The NAR buyer’s agent litigation has been a huge topic and concern for agents across the country for months. Now that the lawsuit has been settled, there’s a lot of panic, knee-jerk reactions, assumptions and worries about what it means.  Are we in trouble? Should we be worried about our future? No.  It’s just too soon to make a final conclusion on the matter. Everyone’s thinking that this is bad news, but it’s just too early to believe that. Nothing is final, and there are definitely more questions than answers at the moment.  What isn’t a question is what we have to do (and what we’ve always had to do) - provide value. As long as we’re leading with value and being consultants who are in for our clients, no ruling will change anything. In many ways, this settlement is actually good news because it forces us to raise our standards as an industry.  Today, we’re joined by eXp’s Chief Growth Officer, Michael Valdes to discuss what this settlement means and why the sky isn’t falling, like many people think it is.  Guest Info Michael Valdes is the Chief Growth Officer of eXp Global. He is currently one of the very few Latino C-suite executives of a publicly traded real estate company in the country (Nasdaq: EXPI). He has led a team which has opened 23 countries in 22 months without ever getting on a plane which is a feat that has never been done in the industry. This model has successfully touched the lives of thousands of people across the globe and given them an opportunity to change their lives. Michael was the former Senior Vice President of Global Servicing for Realogy Corporation. In that role he oversaw the international servicing platform for all Realogy brands including Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, Better Homes & Garden, Corcoran, Climb and Sotheby’s International Realty in 113 countries. He had been with Realogy in a variety of roles for 15 years. Prior to that, Mr. Valdes was Director of Private Banking at Deutsche Bank for a decade where he oversaw a book of business of just under $1 billion. He has the distinction of being the first Director in the United States of Latino descent. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn and  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

33m

Mar 25, 2024

In today’s market, most of us are coming up against the same problem - belligerent sellers who think their home is worth more than everyone’s saying it is. Under normal circumstances, that means no deal, but there’s strategy for these kinds of leads, creative finance.  Creative finance is an incredibly simple strategy that many in real estate treat as illegal or wrong. The truth is, the people who do creative finance, make the water muddy so you think it’s deep, it’s actually something a lot of us can easily do.  We have thousands of creative finance deals sitting in our database, and there’s an easy way to go after them. Pace Morby has built a portfolio of 2132 doors, worth $450 million without using his own money or borrowing a single cent. Today he shares why every agent should be using this strategy and how it works.  Change your identity  Pace worked as a contractor for many years, and one day a real estate investor he was working with said, “you’re not in real estate, you’re a slave to my business - you’re a simple Google search away from being replaced.” As agents, we are service providers to the people who own the real estate. Just because you helped someone else facilitate a sale in real estate, doesn’t mean you’re an investor.  Investing and Taxes  The IRS wants people to solve affordable housing for the country, and they’ll incentivize investors to create more housing and offset their income so they don’t have to pay taxes. If you make millions of dollars in cash flow, why wouldn’t you want to use your own money? If someone can lend me their own money at 10%, it’s a lot better.  A Huge Opportunity  50% of investments bought in 2022 were back on the market in 2023, because people think owning real estate is easy and when they discover that it’s not, they want to get rid of the home.  How to explain seller financing to a seller   Most sellers think their home is worth more than everyone is telling them. When you use creative financing, you actually want the sellers who want too much money because you can offer them payments. Let’s say you’re trying to sell a car for $10k, and you don’t get any bites until you offer payments.  There’s More to Real Estate Than Listings Real estate agents are only focused on the listing, that’s like playing 18 holes of golf with a putter. You should have more than one golf club.  Low inventory isn’t the problem, low affordability is, and creative financing is how you solve it. In this scenario, everyone wins - buyer, seller, agent and investor. Where can you find creative finance deals - through expireds. You can approach them and say, “I know buyers who are open to paying the price if you give them terms.”   Go to Propstream and filter for homes purchased between 2019 and 2022, VA or FHA loans, homes bought with almost no money down, sellers with low equity and homes on the market for over 100 days.  Guest Info Pace Morby is the host of A&E’s most popular TV show ‘Triple Digit Flip’ and one of the most creative real estate investors on the planet. Using dozens of non-traditional strategies called Creative Finance, Pace has acquired 1,000’s of doors nationwide and built a portfolio totaling over $450 million in assets. Each week, Pace teaches tens of thousands of students in his online communities which is becoming the #1 source for anyone looking to get started in real estate utilizing Subject To, Seller Finance and the Gator Method! Go to https://pacemorby.com/ for more information and follow @pacemorby on Instagram.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

