 57:09
Right. 

Rich Bennett 57:09
Um, but so I listen to podcast. I made simple um, Dave Jackson does a couple of the school of podcasting. He does and ask the podcast coach. 

Tim Markland 57:21
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 57:21
This is great because and pod news. I 

Tim Markland 57:23
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 57:23
listen to 

Tim Markland 57:23
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 57:24
pod news all the time. Okay. Pnnu's daily. 

Tim Markland 57:27
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 57:27
Yeah. Yeah. I'm only because we, as you are with real estate. 

Tim Markland 57:31
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 57:31
Yeah. I am with the podcast. 

Tim Markland 57:34
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 57:35
Always learning and teacher myself. 

Tim Markland 57:38
Sure. And 

Rich Bennett 57:39
that's, 

that's how, like with YouTube. Now I just found this out today. So YouTube is big on mobile apps. 

Tim Markland 57:49
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 57:49
YouTube wants to get away from that. They're focusing more on TV. 

Tim Markland 57:55
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 57:56
now. 

Tim Markland 57:56
Now? Yep. 

Rich Bennett 57:56
Yep. And it's starting to, you know, because they have the YouTube stream. You terb 

Tim Markland 58:01
You turn 

Rich Bennett 58:01
YouTube streaming services. 

Tim Markland 58:03
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 58:03
They went the long form. 

Tim Markland 58:05
Right. 

Rich Bennett 58:06
I think it was 90. I forget what the percentage was. But the percentage was high. How many people will look watch it on the apps, which is usually the short. Is what they're watching. 

Tim Markland 58:16
Right. 

Rich Bennett 58:16
But they want people to go to the TV because then people will subscribe to 

Tim Markland 58:21
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:21
YouTube TV. 

Tim Markland 58:22
Right. Right. 

Rich Bennett 58:23
And they're changing the way SEO is done. 

Tim Markland 58:28
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 58:29
There, there's a lot of things that they're changing as far as monetizing. They changed that completely. You 

Tim Markland 58:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:35
have to have, I forget how many views. It was the numbers ridiculous. 

Tim Markland 58:40
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 58:41
But, and we, I mentioned this before, it's owned by Google. Google gets something good. 

Tim Markland 58:48
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 58:49
And usually, 

Tim Markland 58:50
right. Well, and, and I and I feel, I feel like when people search, real estate. And if you have a presence on YouTube, because it's owned by Google, 

Rich Bennett 58:59
yeah, 

Tim Markland 59:00
you're more apt to show up higher in that, you know, because who goes to the fourth page of Google to find a real estate. 

Rich Bennett 59:08
Yeah. The one thing I would love to see done for people like yourself there doing video. 

Tim Markland 59:15
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 59:15
Yeah. Yeah. Because with the audio part, Lipson sends it to everywhere. I'm 

Tim Markland 59:20
sure 

Rich Bennett 59:21
yep. Radio, all of 

Tim Markland 59:23
them, 

Rich Bennett 59:23
yep. It'd be nice if the video part would be sent automatically to YouTube rumbles. I Apple, I don't know who else does 

Tim Markland 59:33
I know right. 

Rich Bennett 59:36
Sorry, I had that on silent. 

Tim Markland 59:39
Me too. 

Rich Bennett 59:40
Right. Don't know you. 

Tim Markland 59:42
It's bad. 

Rich Bennett 59:43
But no, that's, but you don't, I don't, the one thing you said, which shocked me, you're having a hard time finding guess. Local guess. 

Tim Markland 59:54
After 

Rich Bennett 59:55
140 episodes, I would 

Tim Markland 59:56
No. Well, the cool thing is that people have started reaching out to me 

Rich Bennett 1:00:00
good. 

Tim Markland 1:00:00
too, 

Rich Bennett 1:00:01
Okay. 

Tim Markland 1:00:01
and 

Rich Bennett 1:00:02
which could be scary at times too. 

Tim Markland 1:00:04
But you see, so like, you know, somebody like Paul shoot, it's I'm blanking on it. Paul Thompson with the architectural design works. It's very, very well known in Hartford County. Um, does a lot. I mean, and I just adore it. Like, that's actually coming out. So that's coming out next week. Yeah, next week, phenomenal episode. They're celebrating 35 years of being in business. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:33
Wow. 

Tim Markland 1:00:33
Because somebody saw that I was interviewing him, who is so well-known. Now, all of a sudden, another person has reached out who I've known in the past are kids playing volleyball together, but he is high up in the corporation that he works with. And 

Rich Bennett 1:00:50
Okay. 

Tim Markland 1:00:51
he's like, hey, anytime you want to get and I'm like, that's free and cool. So it's, again, it's that connection piece 

Rich Bennett 1:00:58
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:00:58
of-- OK, well, if I interview this person, maybe this person sees in and say, oh, I want to be a part of that. So 

Rich Bennett 1:01:04
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:01:04
I think we're starting to see that turn, 

Rich Bennett 1:01:07
Good. 

Tim Markland 1:01:07
where more people are going to be reaching out. I think it's kind of cool what you have set up, where you're like, well, just go to my calendar, and you know-- 

Rich Bennett 1:01:15
It does make a lot of you 

Tim Markland 1:01:17
man. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:17
serious, 

Tim Markland 1:01:17
Right? You had the time slots of when you're available to do that, and they can do it. But again, I'm a real estate agent first. I'm a podcast person secondary, you know? But it could certainly be something that takes off. And, you know, I don't know quite know the direction yet, but I know it's something good. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:40
Right. That app you were talking about that I use, because it's not canon. 

Tim Markland 1:01:45
It's 

Rich Bennett 1:01:45
tidy or something, but-- OK, it's like, I think $15, 

Tim Markland 1:01:49
OK, 

Rich Bennett 1:01:50
lifetime. 

Tim Markland 1:01:50
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:51
And it connects to Zapier, which then will connect to-- I think you saw it squabb-- OK, it probably sent you a link for squab 

Tim Markland 1:01:59
See, 

Rich Bennett 1:01:59
asked. 

Tim Markland 1:02:00
you tech geeks. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:01
[LAUGHTER] 

Tim Markland 1:02:02
See, and this is where my brain shuts down, because I 

Rich Bennett 1:02:05
So 

Tim Markland 1:02:05
hear-- 

Rich Bennett 1:02:06
Drew needs to send it up for you is what you're saying. 

