Chris Mongeon: Peak Real Estate Company, Franchise Ownership & Building on Reputation | Mortgage Daddies

00:00:00:01 – 00:00:21:21
Craig Snell
Welcome back to Mortgage Daddies. Today we have a guy that, uh, I don’t know if he ever stays in one place. I don’t know if he sleeps.

00:00:07:19 – 00:00:21:21
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. Gotta keep it moving. He runs on Dunkin’, that’s for sure. I do. I brought my cold brew with me right here. This is my third one of the day.

00:00:21:23 – 00:00:26:05
Vernon Miles
I’m Vernon. I run a top mortgage brokerage in Massachusetts with over 20 years of experience.

00:00:26:06 – 00:00:38:16
Craig Snell
I’m Craig. I’ve done $100 million consistently since my second full year in the business, and I’m Massachusetts’ top mortgage broker. We’re the Mortgage Daddies, with real advice, real stories, and real results. Let’s get going.

00:00:38:18 – 00:00:58:02
Craig Snell
Chris Mongeon. So, Chris, tell us a little bit about yourself, my man.

00:00:38:18 – 00:00:58:02
Chris Mongeon
Thank you guys for having me. Honored to be here. Um, yeah, I, uh, have multiple businesses now that I run, uh, real estate, Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m actually starting a, uh, chartering business too, uh, ’cause I love to do fishing. So— start a little more— gonna tie that all— I try to tie it all together as well.

00:00:58:03 – 00:01:13:06
Chris Mongeon
You know, like, um, even, like, Dunkin’ and real estate, you know, I always like to bring coffees for my clients. When we do the open houses, we like to bring the donuts, the coffee, and, you know, give out the gift cards. We had a closing this morning, you know, and they were asking me ahead of time, “Hey, you got the gift cards?”

00:01:13:07 – 00:01:28:08
Chris Mongeon
‘Cause— yeah— I usually give it to people if I know we’re working together and I feel good about it. I’ll give them a gift card right away and just say, “Hey, you know, if you ever want Dunkin’, you know, it’s on me,” so. I know where me and Craig stand. How many gift cards have you gotten to Dunkin’? I got zero.

00:01:28:12 – 00:01:46:13
Chris Mongeon
You guys get even better than a gift card. You get the coffee— we get delivered— and the delivery. Yeah, we get delivered. DoorDash. One of the things about your business that always intrigues me, uh, when I sit down and talk to you, is how you’re s— so consumer focused towards that buyer, to that seller, where you tell me, you know, a story where you took a buyer, you go show him a house.

00:01:46:13 – 00:02:03:19
Vernon Miles
Next thing you know, you’re grabbing dinner with him, showing him the neighborhood, walking to the beach. Can you elaborate on why you do that and why you get, you know, build that personal connection? Yeah. I know Craig does that very, very well. There’s not a r— a lot of real estate agents that, that I deal with, right? I think that’s a big piece that they’re missing.

00:02:03:19 – 00:02:19:17
Vernon Miles
Is that, that personal connection to the, to the client and building the relationship over time. I mean, I, I didn’t do any real business with you. You did business with Steve White in our office, and thank you. Of course. Love working with Steve. But you and I have become, like, really good friends— yeah— going out fishing together, going out to dinner. Our wives know each other.

00:02:19:18 – 00:02:28:20
Chris Mongeon
Yep. That’s very important to how you d— you build your business, how you run your businesses. Like, just talk a little bit about that, maybe where it came from.

00:02:28:20 – 00:02:44:22
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. Well, I’ve always believed in, like, the long-term relationship, the, the long game, and, and that’s not even just in real estate, just in business in general. Um, and you gotta love who you’re working with. And, like, my clients, most of them, I’m still friends with today. Um, and I, I don’t want it just to seem like it’s based on the transaction.

00:02:44:22 – 00:03:02:09
Chris Mongeon
I know exactly which one you’re talking about. Uh, so this guy was out of town. He was from, like, living down the Cape. He’d never been to Somerset, and I showed him a home that was already on the market. It was, like, one of my biggest deals, residential. It was, like, 1.3 million. They already had 2 offers. I literally just met him, show him the house.

00:03:02:09 – 00:03:23:06
Chris Mongeon
He loved it. We ended up getting it. Steve White actually financed that— awesome— so that was a big deal for him. But he didn’t really know Somerset, and he had 2 young kids, so. And I grew up in Somerset. So I took him, after we saw the house, which was on Riverside Ave, I took him down to Piers’ Beach, which I lived close to at the time, and we actually walked around the park. And we’re just, like, getting to know each other.

00:03:23:06 – 00:03:40:07
Chris Mongeon
He’s telling me about his kids. You know, I let him know, like, Somerset has a really good school system. They just built the brand-new high school at the time. They were building the brand-new middle school. Uh, so just kinda telling him, telling him about the town, why I loved it, you know, having been growing up there and, uh, you know, getting to know what his needs were.