1h 23m

Mar 18, 2024

In a good market, the gap between great agents and average agents is virtually non-existent - it’s anyone’s game. When the market turns, the gap between the good and the great becomes so wide, it’s the difference between earning money and leaving the business entirely. Doubling your business in a down market is possible, but it’s not by chance.  You and your team have to be so different that sellers believe you’re the only way they can get top dollar for their home.  That comes down to marketing - the best marketers won’t just outlast the market, they’ll win outright. The market assumes your ability based on your visibility - so we have to win the conversation before we even get into the room with the seller.  The wealthy are paid for their expertise, the lowest paid are compensated for their time. How do we position ourselves as experts? How do we use marketing to craft the unique home selling offer that makes domination automatic?  Curtis Johnson shares the key strategy to winning in this market.  Guest Info Curtis runs a highly successful real estate team at The Curtis Johnson Team Powered By eXp Realty having sold nearly 5,000 residential homes in Arizona and a BILLION Dollars in Volume. The Wall Street Journal ranked his Team as one of the Top 50 out of 1.2 million REALTORS in America. He is one of the most connected and sought after real estate minds in the business. He and his team were singled out as a finalist in Inman's Most Innovative Real Estate Teams in 2018. His extensive knowledge of the real estate market makes him an in demand speaker and real estate expert. He constantly analyzes current market conditions and trends to stay one step ahead of others in the field. Curtis holds several advanced professional designations including GRI, ABR and CRS. Curtis has been featured nationally on the cover of REALTOR Magazine, prominently in CNN Money Magazine as well as interviewed locally on virtually every TV station and newspaper. Curtis and his selling system have been featured on the 60 Minutes equivalent in several countries internationally.  Follow @curtisjohnsonrealestate on Instagram.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

34m

Mar 11, 2024

Adults don’t need to be instructed, they simply need to be reminded.   Pain will always be the leader in the lessons of our lives. If you chase the pain, you learn the lessons quicker. Chase the pain of growth, the pain of the next level. The things you have avoided will always show up on your doorstep like a bill collector.  The better you get in your life, the better your business gets. How can an organization provide everything people need to succeed and they still fail? One person can take a strategy 100 miles and another can take the same strategy and only push it for 2 feet. That’s because the majority of success is based on our psychology.  There’s only going to be 2 agents in the marketplace this year - the drama agent and the growing agent.  Signs of a drama agent;  They are the victim  They need a perpetrator (the market, NAR or another agent - something to be after them. They need something external to justify why we’re not doing the things internally)  They’re not looking for help they are looking for a hero  These are the symptoms of someone who will fail.  Signs of a growing agent;  Someone that takes personal responsibility and owns it all  They ask for help  They contribute  A lot of leaders make shit happen, get comfortable and then expect everyone around them to make shit happen.  What do you want, specifically? The reason the brain likes to make it vague, foggy is so it doesn’t set up conditions for failure. When you get specific on what you want, now you know if you’re failing or succeeding.  Success can be a really terrible teacher. It can teach you that you don’t need to keep going. You may not need more money but your spirit needs more growth.  Guest Bio    Dustin Runyon is a real estate team leader, speaker, coach and connection specialist. He is a stimulant for change, helping thousands find their truth and their path in order to create a life they can truly be proud of. Helping guide companies and individuals break into their power!    Dustin believes we need the truth in order to move forward and that your truth lies inside of you waiting to be faced, waiting to be confronted with arms of openness and readiness.   Runyon dreams of a world where we are filled with joy, fulfillment and a deep need to give and serve those around us. A world where we are excited about who we are and are moving towards becoming more of who we were destined to become. A place where we help instead of hurt, give instead of take and love instead of hate. His mission is to create just that. He hopes that you decide to take part. Head to https://www.dustinrunyon.com/ for more information. To sign up for Fired Up Fridays visit https://firedupfridays.com/.  CTA  ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

49m

Mar 04, 2024

In our industry, owning a brokerage has always been seen as the pinnacle of success. But for many owners who love what real estate offers but not running a brokerage, it’s a necessary evil.  Owning a brokerage is a doorway to many great things, but what happens when that starts to hinder your excellence in the areas you really care about? That’s where Keith Riddle found himself. After becoming an indie brokerage owner, almost by accident, he realized he didn’t have to control everything to be successful.  It’s like a saw mill. Back in the day, saw mill owners put all their focus on the trees and planks, and gave away the wood chips and sawdust for free. Today, saw mill owners realize that there’s actually a ton of money in the wood chips and sawdust, so why not let someone else run the mill? In real estate, Keith kept the brokerage for the ancillary benefits, but he came to realize that he doesn’t have to run the brokerage to get those benefits.  Many of us think we make more by controlling the entire process, but that’s not the case.   That’s why he has chosen to move his brokerage to eXp. He can get the wood chips without running the brokerage out of obligation. Today he shares how he came to this decision, the trap many business owners find themselves in and the mindset shift that will set you free.  Guest Info Keith Riddle is an investor, Saas & iBuyer Software Developer and the CEO and Designated Broker at Synergy Properties & Development.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