Tim Markland 1:02:08
But here's the other thing is-- and this could be a good question to talk about, too, is the presence now of AI and how you're using that to maximize-- 

Rich Bennett 1:02:17
Oh my 

Tim Markland 1:02:18
What 

Rich Bennett 1:02:18
god. 

Tim Markland 1:02:18
you're doing with the podcast. Like, you know, to be able to say-- to go into chat GPT and say, I'm interviewing this person 

Rich Bennett 1:02:26
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:02:26
from this business, can you come up with some thought-provoking questions that would help me out with that. And then all of a sudden, it's like searching the internet for Rich Benet's name and knows that you have a podcast out there. And now I can ask questions about you as a podcaster. That's been a game changer, because that takes just time-- 

Rich Bennett 1:02:46
Big time. Big time. Just to give you an idea, I did that. 

Tim Markland 1:02:50
OK. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:50
Because thank you for, again, putting your bio in. Because a lot of-- that's a struggle that I run into. 

Tim Markland 1:02:57
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:57
Where-- 

Tim Markland 1:02:58
Like I'm going 

Rich Bennett 1:02:58
on show. And you know, it printed out the intro I did through chat GPT. But it printed out a bunch of questions for me. And I only asked you one. But because I like the natural 

Tim Markland 1:03:13
conversation-- Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 1:03:14
And I use it a lot of times to start the conversation. But some of them-- Oh my god. Oh, no. I'm just trying to find something different. 

Tim Markland 1:03:25
[LAUGHS] 

Rich Bennett 1:03:28
Oh. OK. This-- 

Tim Markland 1:03:31
Taking your-- 

Rich Bennett 1:03:32
Well, we talked about this, like how much of the teacher you still shows up in the way you serve your real estate clients. But we more or less talked about 

Tim Markland 1:03:39
Right, 

Rich Bennett 1:03:39
that. right. So 

Tim Markland 1:03:39
right, 

Rich Bennett 1:03:40
yeah, it's weird. It's like it knows what you're going to do. 

What mistakes have helped you become a better leader? 

Tim Markland 1:03:48
Right. I 

Rich Bennett 1:03:48
see that's a good question. 

Tim Markland 1:03:50
a great 

Rich Bennett 1:03:50
That's 

Tim Markland 1:03:50
question, all right? 

Rich Bennett 1:03:51
It just-- so with AI, I use it as a tool. I don't use it to do the work. I use it as a tool. 

Tim Markland 1:03:59
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:00
And I think that's where a lot of people are messing up. And you see it with all these AI posters on social media. It's doing the work for them. And all the posters are looking the same. 

Tim Markland 1:04:15
Right. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:15
To the point now to where-- and not just myself-- a lot of people have seen to just scroll right by. 

Tim Markland 1:04:20
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:21
But of course, you have a great videographer that puts together kick-ass clips for you. So 

Tim Markland 1:04:29
do-- 

Rich Bennett 1:04:29
what I 

Tim Markland 1:04:30
Loving the death, man. When I 

Rich Bennett 1:04:31
record the episode-- 

Tim Markland 1:04:33
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:33
Again, I use Hindenburg Journalist Pro. So 

Tim Markland 1:04:37
OK. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:37
I uploaded the tracks in there. And then I can transcribe it. Now I download the transcription. I'll upload that into chat GPT to create the show notes 

Tim Markland 1:04:52
Gotcha. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:52
for me. 

Tim Markland 1:04:52
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 1:04:53
So that takes-- I mean, a lot of time out of what I do. 

Tim Markland 1:04:59
Using the AI gives you-- 

Rich Bennett 1:05:00
It takes out a lot of the normal time that I would have to-- 

Tim Markland 1:05:04
you would have had to. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:05
Yes. 

Tim Markland 1:05:05
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:05
--that 

Tim Markland 1:05:06
And it's pretty darn 

Rich Bennett 1:05:08
Oh yeah, 

Tim Markland 1:05:08
bad. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:09
yeah, but you're starting, and now you're starting to see it, I don't know if Lipson is doing it yet or not, but you're starting to see all these platforms that you host, your podcast through. And I think actually YouTube's doing it now too with Gemini. 

Tim Markland 1:05:35
Because 

Rich Bennett 1:05:35
to me it takes that personal touch 

Tim Markland 1:05:37
out of it. Right, 

Rich Bennett 1:05:38
right. You have to, I'm a friend, I did an episode, strictly AI. 

Tim Markland 1:05:44
No uh, 

Rich Bennett 1:05:44
yes, and I, it was, I had AI right up the episode and I had AI record the episode so it was AI voicing everything. This was a while ago, just to see the people's reaction. 

Tim Markland 1:05:59
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:05:59
And I did actually get a big 

Tim Markland 1:06:01
from 

Rich Bennett 1:06:01
reaction 

Tim Markland 1:06:01
that's pretty cool, 

Rich Bennett 1:06:02
but no, I think it's a blessing. 

Tim Markland 1:06:04
Yeah, it's definitely a tool and 

Rich Bennett 1:06:05
It's 

Tim Markland 1:06:06
talking about maximizing time and, uh, and, and life, you know, is, is, is just, uh, and it's changing so fast. But I tell you there, you know, one of my daughters, um, is just like hellbent. She's like a creative. She's hellbent against using AI and it's like, what do you love it or you hate it? It's here and it's going to be here. It's, 

Rich Bennett 1:06:25
been here forever. 

Tim Markland 1:06:26
it's not going away. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:27
And that's the other thing people don't realize it's been here for, since I think the 40s or 50s. 

Tim Markland 1:06:33
It's 

Rich Bennett 1:06:33
just, once you saw G, G, P, T can't come out. 

Tim Markland 1:06:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:37
That's been the big boom. 

Tim Markland 1:06:40
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:41
remember the internet boom and what happened. 

Tim Markland 1:06:45
But 

Rich Bennett 1:06:46
The bottom fell out. You're going to see it with AI eventually. It will. People are going to get onto it. They're going to start using it. They're going to abuse it. Some of them already are. 

Tim Markland 1:06:54
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:06:56
but then the bottom's going to fall out 

Tim Markland 1:06:58
Um, 

Rich Bennett 1:06:58
because here's the other thing and you're starting to see this already. All these apps and everything that you're using that are incorporating AI. 