00:03:40:09 – 00:03:56:07
Chris Mongeon
Turns out, uh, he loved fishing, so we connected on that. And his house that he bought was right on the Taunton River, which, you know, that’s like the prime location for striped bass, which is, like, my forte, as you know. And I told him, I’m like, “You know, if you get this house, I’ll definitely take you out fishing. We’ll catch some fish.”

00:03:56:07 – 00:04:14:16
Chris Mongeon
And he’s actually one of my close friends now. Um, we went out tuna fishing last year. We actually hooked up to, like, an 800-pound tuna, just him and I. Fought the thing for 4 hours and lost it right at the boat, and we were both, like, done after that. Sauced up. Yeah. Still have yet to land a tuna, but hopefully this year will be our year.

00:04:14:18 – 00:04:16:03
Vernon Miles
Had a lot of them on hook.

00:04:16:06 – 00:04:35:15
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. This year, I think I hooked 5. I actually just bought the new reels too, the 130s, so we’re not playing around this year. But— it’s, I’ll tell you, it’s a tough fish to fight. These things, like, they just don’t get tired, the bluefin tuna. It’s unbelievable. And if you give them, like, 2 seconds to rest, it’s like you never were fighting them to begin with.

00:04:35:16 – 00:04:37:20
Chris Mongeon
Like, they completely recharge themselves, so.

00:04:37:20 – 00:04:42:10
Vernon Miles
One of the other things that amazes me is you’re still a young guy. I mean—

00:04:42:11 – 00:04:42:20
Chris Mongeon
32.

00:04:42:20 – 00:04:45:05
Chris Mongeon
I’ll be 33 in a couple weeks.

00:04:45:06 – 00:04:46:01
Vernon Miles
You and Craig are making me seem like a grandfather.

00:04:47:02 – 00:04:47:10
Craig Snell
Happy birthday.

00:04:47:13 – 00:04:49:13
Chris Mongeon
If you wanna take me out for my birthday—

00:04:49:24 – 00:04:57:18
Chris Mongeon
Cinco de Mayo, baby. Cinco de drinko. Oh, you’re born Cinco de Mayo? Yeah. I’m closing a deal on Cinco de Mayo with Steve White. Nice. We’ll have to take you out to, uh, The National.

00:04:57:19 – 00:04:58:01
Vernon Miles
All right.

00:04:58:01 – 00:04:59:14
Chris Mongeon
Let’s do it.

00:04:59:16 – 00:05:21:01
Vernon Miles
The other piece that intrigues me about you is, obviously, your age we just brought up, but the number of businesses and the fact that, uh, Craig alluded to this earlier, you just don’t sleep, man. Like, you— I’ve gone out fishing with you. He’s opened Dunkin’ Donuts at, like, 2:30 in the morning, makes the donuts, gets the coffee going. He brings all of it to the boat, meets us at the boat, 3:30, 4:00, and he’s already opened the Dunkin’ Donuts, made sure the employees are there.

00:05:21:02 – 00:05:39:18
Vernon Miles
Go fishing for— that day was a lot longer than I wanted to be out there. Don’t go fishing with this man— I remember the day— if you have somewhere to go. Uh-huh. Uh, I got home very late. But then you’re out fishing for 8 hours, and then you’re selling real estate. And then I don’t think you sleep and you’re back out doing the rinse and repeat.

00:05:39:19 – 00:05:41:12
Vernon Miles
Yeah. It’s, it, it’s incredible, man.

00:05:41:13 – 00:05:56:08
Chris Mongeon
I mean, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. And, like, to me, I don’t like to chill. When I, when n— when nothing is going on for me, like, that’s what makes me nervous. Like, I actually like the chaos. I like the action. I don’t even have cable, man. Like, I literally like to work, you know?

00:05:56:09 – 00:06:12:19
Chris Mongeon
But luckily, I’m doing something that I really like to do. So to me, like, and we don’t punch a clock. I don’t really think about it like I’m working. I just think about it like there’s things I have to get done and I wanna get up and do them and I wanna— you know, I wanna get a lot out of my life. You know, I have a lot of goals I wanna reach.

00:06:12:19 – 00:06:17:15
Chris Mongeon
So to me, you know, I’m on my journey and I love it. The joy is in the journey. That’s awesome.

00:06:17:16 – 00:06:19:18
Craig Snell
When did you get into real estate?

00:06:19:20 – 00:06:41:23
Chris Mongeon
That’s a great question. My dad’s cousin, Kenny Mungin, owns KAM Realty, so he definitely gave me my first intro into the business, like, officially. But I’ve always loved to go look at houses. I’ve always wanted to do flips, which I’ve been doing pretty heavily the last couple of years. I love that side of the business too, because, you know, it creates a lot of opportunities for, like, finding new buyers.

00:06:42:00 – 00:07:00:12
Chris Mongeon
You know, when you get the listings, you have all the control, so you get to meet a lot of the other realtors. You get opportunities to meet new buyers that are unrepresented, which we’ve done, and I always have an agent with me. Usually, you know, Steve will be with me and he’ll pre-qualify people sometimes on the spot, which is cool, and it just brings a lot of action.