35m

Feb 26, 2024

Making a change, whether it’s to a belief system, a business model or brokerage is something many people won’t do, even if it would benefit them. Only people who think critically and aren’t caught up in ego are willing to shift how they see things when presented with new information.  Being willing to change our beliefs publicly means people reminding us of what we believed or said before, or even being labeled as a flip flop. There’s a huge difference between an emotionally intelligent person and someone who changes with the wind. In real estate, too many people hold onto a belief or business model simply because they can’t take the ego risk of being seen differently.  The problem is, that keeps us in places that might not be beneficial to us anymore, even if we’re seemingly being rewarded for it. The more accustomed we get to constantly re-examining and reconciling what we believe, the more we grow as people and as business owners.  Today, Chris Bowers and I discuss this and the power of challenging our thoughts and mindsets. Guest Info Chris Bowers is a Realtor, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.  Follow @chrisbowers_realestate on Instagram and listen to agentXcel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.   CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

41m

Feb 19, 2024

Profit - it’s the whole entire point that we run businesses. For such a critical, and even fundamental topic, agents will talk about everything else but whether or not they are making a profit, and there’s a reason.  Staying on top of your numbers requires a scary level of maturity. Whatever financial decision we make has an impact on the bottom line, and that level of responsibility is so uncomfortable, we’d rather avoid it altogether. It’s the equivalent of stepping on the scale and knowing we have to make lifestyle changes to take care of our health.  If we ran a publicly traded company, every decision would need to be justified to a board, a CFO, and a whole horde of people. In real estate, we can get away with not doing that, but it’s something we must force on ourselves if we really do want to be profitable.  How do we overcome the Fear of Finding Out? What’s so powerful about getting in rooms with smart people?  Chris Bowers and I continue our deep dive conversation on real estate, curating relationships and the power of masterminds.  Guest Info Chris Bowers is a Realtor, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.  Follow @chrisbowers_realestate on Instagram and listen to agentXcel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.   CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

47m

Feb 12, 2024

In the conversation about scaling our real estate businesses, systems come up a lot, but that’s not the first and most important thing. Systems come a distant second to people, because ultimately, how can we step out of specific roles and tasks if we have no one to hand them off to?  Because we don’t put the necessary premium on hiring and people, we don’t get to fully experience their effect. Like cold calls, scripts, and negotiation, hiring is a skill we need to nurture, focus on and master. In this business, agents will have one bad experience with a hire, and tell themselves “hiring sucks”, instead of thinking that they hired the wrong person, or that they hired the right person, but didn’t set them up for success.  A lot of agents don’t know when it’s the right time to hire. The simple answer is: when you’re doing all you can and you can’t do more. It’s not about hiring when someone says you should from the stage or when your real estate buddy hires someone with a fancy title. Hire based on your goals, and what you want to step out of. We have to master the art of recruiting way before we need the hire, because that’s the secret.  How did we approach our own hiring? Why did we hire probably long before we were really “ready”? Chris Bowers and I talk about the power of treating hiring like a skill (because it is).  Guest Info Chris Bowers is a Realtor, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.  Follow @chrisbowers_realestate on Instagram and listen to agentXcel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.   CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

34m

Feb 05, 2024

Intro Paragraph/Email  Without a doubt, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are 2 of the greatest investing minds of all time. Because they’ve been at it for so long, they’ve seen market highs and market lows,  and built a massive holding company where the main share trades at $538k.  These guys have got to know a thing or two about how to build and keep wealth. That’s why thousands go to their annual shareholder meeting every year. But you don’t have to go to Omaha to get the benefit of their brilliance. Every year, they publish a shareholder letter and it’s absolutely packed with nuggets that apply today.  In a volatile market like the one we’re in right now, maybe some of the greatest wisdom we can gain is from the past. That’s what led Brian Gubernick to go digging into Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.  There’s got to be strategies we can learn from these investing greats to better our own portfolios…well their advice will surprise you. It’s not as flashy as you think, but considering what Warren and Charlie built, it’s worth paying attention to.  Today, Brian goes through his top takeaways from taking a deep dive into these investor newsletters. Guest Info Brian Gubernick is a 15+ year residential real estate industry veteran, having held the roles of real estate investor, sales agent, sales team owner/leader, expansion (multi-state) team owner, brokerage operating partner, coach/trainer, and corporate executive. He is the co-founder of the Metrix Mastermind, Chief Real Estate Officer at PLACE and host of No Days Off. Listen to No Days Off on your platform of choice.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