Tim Markland 1:07:09
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 1:07:09
they're driving their prices up. Right. And it's going to piss people off. They're just be like, no, 

Tim Markland 1:07:16
right. I'd 

Rich Bennett 1:07:17
rather hire an assistant or or do it myself. 

Tim Markland 1:07:21
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:22
Speaking of assistance. Actually, I don't want to say assistant. I don't think he's the backbone of your podcast. 

Tim Markland 1:07:27
Oh, 1000%. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:29
So Drew does a phenomenal job at the video and everything and even for the marketing. 

Tim Markland 1:07:35
Look at him over there. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:36
And the 

Tim Markland 1:07:37
world did you 

Rich Bennett 1:07:37
find him? 

Tim Markland 1:07:39
Oh, that's a great story. So his dad's my chiropractor. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:43
What? 

Tim Markland 1:07:44
His dad is a chiropractor in Bel Air. 

Rich Bennett 1:07:47
Really? 

Tim Markland 1:07:48
Yeah. Dr. Chavus. Yeah. No. Okay. So Craig Chavus has his own chiropractic practice. Great family. Um, has has an older sister and older brother and then mom and dad are just awesome. He's great. And he really, really taught everybody how to be a very good person. Yeah. I didn't know how to be a great person. He's just like that. And actually he's just very cool. And I had so many people who had him on the podcast. He's he's a really cool guy. He's like, 

Rich Bennett 1:08:05
Drew or his father. 

Tim Markland 1:08:07
Oh, definitely his father. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:08
Okay. 

Tim Markland 1:08:08
Not so much. Drew. Right. So, uh, I had always I had you know, in appointments or whatever and and he was trying to do a podcast and and I was starting out on the podcast. And he always talked about his son being. 

And 

Rich Bennett 1:08:23
Okay. 

Tim Markland 1:08:23
so, um, one day I went to target Drew. Drew was working at Target. The car boy that's, you know, pushes the the train of carts up to the to the thing and, uh, and he came out and we, of course, my wife, you know, keep in target in business. So 

Rich Bennett 1:08:43
I 

Tim Markland 1:08:45
had to pick up an order from there every day. You can't leave target without spending a hundred over a hundred bucks. Um, and so he brought out my order and I didn't know who he was. 

Rich Bennett 1:08:54
Right. 

Tim Markland 1:08:55
And so he started to walk away from the car and it goes for whatever reason, turn back. He said, are you Tim Marklin? I'm like, yeah. And he goes, ah, you know, Craig Chavis, the son, Drew, and and it just so happened that I was working with somebody else who we just, you know, kind of part of 

Rich Bennett 1:09:11
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:09:11
ways and no, no bad blood or anything like that. But, but that happened the day before and like, literally, the next day I meet Drew in the target parking lot. And we started talking. 

Rich Bennett 1:09:23
that is 

Tim Markland 1:09:24
Like, like, like, this is, this is two. This is two serendipitous, you know, and so, uh, you know, he, uh, we sat down had a conversation about the direction that I was trying to take. And that was December of 2020. 

He was, he was 19 or 20 at the time, you know, he just turned 21, and it's like, this is like, and I don't want to call him like a son, because that would make me feel old. He's almost like a younger brother, you know, and he keeps me young. But he's a creative, and the cool thing of it all is, he's trained, he went to the Sheffield Institute. 

Rich Bennett 1:10:06
Oh Oh 

Tim Markland 1:10:07
I 

Rich Bennett 1:10:07
wow, 

Tim Markland 1:10:08
didn't -- he's a legitimate audio engineer. He has his own, so he is able to, I should just put the microphone in from him, but this is not your interview buddy. 

Rich Bennett 1:10:17
That'd be another 

Tim Markland 1:10:19
day true. That'd be another day, right? But he basically is able to sing into a microphone, and alter the voice coming into the microphone to sound like popular artists that are out there right now, and like the hip hop genre. 

Rich Bennett 1:10:33
Yeah, that's, 

Tim Markland 1:10:34
that's stuff. But he, he has a legitimate education in, in audio engineering. And so what he, and so then what he does, too, is he basically sells presets to people, like he gives, like, a sample on his YouTube page, and then people can order that sample presets, so they sound like Akane West or a Jay-Z or, uhm, rich. Do you know who these people are, by the way? 

Rich Bennett 1:10:59
Yeah, 

Tim Markland 1:11:00
so, yeah. Okay, let's just make it short. 

Rich Bennett 1:11:00
Look, I'm a retired 

Tim Markland 1:11:02
[laughter] 

Rich Bennett 1:11:02
deep-sided 

Tim Markland 1:11:03
Of 

Rich Bennett 1:11:03
who 

Tim Markland 1:11:03
course you know, right? But he can, he can make somebody sing into a microphone, and they can sound like that, and he sells those presets. But, but, you know, and he's worked with artists and stuff like that, so he has that 

Rich Bennett 1:11:16
they, 

Tim Markland 1:11:16
background, which 

Rich Bennett 1:11:17
yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:11:17
then, you know, is great with the podcast, but then he does all the video editing, and, you know, all the special effects with, with, you know, the house tour. 

Rich Bennett 1:11:25
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:11:25
You do, and do different vlogs, and the cool thing is, is like, he's got a creative mindset. I have somewhat a creative mindset, so when we get together, and we kind of put an idea together, it's like, you know, like we just shot a video yesterday, after the house tour at the House on Linda Lane, where I was singing, the Chatcheebeach, I put a, the stats of the August Real Estate market in a Chatcheebeach, which then created a song, I play guitar, and so we're going through the woods, and we're singing the Market Report for August. It's a stupidest idea, right? 

Rich Bennett 1:12:02
Brilliant. 

Tim Markland 1:12:02
But, but we're, but we're trying new things. It's, you know, like what, what's the worst that could happen, you know? But, but it's just, it's, it's such a refreshing thing to have. 

Rich Bennett 1:12:12
Yeah, 

Tim Markland 1:12:12
You know, to work with somebody that's, that is younger, but in a way, like, yeah, he's 21 years old, but he's like, he's like in a 40 year old's body of 

Rich Bennett 1:12:22
right. 