00:07:00:12 – 00:07:11:24
Chris Mongeon
It’s great marketing. And I like taking a house that is, like, desolate, that no one can live in, and making it into something that people are like, “Wow, look at this house.” You know, like, that feels really good to see the whole process, so.

00:07:11:24 – 00:07:16:20
Vernon Miles
Yeah, something to be proud of. That’s awesome. When did you open Peak Real Estate?

00:07:16:22 – 00:07:33:18
Chris Mongeon
Good question. I think it’s been— this May will be 4 years now. Congrats. It’s kind of flown by, honestly. A lot of people told me, like, “You know, that’s a big move. Maybe you’re not ready,” and I have to admit, even I was on the fence a little bit. But I’ve always been, like, the kind of guy just to go for it.

00:07:33:18 – 00:07:47:17
Chris Mongeon
And, like, worst case scenario, if this doesn’t work out, I’m just right back where I started, but why not try it? You know, life’s short, and I, I try not to overthink things, just take action, and, you know, you figure it out as you go. I didn’t have all the answers in the beginning. Sounds like you.

00:07:47:22 – 00:07:51:05
Craig Snell
Yeah, sounds like you. That’s your saying. Yeah. You miss all the shots you don’t take.

00:07:51:10 – 00:08:01:01
Chris Mongeon
And you can always, you can always refine and try different things, you know. And when you’re young, like— I mean— too many people sit on the sidelines for too long, afraid to make a jump, afraid to make a change, you know.

00:08:01:02 – 00:08:18:18
Craig Snell
They don’t wanna give up that salary that they have, or, you know, that stability. Like, I had that. I had people in my ear nonstop when I was at the fire department like, “You’re crazy to leave the fire department. What are you thinking? Like, what happens when that slows down or ends?” But I go back.

00:08:18:20 – 00:08:22:04
Craig Snell
Like, what’s the worst case? Like, I go back, I start again, and—

00:08:22:05 – 00:08:24:16
Vernon Miles
You find out you don’t like it or you failed at it.

00:08:24:17 – 00:08:42:08
Chris Mongeon
Rinse and repeat, find the next thing. The fire department’s always gonna be there, just like many of the jobs, you know. But my golden rule is never take advice from anybody that you wouldn’t trade places with. That’s a good— unless, unless it’s like you’re asking a specific question about someone who’s, like, an expert in their field, but a lot of people will try to give you advice.

00:08:42:09 – 00:08:59:09
Chris Mongeon
It’s amazing. I get it all the time, even still, like, “You should do this.” Yeah, I mean, everyone— you can learn something from everyone too, but I think everyone wants different things out of life, and you have to do what makes the most sense for you. Me personally, like, I love being my own boss, and I like to be in control of my success or my failures.

00:08:59:09 – 00:09:05:14
Chris Mongeon
I like to know it was on me, you know, whether it was good or bad, and then you can learn from it and do better next time.

00:09:05:16 – 00:09:15:18
Vernon Miles
What got you into Dunkin’ Donuts? That’s an interesting, uh, kind of switch off. From Dunkin’ Donuts to real estate, now into charter fishing. We’ll, we’ll, maybe we’ll wrap up with charter fishing.

00:09:15:22 – 00:09:21:17
Chris Mongeon
That’s a new adventure. Yeah. But, um, you’re actually hearing about it here for the first time. So we’re—

00:09:21:17 – 00:09:22:20
Vernon Miles
Going to go live.

00:09:22:21 – 00:09:44:08
Chris Mongeon
Yeah, yeah. So my great-grandfather actually, uh, saw an ad in the paper back in 1971 about Dunkin’ Donuts. At the time, it wasn’t really, like, a big thing. There was no stores in Fall River, so he actually opened up the first store in Fall River on Globe Street. And really, he just got lucky that it ended up blowing up, ’cause at the time it wasn’t really, like, a name brand.

00:09:44:09 – 00:10:03:14
Chris Mongeon
They weren’t on every corner like they are now. And then my grandfather opened up the first store in Somerset on County Street, and then after that, my father, uh, ended up getting into the business and opened up a lot of stores, so. And now I’m in it too. So it’s kind of— I’m a 4th generation owner. That’s awesome. I really love the business.

00:10:03:14 – 00:10:19:02
Chris Mongeon
It does have its pros and cons, like anything else. It’s a lot of early mornings, and it can be tough to find good help. But we have a really good management team, and, uh, really good employees we’ve found, and a lot of them have been with us for a long time, and we try to take good care of the ones that stick with us.

00:10:19:06 – 00:10:24:10
Vernon Miles
How many, how many stores have you opened up? It’s not just, like, 1. I mean, you’re in 3 or 4 different locations.

00:10:24:10 – 00:10:44:22
Chris Mongeon
Me personally, I own 2 stores, one in Somerset, and then I opened up, um, on Broadway, 200 Broadway in Fall River. It’s actually quite difficult now for me to open up stores because the market is so saturated. You know, at the time, my father was my age, um, you know, there was a lot more opportunity to grow. Now it’s gotten harder and harder just because—

00:10:44:23 – 00:10:45:13
Craig Snell
They’re everywhere.

00:10:45:14 – 00:11:07:05
Chris Mongeon
Then Dunkin’ won’t let you put a store too close to the next one, so it’s very difficult to find a location that has the traffic that’s not too far away. And there’s also, like, territories. So, like, we can’t go into anyone else’s territory, but they do protect you, like, they won’t let anyone come into ours as well. So I do love the brand for protecting you, but it can be difficult to expand.

00:11:07:06 – 00:11:24:08
Craig Snell
So that’s kinda similar, like we were talking about earlier with the real estate, when you decided to open up your own company. You had options, right? You can kinda do the same thing and go through more of a franchise like a RE/MAX, a Keller Williams, or do something like that. But you took the side of you’re gonna start your own company, your own brand.

00:11:24:13 – 00:11:34:12
Craig Snell
What made you decide that, and what are your kinda thoughts on, like, you kinda do both now. You deal with the franchise stuff with Dunkin’— yeah— and you do the real estate stuff more on your own. What do you like better? What are the pros and cons between them?

00:11:34:12 – 00:11:51:00
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. So for Dunkin’ Donuts, I mean, they drive so much business, right? And I guess for real estate, you know, I don’t know ’cause I don’t own a franchise in real estate, but I guess they probably— the idea is they do the same. It’s name brand recognition mostly. But you do lose something along the way with that as far as control.

00:11:51:00 – 00:12:05:10
Chris Mongeon
And they kinda tell you, like, what you have to sell, what you’re gonna be marketing. And for real estate, I wanted to make those decisions for myself, and my goal was never to be the biggest company in real estate, just to be the best, and I still stand by that. My goal is not to be big.

00:12:05:10 – 00:12:18:11
Chris Mongeon
I get people that ask me all the time that wanna join, and I say no because right now, like, I’m just trying to build, like, a really high-quality elite team. Um, so that’s the thing. Yeah, sometimes less is more, in my opinion.

00:12:18:17 – 00:12:20:06
Craig Snell
No, I get you, man. I feel you.

00:12:20:12 – 00:12:21:14
Vernon Miles
We have that same— we have the same conversation all the time.

00:12:21:20 – 00:12:35:01
Craig Snell
Yeah. You know, what direction we wanna go. Obviously, everything looks great when it’s big, but the bigger it is, the bigger the problems, the bigger the headache, and it’s not always the more money you make. Yeah. It is a big thing that people don’t realize.

00:12:35:03 – 00:12:51:17
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. And at what point, like, is enough, enough, right? I mean, at the end of the day, is it really gonna make me happier to have more phone calls come in or more people I have to deal with or more liability? Like, yeah, you— maybe you have more opportunities financially, but, um, you know, I’m pretty happy with how things are going now.

00:12:51:17 – 00:13:08:20
Chris Mongeon
So for me personally, I mean, I’ll take someone on if I feel like they’re really good, they know what they’re doing. My— the most important thing to me is that I don’t have to worry about the person doing something unethical or something that’s gonna, um, you know, ruin my image because my brand, I feel like, has a very good image.

00:13:08:20 – 00:13:26:11
Chris Mongeon
We have almost 100, uh, Google reviews, 5 stars, which, you know, I know to you guys that’s not much, but to us, I mean, we burn— every transaction, like, really matters. We treat all of our clients like they’re family, and that’s, like, the most important deal, and I really like that, you know? And the bigger you get, the more volume you do, you get away from that a little bit, you know.

00:13:26:13 – 00:13:28:13
Chris Mongeon
So.

00:13:28:14 – 00:13:33:00
Craig Snell
Yeah, it happens. There’s nothing really you can do about it. You can’t control everything.

00:13:33:01 – 00:13:41:16
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. And quality has, like, always been very important to me in business, you know? I always believe you gotta do things the right way, and, you know, you can’t cheap out on your marketing or anything like that.

00:13:41:16 – 00:13:57:09
Vernon Miles
So you’re very mysterious, man. So we’re gonna shift gears here a little bit away from the business side of it. We might come back into that and ask you about the fishing charters, but— Chris’s wife’s, like, a yoga instructor. She’s a teacher, like—

00:13:57:10 – 00:13:59:09
Craig Snell
You guys got to get married kind of quick, right?

00:13:59:10 – 00:14:21:20
Chris Mongeon
Quicker than expected. Yeah. So I thought because she was Canadian, actually, that it would be easier for her to come here and get a job, but that’s not the case. We had to go through the same process as everyone else. Tried for a couple different kinds of visas, like the TN, the K-1, and, uh, no dice. So we saw an immigration lawyer actually here in New Bedford, and he was like, “If you guys wanna be with each other, you should just get married.”

00:14:21:21 – 00:14:27:03
Chris Mongeon
And, in our heads, like, we w— we weren’t even thinking of that ’cause we just, you know, started living together.

00:14:27:04 – 00:14:29:08
Craig Snell
You guys kinda just started to back up the relationship.