Tim Markland 1:12:22
50 year olds, but like, he's, he's got just, he's, he set a goal to leave Target within six months. I think it was, like, after three or four months, he left Target, he started his own business of aura media. He's now, like, since he's been working with me, I've been able to introduce him to other real estate agents who he does home tours for and, and does editing for them and Dave Cummings, who owns Cummings and Company has, now has a podcast that he produces. Um, and, and he shoots video for the brokerage. So, like, this has been like a mutual growth for both of us. Like our social media branding and marketing has just gone to a whole different level. But then on the other hand, it's also helped him. and really branched out to now, he's, like, hiring other people to go out and shoot videos so that, like, he's, he's growing exponentially. 

Rich Bennett 1:13:15
And, 

Tim Markland 1:13:15
And so, so fricking cool. And again, he's just wise beyond his years. And he's just got such an entrepreneurial mindset. And just having these, like, in depth conversations with him has just made help me grow, helped him grow. He's, he's the coolest guy now. 

Rich Bennett 1:13:31
I don't understand why he hasn't signed up to come on the show yet. 

Tim Markland 1:13:34
I don't know why. Maybe, maybe after today, he might. absolutely, 

Rich Bennett 1:13:39
Well, absolutely. Dude, I have so many questions I could ask you now, especially since. 

Tim Markland 1:13:45
Well, behind the scenes before all this started, you tech nerds were getting into, like, while I use this camera for this editing software. And then, you 

Rich Bennett 1:13:52
that's 

Tim Markland 1:13:52
know, 

Rich Bennett 1:13:52
not my back, my background's audio and radio. 

Tim Markland 1:13:55
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:13:56
Yeah. Yeah. The video, that him, dude, 

Tim Markland 1:13:58
I 

Rich Bennett 1:13:58
but 

Tim Markland 1:13:58
didn't 

Rich Bennett 1:13:59
realize he was, wow. 

Tim Markland 1:14:00
He's, yeah, he's, he's a very, he's a very intelligent person, a very cool creative person to work with, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:09
And just to let you know, you say you can't call him son more like brother, but isn't your daughter older? 

Tim Markland 1:14:15
Yes. 

Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:20
Show up, 

Tim Markland 1:14:20
It was 

Rich Bennett 1:14:20
Roger. 

Tim Markland 1:14:20
fun. It was fun going out to celebrate his 21st birthday. It was a bunch of old people. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:26
You know, you know, here's the funny thing though about that. It's true. I gotta love you for this. My next door neighbors are in their thirties. 

Tim Markland 1:14:35
Uh-huh. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:35
They're young. 

Tim Markland 1:14:36
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:36
I mean, I'm old enough to be their father. 

Tim Markland 1:14:39
Uh-huh. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:39
But when we have parties, they're right there. 

Tim Markland 1:14:43
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:44
My best friend, well, he's in his forties. No, he's, he is 40 now. 

Tim Markland 1:14:48
Okay. Just 

Rich Bennett 1:14:49
something about the younger people, 

Tim Markland 1:14:51
hmm, that keeps you young. 

Rich Bennett 1:14:53
I think so. 

Tim Markland 1:14:54
Well, teaching high school. I mean, that would, you know, I mean, I have an age since since I started teaching in 2002 it's because of all the kids. At least that's what I lied to myself about, right? You know? 

Rich Bennett 1:15:04
time 

Tim Markland 1:15:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:05
I have 

Tim Markland 1:15:05
Either 

Rich Bennett 1:15:05
an age at all, 

Tim Markland 1:15:06
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:06
either. I have the beard. 

Tim Markland 1:15:08
Exactly. This receding hairlines just for style. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:10
Look. Okay. Here's like I tell everybody and you need to use this line so I'll let you. 

Tim Markland 1:15:17
Okay. Cool. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:17
not that our hairlines receding. It's that we are so smart. 

Tim Markland 1:15:22
It's 

Rich Bennett 1:15:22
Our brain is growing so big. We pushed all the hair out. 

Tim Markland 1:15:25
I like that. I like that. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:27
Makes sense. 

Tim Markland 1:15:28
Watch I drew that flop top on the top of his head. When he flips it up, it's actually halfway back. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:36
It's 

Tim Markland 1:15:37
it's bad. That's right. He's keeping that pretty blonde hair as long as he can. 

Rich Bennett 1:15:43
Look, it's it's a sign of like, so when I started losing my hair, because I was going bald in the back and I had he's going down each side and it's like I always say. You know, people that are going bald in the front sexy ones that are going 

Tim Markland 1:16:00
are 

Rich Bennett 1:16:00
bald in the back are thinkers ones that are going bald in the front end of back. 

Tim Markland 1:16:04
think 

Rich Bennett 1:16:04
Just 

Tim Markland 1:16:04
I 

was going to say sexy thinkers. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:11
Tim, what's the website? How can people get in touch if we were they want to sell their house by their 

Tim Markland 1:16:15
house? Yeah. Yeah. So buy a house. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:18
Yeah. Be buying their house. 

Tim Markland 1:16:20
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:21
They bought it would be. 

Tim Markland 1:16:21
They can buy it. They can sell. They can rent. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:23
And watching, 

Tim Markland 1:16:24
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:24
listen to the 

Tim Markland 1:16:24
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:25
podcast. 

Tim Markland 1:16:25
And listen to the podcast. So we have a few ways. Our website's themarklandadvantage.com. And you can search for homes on that website. You can reach out to us there. Um, we're on, uh, we're on all the social media platforms. Facebook, 

Rich Bennett 1:16:41
Right. 

Tim Markland 1:16:41
Instagram, YouTube, all at the mark on advantage. Uh, we're on. We do TikTok, Snapchat, TMA, real estate is the handles for that. Um, but best way is to call me directly. 4 4 3 9 6 6 1 2 0 8. And you will put that up on the screen. 

Rich Bennett 1:16:57
Anything 

now before you pick the last question. 

Tim Markland 1:17:01
Oh, before I pick the 

Rich Bennett 1:17:02
question. 

Tim Markland 1:17:02
last 

Rich Bennett 1:17:03
Yes. 

Tim Markland 1:17:03
Hmm. Not really, man. This has been great. I mean, it's again, like I've been, I've been observing you from afar, you know, especiall from the very beginning. 

To, uh, to drop a town here. You know, uh, but the things that you're doing, I look up to you for what you're doing, what you've grown and, and certainly, uh, You know, you've, you've been an inspiration for just what you've done. And you have great interviews. You have a great, you have a great message, um, you genuinely are trying to help people to, um,you  know, focusing on addiction and other important topics, you know, is just, I think it's just so important to have those conversations. 