00:14:29:09 – 00:14:36:14
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. And again, I’m just the kinda guy that was like, “You know what? Let’s just try it, and if it doesn’t work out, then at least we know that we tried.”

00:14:36:16 – 00:14:37:12
Vernon Miles
Head first.

00:14:37:13 – 00:14:50:10
Chris Mongeon
Exactly. So I remember after the immigration lawyer, we went out to lunch at The Black Whale. And it’s funny ’cause in my head I wasn’t considering getting married at that time, and I was like, “You know what? Let’s just go for it.” She thought I was crazy, but yeah, here we are.

00:14:50:11 – 00:14:52:21
Vernon Miles
I think you’re crazy too, but the story’s amazing.

00:14:52:22 – 00:14:53:14
Chris Mongeon
Yeah.

00:14:53:19 – 00:14:54:04
Vernon Miles
It all—

00:14:54:04 – 00:14:57:12
Chris Mongeon
Worked out. Sometimes you just gotta roll the dice. You know, you guys—

00:14:57:12 – 00:14:59:00
Craig Snell
—get married that day, or was it like—

00:14:59:01 – 00:15:14:13
Chris Mongeon
No, I think it was like, uh, 2— we actually got married 3 times, believe it or not. The first time was about 2 months after that, which was, like, by the law, legally, to kinda get the process going, because it takes about, like, 3 years to for her to get her citizenship proper. All the—

00:15:14:15 – 00:15:17:02
Vernon Miles
What you have to jump through to, to, to come to the US.

00:15:17:04 – 00:15:20:01
Craig Snell
She couldn’t even get a driver’s license here, right? Was she telling me that?

00:15:20:02 – 00:15:35:20
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. I think it took about 6 months or something like that. Yeah. I thought it was gonna be easier ’cause she was Canadian, but no, same as everyone else. So we got married once by the law, and then my mom wanted us to get married in the church, so we got married once by the church, which we lived right across the street from one.

00:15:35:20 – 00:15:50:09
Chris Mongeon
So we literally walked across, got married there, and then had the party afterwards. That was awesome. And then we did a big one at the Blythwald in Bristol. That’s awesome. And we had, like, 220 people there, so we got to experience it all. It’s been a wild ride.

00:15:50:10 – 00:15:53:22
Vernon Miles
32 years old going on 68, and—

00:15:53:24 – 00:16:05:22
Craig Snell
And you travel still. I mean, you obviously, you and your wife both like traveling, if she took an assignment to teach in another country, which is a crazy thing to do. I mean, I don’t know if I would ever take that—

00:16:05:22 – 00:16:07:01
Vernon Miles
Risk. Thailand on top of it.

00:16:07:02 – 00:16:12:18
Chris Mongeon
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we’re both very adventurous people, and we like traveling more outside the U.S.

00:16:12:18 – 00:16:16:09
Craig Snell
Every time I see you guys or see your Facebook posts, you are in another country.

00:16:16:10 – 00:16:21:07
Chris Mongeon
I try to be. That’s not by accident. I wanna see the whole world, honestly. Like, that’s my goal.

00:16:21:08 – 00:16:24:15
Craig Snell
You gotta be getting close at this point.

00:16:24:17 – 00:16:26:08
Chris Mongeon
I don’t know, Craig. It’s a big world.

00:16:26:09 – 00:16:27:06
Vernon Miles
But yeah.

00:16:27:08 – 00:16:52:12
Chris Mongeon
We’re trying our best, believe me. Um, another big thing too is, you know, we don’t have any kids yet, so, like, that’s, like, probably, like, the biggest thing for traveling. Like, when you have kids— try to get it all in— yeah, and it’s not the same kinds of trips. Like, the trips that we go on are, like, very adventurous. Like, we just came back from Peru. Like, you could have brought a kid with you, but it kinda would’ve been irresponsible, like, doing the stuff that we were doing, like going, going in the desert, like, on a dune buggy.

00:16:52:12 – 00:16:56:02
Chris Mongeon
And the hikes we were doing, like, you couldn’t really bring a kid on that trip.

00:16:56:04 – 00:16:58:19
Craig Snell
Vacation becomes not as much fun when you’re looking at Mickey Mouse the whole time.

00:16:58:19 – 00:17:15:07
Chris Mongeon
Exactly. Yeah. And there’s always gonna be a time to do that stuff, too. But for now, we’re just trying to cross as many countries off the list. I actually really wanna go to Africa and Egypt. Those are pretty high up for me. And she wants, I think she wanted to go to— there’s a few places in Greece she wanted to go. She wants to go to Morocco. So— Africa, Greece— yeah.

00:17:19:17 – 00:17:20:19
Vernon Miles
Egypt, not on my bucket list.

00:17:20:20 – 00:17:24:01
Chris Mongeon
We’re gonna try and cross those off the list in the next couple of years.

00:17:24:01 – 00:17:24:14
Vernon Miles
That’s awesome.

00:17:24:20 – 00:17:35:04
Chris Mongeon
I like the pyramids. Like, I’ve always been fascinated by history. So I know Javi went there too— turn the camera around.