Rich Bennett 1:17:47
it is. 

Tim Markland 1:17:47
And, and, and to connect. I mean, the, the podcast is the TMA connection. It's, it's the marketing advantage, connecting, you know, people is, is what it's all about. 

Rich Bennett 1:17:58
Have you ever, and this is fun. Have you ever done any round tables yet? 

Tim Markland 1:18:03
Um, Now, I, the only round table kind of read semi round table would be like when Adam and Dan, who were on my real estate 

Rich Bennett 1:18:10
okay. 

Tim Markland 1:18:10
team, we had a, a powwow 

Rich Bennett 1:18:12
Right. 

Tim Markland 1:18:12
three, you know, 

Rich Bennett 1:18:13
They're those could be fun. We've done a few of them. We've 

Tim Markland 1:18:15
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:16
done, um, a live panel discussion, 

Tim Markland 1:18:19
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 1:18:19
health 

Tim Markland 1:18:20
I've seen that. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:21
that 

Tim Markland 1:18:21
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:21
Was that was kind of weird because I wasn't who said I had Ron Yönnesar from the health department as the moderator. 

Tim Markland 1:18:28
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:28
Get back around the board. 

Tim Markland 1:18:30
Gotcha. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:30
But oh my god, all the different people and all the things you learn. 

Tim Markland 1:18:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:35
Yeah. Yeah. Round tables can be fun. 

Tim Markland 1:18:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:18:38
Yeah. As long as nobody turns off the microphone. 

Tim Markland 1:18:41
What's the future of your podcast? 

Rich Bennett 1:18:43
The future of it. 

Tim Markland 1:18:44
Yeah. Where do you see your podcast going in the next five years? 

Rich Bennett 1:18:47
Uh, wow. I definitely see, well, we're going to hit the 1,000 mark in new time. 

Tim Markland 1:18:56
Are you really? 

Rich Bennett 1:18:56
Yeah. I'm coming up to my 900th episode, 

Tim Markland 1:19:01
yeah, holy smokes. 

Rich Bennett 1:19:02
Yeah. Um, one of the things I'm doing that I'm starting to do is with previous guests that I've had on. I'm inviting them back on to just for questions, random questions, 

Tim Markland 1:19:19
uh, 

the 

Rich Bennett 1:19:29
first one I do is with gentleman I had on before, his name is Mark Stern. And then I have another young lady coming on who's been on. three times already who also does a podcast. She used to be your watch W. V. 

Tim Markland 1:19:44
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 1:19:45
Alright, 

Tim Markland 1:19:45
one 

Rich Bennett 1:19:45
she used 

Tim Markland 1:19:45
main 

Rich Bennett 1:19:45
to be one of the divas. 

Tim Markland 1:19:46
Okay. Oh, 

Rich Bennett 1:19:47
I 

Tim Markland 1:19:47
cool. 

Rich Bennett 1:19:48
mean, she was a G Avant, sweetheart. She is awesome. 

Tim Markland 1:19:51
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 1:19:51
She's coming on to do it again. 

Tim Markland 1:19:53
that's cool. 

Rich Bennett 1:19:54
I would love to get Wendy to do it. I don't know if she will. 

Tim Markland 1:19:59
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:00
But they're interesting questions. 

Tim Markland 1:20:03
Who's the one guy you haven't interviewed yet? That you would, if I knew them, you would be like, oh, I gotta get them one. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:10
Yeah, what the funny thing is, I used to have a dream list. 

Tim Markland 1:20:12
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:13
And then when I heard some of these people that were on my dream list on other podcast. 

Tim Markland 1:20:18
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:19
As they say. Oh, 

Tim Markland 1:20:21
okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:22
But now you tell me somebody local 

Tim Markland 1:20:24
anybody because you're global. So 

Rich Bennett 1:20:26
somebody I'd really, really love to get on is Danny Treo. 

Tim Markland 1:20:30
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:33
Covering everything. 

Tim Markland 1:20:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:34
Somebody 

local that I would love to get on. Well, I want to say again. He's been on before I love to get getting more to get to talk about history. So I'm not going to calm head. 

Tim Markland 1:20:48
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:48
Drew, 

you know, 

Tim Markland 1:20:52
I got an in. 

Rich Bennett 1:20:55
Now, you know, it's hard because when I first started this. Oh, my god. 11 years ago. 

Tim Markland 1:21:02
That's wild. 

Rich Bennett 1:21:03
I was invading a lot of people on 

Tim Markland 1:21:06
and 

Rich Bennett 1:21:06
nobody wanted to come on. 

Tim Markland 1:21:08
Really? 

Rich Bennett 1:21:08
Yeah. I mean, I 

Tim Markland 1:21:09
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:21:09
would have no shares a lot. And I've told this story a couple of times when I was recording up here. I invited a woman on. That's why now if I have a woman coming on the show, I try my best to have one of my female co-hunters here. 

Tim Markland 1:21:23
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 1:21:25
when I when I'm growing the beer to place in that if I have a guess, I'm standing outside waiting for. 

Tim Markland 1:21:30
Great. 

Rich Bennett 1:21:31
So three separate times. I had a female on the spurs to come on. I see a car pulling up the drive. They turn around and they left. And I call it, even though twice here the other time is when I started doing it at the radio station originally, which was then a YouTube show radio show. And I called them up said, you know, what happened? I never you never came up. Was that your car pulling up? You thought it was a homeless guy standing. 

Tim Markland 1:22:00
I'm 

Rich Bennett 1:22:02
not lying. That's why they didn't come up. I was like, no, that was me. 

Tim Markland 1:22:07
Yeah. Homeless. Right. 

Rich Bennett 1:22:09
Growing to beer to be Santa. 

Tim Markland 1:22:11
Yeah, right.

Rich Bennett 1:22:11
But you know what the funny. There's so many great people here in Hartford County and around. 

Tim Markland 1:22:17
Yeah , 

Rich Bennett 1:22:17
did I would love to get on just. 

Having I love talking to local authors. 

Tim Markland 1:22:23
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:22:24
Love talking to them. Just to hear the. 

it seems like, which is why I started the other podcast 

Tim Markland 1:22:32
Because 

Rich Bennett 1:22:33
because marketing is always the hardest part. It seems like 

Tim Markland 1:22:36
yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:22:37
God, that's a hard question. 

Tim Markland 1:22:40
Hmm. 

Rich Bennett 1:22:41
Who would who would what about you? 

Tim Markland 1:22:43
There's a couple guys that I listened to that I would love to just sit down and pick their brain. Okay. That would be the person calling you right now. No, they're calling in. The guy named Ed Mylett. I don't know 

Rich Bennett 1:22:55
him. 

Tim Markland 1:22:55
if you know 

Rich Bennett 1:22:56
The name sounds familiar. 

Tim Markland 1:22:57
Ed Mylett. He's a, Has his own podcast here 

Rich Bennett 1:23:02
okay. 

Tim Markland 1:23:02
to look up Ed Mylett show. No, 

Rich Bennett 1:23:04
local. Oh, okay. 

Tim Markland 1:23:05
Low, locally. I mean, I wouldn't. 

We're going to put it out here right now. We want Z flowers on the show. Z flowers on the Baltimore Ravens. 

Rich Bennett 1:23:17
Oh, okay. 

Tim Markland 1:23:18
Yeah. Yeah. So which was kind of cool because I actually got the interview this senior vice president of communications. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:23:23
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:23:24
Chad Steele 

Rich Bennett 1:23:26
Yeah. Okay. 

Tim Markland 1:23:26
on the podcast. We went down to the underarmor performance facility and and interviewed him. He's he's like just the head of like all the media, 

Rich Bennett 1:23:35
Right. 

Tim Markland 1:23:35
you know, the brand of the Baltimore Ravens. And that was a really cool episode. But homeboy over here drew a plate in a celebrity golf tournament or a golf tournament with Z flowers. Has his number on his phone? Won't reach out to him to get on the podcast? 

Rich Bennett 1:23:51
Why not, man. 

Tim Markland 1:23:52
Yeah, right. I have. Yeah. But I 

Rich Bennett 1:24:00
actually, okay. 

Tim Markland 1:24:02
Right. 

you could, you should check in on him because he got injured the other day in the in the game. So. 

Rich Bennett 1:24:11
some damn 

Tim Markland 1:24:12
I'm 

Rich Bennett 1:24:12
time. Is that what you're trying to say Tim? He's not some damn time. 

Tim Markland 1:24:15
The connection 

Rich Bennett 1:24:15
to mum now. 

Tim Markland 1:24:16
Need to wait for Drew to uh, to have to go to the bathroom and then and then find the passcode to phone and then just and then just copy and paste. And then I'll call him. 

Rich Bennett 1:24:26
That would be that could be an interesting one. 

Tim Markland 1:24:28
But just not even the notoriety of it all, but just the the mindset, the behaviors, the habits that professional athletes have to like, you know, one of the things in talking with Chad Steele was just like. People don't understand the preparation that goes into these guys like they come in at six or seven. And they're there until like eight o'clock at night. And whether that's, you know, their first workout, second workout or it's their, you know, their actual practice. But then in the in the meeting rooms and all that stuff, you know, learning all the plays and 

Rich Bennett 1:25:03
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:25:03
just the amount of preparation that goes into. I felt athlete. That's that's what I want to learn more 

Rich Bennett 1:25:09
about. Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:25:09
No. And how can I incorporate those kind of behaviors and disciplines into my own 

Rich Bennett 1:25:13
It's 

Tim Markland 1:25:13
life? 

Rich Bennett 1:25:13
good. Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:25:14
You know, 

Rich Bennett 1:25:14
When 

Tim Markland 1:25:14
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:15
you said, it was the other guy, he said, Ed, 

Tim Markland 1:25:17
Ed, my let. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:18
Ed my let in which remind me of somebody that two other people I would love to get on. 

Tim Markland 1:25:22
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:22
Fred Minic. 

Tim Markland 1:25:23
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:23
I don't know if you've ever heard of him. 

Tim Markland 1:25:25
I don't think so. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:26
He is like, I would say the Godfather of bourbon. 

Tim Markland 1:25:31
OK, 

Rich Bennett 1:25:31
Very he's written several books 

Tim Markland 1:25:33
OK. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:33
about birth. And I'm a bourbon 

Tim Markland 1:25:35
Your 

Rich Bennett 1:25:35
thing. 

Tim Markland 1:25:35
bourbon guy 

Rich Bennett 1:25:36
It 

Tim Markland 1:25:36
huh? 

Rich Bennett 1:25:36
mattered. We just went to Sagamore, the story of labor day 

Tim Markland 1:25:38
Oh 

Rich Bennett 1:25:38
weekend. 

Tim Markland 1:25:39
wow. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:39
My first time there, they do make a bourbon. 

Tim Markland 1:25:42
OK. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:43
Places amazing. But the other one I would love to get on is Gary Vaynerchuk. 

Tim Markland 1:25:47
Vay. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:48
Gary 

Tim Markland 1:25:48
That's the next one I was going to say. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:50
He is awesome. 

Tim Markland 1:25:52
Just 

Rich Bennett 1:25:53
I was on a webinar with him. 

Tim Markland 1:25:55
Oh wow. 

Rich Bennett 1:25:56
It's funny. I got it. I don't know why I got invited to this thing. 

Tim Markland 1:26:00
Uh huh. 

Rich Bennett 1:26:00
Because it was on real estate. 

Tim Markland 1:26:02
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:26:02
And I guess because I knew the guy who's doing, I don't know. Um, but sitting and you could ask him questions. It was all video. 

Tim Markland 1:26:10
Yeah, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:26:11
is a number, 

Tim Markland 1:26:12
Yeah. He 

Rich Bennett 1:26:12
but he is amazing, man. 

Tim Markland 1:26:13
But but his. 

Just like his way of thinking and the empathy that he has and just the way he does business and the way that he's grown. Um, the empire that he has. I actually went to see him, uh, speak at, um, the aspire wealth conference down 

Rich Bennett 1:26:34
OK. 

Tim Markland 1:26:34
in Washington DC. That was posted all over social media. He was the first speaker and Ed. My let was the last. So literally I'm in the same room. 

Rich Bennett 1:26:43
Wow. 

Tim Markland 1:26:43
Like, like, just within 20 feet of these guys that I just really look up to. There's a local author, uh, Chad Sanstagrin. Have you heard of him? 