00:17:35:06 – 00:17:44:01
Vernon Miles
I’m gonna go with Javi on this one. I’m glad he was able to experience it. I don’t know if I’d go there for maybe a couple days and just see that and then kinda get out of there. I’ve had some friends go there, I don’t know.

00:17:44:01 – 00:17:51:10
Chris Mongeon
Just— I heard it’s a little sketchy for Americans too. Like, they’re, they’re on you like flies on shit, no?

00:17:51:12 – 00:17:53:06
Vernon Miles
You know, check your wallet every couple minutes.

00:17:53:07 – 00:17:54:04
Chris Mongeon
Yeah, exactly.

00:17:54:05 – 00:17:58:00
Vernon Miles
So what do you like to do for fun other than travel the world?

00:17:58:01 – 00:18:15:11
Chris Mongeon
I like to go out for really nice dinners. I like good food, man. Like, if— going out to a steakhouse with my boys, you know, with a nice glass of red wine. I mean, come on. Um— nothing better. I do like being on the water. I like skiing. Um, anything in nature, like hiking. Just experiences, unique experiences you can’t do anywhere else.

00:18:15:12 – 00:18:17:17
Craig Snell
Do you grow up fishing or did you get into that later?

00:18:17:17 – 00:18:32:10
Chris Mongeon
Um, I grew up fishing, but— a little bit, yeah— there’s nothing like having your own boat, man. I mean, you gotta be into it, of course, but, uh, it’s just like freedom. Like, I can have, like, the worst day and just go for a little cruise off throughout my boat and, like, you forget about everything. I don’t know. There’s just something about it, at least for me.

00:18:32:11 – 00:18:33:02
Chris Mongeon
At least for me.

00:18:33:04 – 00:18:33:19
Vernon Miles
That’s your reset button.

00:18:33:20 – 00:18:35:09
Chris Mongeon
It’s the most relaxing thing.

00:18:35:10 – 00:18:36:09
Vernon Miles
Yeah. That’s awesome.

00:18:36:10 – 00:18:39:00
Chris Mongeon
And you lose all your service when you go out in the open.

00:18:39:02 – 00:18:42:23
Vernon Miles
Oh, yeah. Especially when you go out fishing with Chris. He takes you off to the ends of the world— so I’ve been ba—

00:18:43:00 – 00:18:44:13
Chris Mongeon
The bank.

00:18:44:15 – 00:18:54:17
Vernon Miles
For, you know, 9, 10 hours. Just, I’ll be back by 2:00. I’m thinking I’m gonna be back in my office at 3:00. I’m pulling into my house at about 8:30 smelling like fish, sunburned.

00:18:54:20 – 00:18:55:12
Craig Snell
Yeah, you were dead to the world that day. Exhausted. Oh my goodness.

00:18:57:08 – 00:19:13:17
Chris Mongeon
I’ll never forget, we were fishing on the backside of, uh, Martha’s Vineyard off No Man’s Land— yeah— which is literally what the island is called, and you got no service out there. And we were tuna fishing, and we came back. I think we were supposed to get back at, like, 3:00— yeah— or something like that. We got back at, like, 7:30 at night.

00:19:13:17 – 00:19:15:18
Vernon Miles
The sun was coming down. Yeah, yeah. It was, it was.

00:19:15:21 – 00:19:22:04
Chris Mongeon
And as soon as we got service, like, my phone, I think I had like 40 or 50 messages come in, and you had, like, 100.

00:19:22:05 – 00:19:24:24
Vernon Miles
Just all you hear is ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

00:19:25:01 – 00:19:31:10
Chris Mongeon
That’s the nature of the beast, right? So in our industry it’s tough ’cause you pretty much always have to be in communication.

00:19:31:12 – 00:19:34:23
Vernon Miles
But it was awesome being out there with dolphins. You’re seeing whales.

00:19:34:24 – 00:19:37:19
Chris Mongeon
Oh, absolutely. It’s like National Geographic out there.

00:19:37:20 – 00:19:50:19
Vernon Miles
Nothing like it. Like, when you’re on, like, just land. We live on the water. We’re all very close to the water. When you go out there, even just 10 miles, 15 miles offshore, you’re like, “This is, this is different out here.” Like, there’s—

00:19:51:00 – 00:20:09:13
Chris Mongeon
It’s way different than being in shore— whales, dolphins. Yeah. But yeah, all the sea life you see, and it is kinda nice to be disconnected for a little while. As much as it affects our business, it’s just relaxing to be just present in that moment because we really don’t get that. And a lot of us are going day to day, and we’re not being very mindful with what we’re doing. Like, we’re just doing it.

00:20:09:14 – 00:20:21:09
Chris Mongeon
But you’re not really thinking about what are we actually doing. So it’s very rare that we actually get to live in the moment in today’s day and age, especially for us in the, uh, business that we’re in, you know? Like, we always have to be in good communication with people.

00:20:21:11 – 00:20:32:06
Craig Snell
It’s so easy to just get lost in the grind every day and every day, and before you know it, you’re like, “Oh, 3 years went by and I haven’t done anything besides work.” And yeah, go home, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. It’s nice to see that—

00:20:32:07 – 00:20:34:01
Chris Mongeon
We work to live, not live to work, you know?

00:20:34:02 – 00:20:36:07
Craig Snell
Yeah, you take that time off and get to enjoy it.

00:20:36:08 – 00:20:46:08
Chris Mongeon
Yeah. And I love working hard, but I love to play hard too. And that kinda resets it. Like, for me it’s a non-negotiable. Like, my— I do take a lot of trips, but when I’m here, I bust my ass. And—

00:20:46:12 – 00:20:47:01
Vernon Miles
No sleep.

00:20:47:02 – 00:21:12:21
Chris Mongeon
Even when I go on trips, like in Peru, every single day I was working for a minimum of 2 hours in the morning. I have to. It’s a non-negotiable for me, and I’m getting back to people because for me, in business, whether it’s Dunkin’, real estate, whatever it is— communication is the most important thing, not only for my clients, especially my clients, but even, like, people I’m working with, like, whether it’s a contractor or someone I’m in business with, I really value communication.

00:21:12:21 – 00:21:24:15
Chris Mongeon
And it’s to the point that, like, if someone doesn’t communicate well with me, I don’t even wanna work with them as a professional, because I value it so much, and I feel like I’m always answering people very quickly.

00:21:24:17 – 00:21:39:23
Craig Snell
It’s tough to work with people that don’t have that same mindset. Yeah. You know, and they, they just don’t seem— I mean, that’s why everyone— that’s why we all work together— because it’s the same thing, and we know that. And you have to have that for the client, because if that was you on the other side, like, that’s how I always look at it.

00:21:40:00 – 00:22:01:04
Craig Snell
I’m super impatient. Never mind doing something that you’ve never done before. It’s the biggest financial decision in your life, buying a house. And now if you have a question, you wanna get an answer. Now, it doesn’t always have to be right away in 2 seconds, but, you know, within a reasonable time. And if you’re working with somebody, if you were working with me and it took me 3 days to respond, you’re probably not gonna work with me anymore.

00:22:01:06 – 00:22:08:22
Chris Mongeon
Definitely not. No. And that whole time they’re probably worried, versus if you just answer them in a reasonable amount of time, they can not worry about it.

00:22:08:23 – 00:22:14:03
Craig Snell
Even if it’s just respond and just give them a response, like, “Hey, I’m gonna look into this and get back to you at this day.”

00:22:14:03 – 00:22:15:06
Chris Mongeon
Just to let them know that you’re on it. Just to let—

00:22:15:06 – 00:22:15:10
Vernon Miles
You’re—

00:22:15:10 – 00:22:30:11
Craig Snell
Yeah, exactly. And I think that’s a lot of people’s problem is that they don’t even do that. Like, if they don’t know the answer, or they just wait— yeah— they need to look into something, instead of just explaining it to them and just explaining why you need more time or what the reason is, or that you’re looking into it.

00:22:30:11 – 00:22:32:12
Craig Snell
They just go ghost. And I’m like—

00:22:32:13 – 00:22:34:01
Chris Mongeon
You can’t go ghost.

00:22:34:02 – 00:22:34:21
Vernon Miles
That’s tough.

00:22:34:21 – 00:22:50:15
Chris Mongeon
I don’t know how people are in this industry when they, you know, don’t answer in a reasonable timeframe. You know, especially, I’m not gonna mention any names, but, like, you know, sometimes, like, we will be trying to get buyers into, like, a house, and you reach out to the agent, you can text them, you can call them, and they don’t get back to you.

00:22:50:15 – 00:23:04:10
Chris Mongeon
And it’s like, are you trying to sell this house or not? Yeah. I have a buyer for you. But by the time they get back to you, it’s like we’ve already found something else. But so they’re really doing their seller a disservice, you know, and it amazes me how people can operate like that in this industry.

00:23:04:16 – 00:23:20:22
Vernon Miles
Well, hopefully they’ll weed some of that stuff out, but the good news is, back to having fun, Craig and I moved our boat over to South Dartmouth, which is right next to our houses, so we’re gonna have to have you over, get out on the boat, go relax, and maybe meet up with you and your, uh, your regulator. I’d love that.

00:23:20:23 – 00:23:27:23
Vernon Miles
Maybe hit up the Vineyard or something. Maybe go out for some cocktails, maybe some lobster rolls. I think we could make that, like, a Saturday morning— we definitely should— adventure out there.

00:23:28:00 – 00:23:30:12
Chris Mongeon
I remember last time on the Vineyard. That was a blast.

00:23:30:12 – 00:23:36:20
Craig Snell
Yeah, we’re cruising around, all of a sudden here he comes bombing in. We’re like, I think you’d just got off a plane, like, that night— yeah— or morning or something.

00:23:36:20 – 00:23:37:19
Chris Mongeon
It was that morning.

00:23:37:21 – 00:23:40:01
Craig Snell
And you’re like, “Oh, yeah, we’re just”— I’m like, “Jesus, man, you’re crazy.”