Rich Bennett 1:26:52
I've heard of that. 

Tim Markland 1:26:53
Yeah. He has a, he has a business where he trains like new construction, but he has a podcast. Um, he's a great connection that you could potentially get on. He interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk at up at, uh, in New York City. 

Rich Bennett 1:27:09
Right. 

Tim Markland 1:27:10
And, uh, that was a cool interview for him. You know, and he introduced me to a guy named David Meltzer who, you know, David Meltzer. 

Rich Bennett 1:27:17
I knew that. 

Tim Markland 1:27:17
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:27:18
Well, women. 

Tim Markland 1:27:18
He, he, he worked. 

Rich Bennett 1:27:20
David Meltzer is, no, I'm thinking of the wrong guy. The other guy that's big and wrestling news. Why do I know the name David Meltzer? 

Tim Markland 1:27:29
David Meltzer worked for the same company that was portrayed in Jerry McGuire. Um, 

Rich Bennett 1:27:36
Oh, okay. 

Tim Markland 1:27:38
And, and he's, he's having the sports world. coming. They're coming. I know. Right. Uh, he has his own podcast. Um, he's just very well known in the 

Rich Bennett 1:27:48
They're 

Tim Markland 1:27:49
sports world sports agency. Um, this phenomenal guy. Uh, that's another one that, and we Chad got me connected with David Meltzer who was also connected to, like, the people like the Ed Myletz and the Gary Vaynerchuk, So the world, the speaking tours and all that stuff. And I interviewed Dave, uh, over zoom. Um, 

Rich Bennett 1:28:09
and the world. Okay. 

Tim Markland 1:28:09
so I don't do a lot of over zoom. A lot of minds in person. I know you 

Rich Bennett 1:28:12
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:28:12
do a lot of zoom. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:13
No. 

Tim Markland 1:28:14
No. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:15
No. No, I don't do zoom. 

Tim Markland 1:28:17
What. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:17
So zoom is not, 

Tim Markland 1:28:19
But you do. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:19
yeah, I do virtue. I use 

Tim Markland 1:28:21
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:21
a squat. I wrote a script. 

Tim Markland 1:28:23
Okay. That's 

Rich Bennett 1:28:24
designed for. Okay, podcast. So it's the bit rate of talking technical terms. The bit rate for the sound is better. 

Tim Markland 1:28:32
Okay. God. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:33
You're understands what 

Tim Markland 1:28:34
true 

Rich Bennett 1:28:34
I'm 

Tim Markland 1:28:34
understands. We used StreamYard for that episode. Um, 

Rich Bennett 1:28:38
the StreamYard's built for podcasting. 

Tim Markland 1:28:40
Yeah, exactly. So to interview him was awesome. I got to meet him at the aspire wealth conference. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:45
Right. 

Tim Markland 1:28:45
Um, in a room and I asked him, I was there I was like, hey look, you know, uh, guy named Chad who lives close to me. He's oh yeah, no, Chad, and I was like, I would love to have you on the podcast, and I said I would come on up on episode 100 at that time. 

Rich Bennett 1:28:59
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:29:14
These written some books um, has a great podcast. Yeah, we should tag all these people that we're talking about, and hopefully one of them will reach out and say, hey, we want to get on your podcast. 

Rich Bennett 1:29:23
You're talking to other podcasters 

Tim Markland 1:29:25
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:29:25
just to, and again, it's like the one M ASH or mine group that I'm in, because you're, not get things off of each other. 

Tim Markland 1:29:34
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 1:29:35
Yeah, you're brainstorming. 

Tim Markland 1:29:36
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 1:29:36
Here, other podcasters. What they're doing, how they're doing it, 

Tim Markland 1:29:41
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:29:41
uh, one of the things that, uh, one of my mentors, you know, you mentioned that there are big names we would love to get on. 

Tim Markland 1:29:50
Sure. 

Rich Bennett 1:29:50
But sometimes those aren't the most listened to episodes. And it's weird. 

Tim Markland 1:29:56
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 1:29:57
because you would think, I got time cruise on it. Now, a lot of people listen to it. 

Tim Markland 1:30:01
Right. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:03
Well, why not? But yet don't listen to your episode. Me talking to you a lot more. 

Tim Markland 1:30:09
that that's true. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:10
I 

Tim Markland 1:30:10
Like I have a lot more views on some episodes that people don't know the necessarily know the person, but then like a Chad Steele, you know, with the bottom of Ravens, you think that would be like, you know, 

Rich Bennett 1:30:20
think 

Tim Markland 1:30:20
a banging one. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:21
Connect with them. 

Tim Markland 1:30:22
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:22
They, they, they feel a connection. 

Tim Markland 1:30:24
Yeah. And that's what that's all about. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:26
Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. 

Tim Markland 1:30:28
Yeah, man. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:29
When, when it's Jews doing a podcast or starting one or. 

Tim Markland 1:30:32
No, no, no, he's, he's, you know, 

Rich Bennett 1:30:35
just sticking with the audio 

Tim Markland 1:30:36
and music and videos and house tours and all kinds of other things. I mean, he. I 

Rich Bennett 1:30:41
do two questions. 

Tim Markland 1:30:43
Oh, okay, 

Rich Bennett 1:30:43
it. 

Tim Markland 1:30:44
let's 

Rich Bennett 1:30:44
Cause 

Tim Markland 1:30:44
do 

Rich Bennett 1:30:44
I'm going to let Drew pick one. 

Tim Markland 1:30:45
Oh wow. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:46
Drew, pick a number between one and 100. This is the first question to ask him number. Why 72? 

Okay. Oh, that's a good one. 

Tim Markland 1:30:58
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:30:59
If you could witness any historical event, firsthand, which one would it be and why? 

Tim Markland 1:31:08
Man, any historical event, 

historical, 

Rich Bennett 1:31:17
there's a lot of 

Tim Markland 1:31:17
question. 

Rich Bennett 1:31:17
good 

Tim Markland 1:31:18
Yeah, right, right. You know, not to get too spiritual, anything, but something around the Jesus time, you 

Rich Bennett 1:31:26
you know, 

Tim Markland 1:31:27
know. 

Rich Bennett 1:31:29
Question has been asked before and I said the same thing. 

Tim Markland 1:31:33
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like to be in that room. That would be pretty awesome. 