00:23:40:03 – 00:23:53:21
Vernon Miles
R— remember, actually, that same day. So we’re hanging out. We went out for lunch on the Vineyard. Yeah. And then he gets on his boat, and he’s like, “I’m gonna go into, like, Tiverton or something.” We weren’t even going home. And we’re like, “It’s gonna be dark by the time he has to drive that boat back from wherever he’s at.” I’m like—

00:23:53:23 – 00:23:56:15
Chris Mongeon
I don’t mind.

00:23:56:17 – 00:24:07:17
Vernon Miles
I’m not trying to do all that. No. I’m not doing all that. But we have to definitely make that a, uh, non-negotiable this summer— yeah— is trying to get out there once a week or something, even if it’s for 4 or 5 hours.

00:24:07:19 – 00:24:21:16
Chris Mongeon
1,000%. I actually wanted to talk to you about this, but one of the ideas that I had is if, if you can get some of your people to get on your boat, and I’ll take mine, and, uh, the— you know Nashawn Island? They have, like, those little beaches there. They’re owned by the Forbes family, but they let you boat there and beach there.

00:24:21:16 – 00:24:27:05
Chris Mongeon
We should definitely plan a day, maybe set up, like, some tents, some games and stuff, hang out there.

00:24:27:07 – 00:24:29:12
Vernon Miles
We can definitely— beach it. That’s not far from Dartmouth, where I have my—

00:24:29:16 – 00:24:35:09
Chris Mongeon
It’s right out of New Bedford. It’s, like, straight across. Yeah, it’s not bad at all. It’s the first island you see. It’s, like, Nashawn Island, and then behind that’s the Vineyard.

00:24:35:10 – 00:24:41:21
Craig Snell
Yeah. Is that where we went with Emily and, and Sue and the kids? No, I— it was like, we, like, tied up and—

00:24:41:23 – 00:24:47:17
Vernon Miles
I think we went over to, um, Bed— it starts with a B. That’s more towards, like, the canal area where we were.

00:24:47:21 – 00:24:49:00
Chris Mongeon
Yeah, there’s, like, 3 different beaches.

00:24:49:01 – 00:24:50:12
Vernon Miles
We went over to Bassett’s Island.

00:24:50:13 – 00:24:54:00
Chris Mongeon
Yeah, it’s like Kettle Cove is one of them. I forget the names— Bassett Island— of all the other ones.

00:24:54:01 – 00:24:58:19
Vernon Miles
Falmouth with the, the bar that serves the mudslides. Can’t think of that off the top of my head either.

00:24:58:20 – 00:25:03:09
Chris Mongeon
There’s so many great spots. But yeah, I’m glad the weather’s getting warm. We definitely gotta get out there soon.

00:25:03:12 – 00:25:10:02
Vernon Miles
Yeah. I’m driving over the bridge, I’m looking at it, the water’s like glass. I’m like, “Oh, the boats are starting to come into the harbor.” I’m like, “This is gonna be a great summer.”

00:25:10:03 – 00:25:16:16
Chris Mongeon
I’m gonna try and launch tomorrow, actually. I can’t wait. Where do you keep your boat? I’m getting excited about it. I move it all over the place.

00:25:16:21 – 00:25:19:06
Vernon Miles
Um— it’s over here in Fairhaven now, right? Is that what you said?

00:25:19:08 – 00:25:21:20
Chris Mongeon
Uh— it moves. So right now it moves.

00:25:21:22 – 00:25:22:22
Craig Snell
It moves like him.

00:25:22:23 – 00:25:43:00
Craig Snell
Can’t stay still.

00:25:22:23 – 00:25:43:00
Chris Mongeon
I don’t have a trailer ’cause my boat’s 33 feet long, and I don’t like to trailer anyways. But, um, right now it’s in Onset, ’cause I got it painted, as you know. And then I, I normally do keep it at Popp Island in Fairhaven. But I like to move where the fish are, so I’m gonna put it at Shaw’s Boat Yard in Dighton for the stripers— sure— when they come in the Taunton River. Taunton River.

00:25:43:02 – 00:25:52:09
Chris Mongeon
As soon as they’re out, I’ll move over to Popp Island, hit them in Buzzards Bay, and then I’ll be moving it over to Safe Harbor in Plymouth to hit the tuna.

00:25:52:11 – 00:26:01:07
Vernon Miles
And that’s the day in the life of Chris Mongeon. Yeah. Entrepreneur, husband of the year. Yeah. World traveler. Yeah. Thanks for coming on, man.

00:26:01:07 – 00:26:02:08
Craig Snell
You guys all look bad. Of course, absolutely.

00:26:02:09 – 00:26:03:13
Chris Mongeon
Of course. Absolutely.

00:26:03:17 – 00:26:04:15
Craig Snell
Always a pleasure, my man.

00:26:04:16 – 00:26:05:12
Chris Mongeon
Always a pleasure.

00:26:05:13 – 00:26:07:12
Vernon Miles
Appreciate you. ‘Til next time, guys.

00:26:07:13 – 00:26:08:08
Craig Snell
See you guys.