Rich Bennett 1:31:36
You know, I'd like to be serving something. 

Tim Markland 1:31:39
I 

Rich Bennett 1:31:40
want to be sitting at the table, but to 

Tim Markland 1:31:41
don't 

Rich Bennett 1:31:41
be serving something. 

Tim Markland 1:31:43
Yeah. Yeah. You know, something, something around that time to like meet meet. 

Rich Bennett 1:31:47
Oh, 

Tim Markland 1:31:47
put him on the podcast. Like, what do you think of what's going on in the role right now, JC? You know, 

right, 

What's 

Rich Bennett 1:32:00
the guy the actor that played him in the chosen? Have you ever seen that? 

Tim Markland 1:32:06
It was a male Gibson that 

Rich Bennett 1:32:08
No, that was the last temptation of Christ, 

Tim Markland 1:32:11
that. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:11
but he directed that 

Tim Markland 1:32:12
the chosen. Yeah, I don't know 

Rich Bennett 1:32:14
if you ever if you 

Tim Markland 1:32:15
I 

Rich Bennett 1:32:15
ever. 

Tim Markland 1:32:15
heard I had somebody that's like the second time I've heard that movie name and like the last month. His 

Rich Bennett 1:32:20
awesome. 

Tim Markland 1:32:21
Okay. All 

Rich Bennett 1:32:21
right, now I'll let you pick a number. 

Tim Markland 1:32:23
Oh, wow. Three. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:24
One in a hundred. 

Tim Markland 1:32:25
Come on. Let's go with 66. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:33
Yeah. Questions. 

Tim Markland 1:32:34
All right, 

Rich Bennett 1:32:35
No, 

Tim Markland 1:32:35
let's. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:35
it's a good question. 

Tim Markland 1:32:36
Oh, that's a good question. Okay. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 1:32:39
66. If you could have any super power, but it could only be used to help others. 

Tim Markland 1:32:46
What 

Rich Bennett 1:32:46
would it be? 

None of these questions have a lot of what we've been talking about. 

Tim Markland 1:32:54
Uh, huh, 

Rich Bennett 1:32:55
uh, I usually they do. 

Tim Markland 1:32:56
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. You know what? Probably to be able to read a mind to really understand where the why somebody's sang or is doing what they're like, Why 

Rich Bennett 1:33:11
help others 

Tim Markland 1:33:12
to help, to help others to help them through it. Like 

Rich Bennett 1:33:14
we're to help yourself. 

Tim Markland 1:33:17
That's a great thing. Maybe for for my better understanding of like, what are you talking 

Rich Bennett 1:33:22
Okay, 

Tim Markland 1:33:22
about? 

Rich Bennett 1:33:23
they don't like this thing here. So I got to convince them they got 

Tim Markland 1:33:25
it. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:33:26
they have to buy the house. 

Tim Markland 1:33:27
Brother, 

Rich Bennett 1:33:28
Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:33:28
Um, 

but, but even maybe just like, in negotiations to the other side to help my buyer, so are like, you know, what, you know, what's the reason? Why is that seller acting the way that they're acting? Like what's the, what's the true? 

Rich Bennett 1:33:51
Yeah. Yeah. 

Tim Markland 1:33:58
You know, maybe to change that story. I don't 

Rich Bennett 1:34:01
know. You know, that could be 

Tim Markland 1:34:03
fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:34:05
Now you understand why I'm having other guests come on and just, 

Tim Markland 1:34:08
right? That's pretty 

Rich Bennett 1:34:09
wouldn't 

Tim Markland 1:34:09
cool. You 

Rich Bennett 1:34:09
do one more. 

Tim Markland 1:34:10
Let's do it. I mean, I mean, if anybody's still listening. 

Rich Bennett 1:34:15
Pick a 

Tim Markland 1:34:15
number, um, 22. 

Rich Bennett 1:34:22
22. Oh, damn. Oh, damn. This is a deep one. 

Tim Markland 1:34:25
Okay. Shoot. 

Rich Bennett 1:34:26
What does true courage look like to you? 

True 

Tim Markland 1:34:34
courage is to be able to go out there. 

Wow. That's a good one. True courage. True courage. You know, true courage is to be your authentic self and go out there and take risk without the worry of 

lack of money or, or, or, or looking stupid to other people. It's just to be yourself and go out there and do the right 

Rich Bennett 1:35:07
thing. I love that. That's a good answer. 

Tim Markland 1:35:09
Thank you. Man, I was. Woo. My armpits are sweating. 

Rich Bennett 1:35:15
Tim, I want to thank you so much. 

Tim Markland 1:35:17
It's been great. 

Rich Bennett 1:35:17
Oh, man, look, you know, the door is always open. just to let you know from what I understand there are no cameras broken on this episode and from what I understand the video file is not corrupt either so can't blame me again you know what really stood out to me in this conversation is that Tim may have left the classroom but he never stopped being a teacher so whether he's helping a first time buyer understand the process guiding someone through a difficult decision leading his team or sitting behind the microphone his focus remains the same educating people building relationships and trying to make a difference Tim's journey is also a reminder that taking a risk doesn't mean abandoning who you are he took the lessons he learned during more than 16 years in education and carry them into the markland advantage a family business that began with his father and that includes his wife Amy and a growing team along the way he has learned to adapt to a constantly changing real estate market surround himself with talented people protect time with his family and continue finding creative ways to connect with the community I also love conversation about podcast and and Tim's belief that we may always be one conversation away from changing the life that is exactly why shoes like his the TMA connection matter they give local business owners non-profit leaders entrepreneurs and everyday difference makers an opportunity to share stories that might otherwise never be heard it's why I always tell people whether it's on podcast Tim's or other podcasts get on them tell your story share it you maybe see even somebody's life you never know who is listening what connection may be created or how one on his conversation can help someone take their next step and perhaps Tim summed up his entire journey best when he described true courage as being your authentic self taking risk without worrying about money or looking foolish and simply going out there and doing the right thing Tim again thanks for the last brother the honesty and for reminding us that success isn't only about growing a business it's about helping others staying curious and building a life centered on the people and values that matter most until next time I'm rich Bennett thanks for listening and remember every great conversation starts with someone willing to listen and someone willing to share now it's your turn join the conversation by sharing this episode leave in a comment or reaching out to me directly take care be kind to one another and i'll talk with you again soon