51m

Jan 29, 2024

Anytime an agent gets an appointment from a cold call, it’s like walking into a war zone. They don’t know you, like you or trust you, so they aren’t exactly warm and fuzzy when you go and meet them…unless they’ve already viewed a ton of your content online.    Having a YouTube channel can take people from not knowing who you are to rolling out the red carpet for you. It warms the lead up before you even meet them, and when it comes to signing a listing agreement - it’s nothing more than a formality.    Chris Igoe’s YouTube channel has become a solid source of business, but that took weeks of figuring it out, understanding the algorithm and months upon months of consistency for it to pay off.    Today, he shares his journey into real estate, discovering his superpower and how he is making YouTube work massively well for him.  Quotes    The great thing about this industry is you can just copy someone and get results to a varying degree. The problem is it might not be the best result for you. -Kevin Kauffman    The best thing anyone can do in any industry they’re in is build up their brand on YouTube. -Chris Igoe    There were people having success and generating leads through YouTube, if they could do it, I can do it. -Chris Igoe    If someone was going to hire me through a cold call, they would probably Google me and I wanted them to know I was real. -Chris Igoe    Many of the things that used to work on YouTube have been obsolete for a very long time. The only thing that matters is pleasing its audience. -Chris Igoe  Key Points     Good mentor vs. great mentor  The great thing about this industry is you can copy someone and get results but that is a double-edged sword because that might not be the best  for you. Good mentors will show you how they did it and create a path to follow. Great mentors will take time to ask questions, and find out whether the activities line up with who you are as a person.    Find your superpower and double down The advice new agents get is to blindly follow whatever model works. The truth is: whether you choose cold calling, social media or referrals, all the models work, but everyone has their own unique superpower. The key is figuring out what that is, playing to your strengths and consistently hammering at it until you have success. When Chris realized that cold calling was his superpower, he went from making $25k in his first year to millions in volume.    Warm up the lead before you meet  When you get an appointment off a cold call, you’re going into a war zone. They don’t know, like or trust you and they are getting hounded by other agents. Before you even show up to their door, they will Google you so having a deep catalog of content on YouTube starts the process of warming them up.    What works on YouTube  Many of the things that used to work on YouTube have been obsolete for a very long time. The only thing that matters is pleasing its audience. We have to understand our ideal viewer/customer and get really specific so we can craft and create that right-fit content.     The metrics don’t matter  When you’re creating YouTube content, it’s really easy to get caught up in the vanity metrics - how many views, likes, subscribes and shares you’re getting. If you’re doing YouTube to get more leads and transactions, the vanity metrics don’t matter. What counts is how many leads this is generating, and how it’s leading to more buyers and sellers.    Guest Info   Chris is a real estate professional, investor, and retired stockbroker providing current housing market analysis with financial and economic market commentary. He empowers people with the truth to make the best decisions for themselves, their families and the financial bottom line.   Subscribe to Chris’ YouTube channel.  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

46m

Jan 22, 2024

In real estate, agents, teams and business models don’t fit in one box, but we constantly fall into the trap of doing things one specific way. People start teams because it’s the next indicated step, what everyone else is doing or an ego boost, not because it’s what works for them. If ego, identity and emotion weren’t part of our decision making, the paths we’d take would be more authentic. If we treated our businesses as if we reported to a board of directors, we would make decisions differently.    That’s why it’s so necessary to get into environments that pull our businesses apart so we can make them better. Whether you’re a solo agent or a mega-team leader, we need to be in rooms that force us to pivot in the direction of what’s right for us.    Most agents won’t take this step because their identities and egos are wrapped up in where they are now. Ultimately, the decisions we made before are the tuition we pay to get to the destination we want. Today, fellow Arizona agents, Angela Gordon and Trevor Halpern join me to talk about the decisions we make, what we’re looking forward to in 2024, and choosing the right model for you (even if it goes against the status quo).  Quotes    Caring about people and learning about them is a great strategy for business. -Kevin Kauffman   If you can get a room full of givers, you’re winning. -Angela Gordon   When you strip down a team and the revenue model often times, team leads aren’t making that much money. -Trevor Halpern   We’re always being sold the next shiny object, but most agents aren’t focused enough so we’re really easy to take advantage of as a community. -Kevin Kauffman   The only person that’s going to give you a plan, structure and help you implement is you. -Trevor Halpern   Key Points     The brokerage problem Most people that own or run a brokerage haven’t been in the trenches, if ever, for a long time. The disconnect happens when they’re trying to talk to an agent and identify what their problem is. It’s a lot easier to help them when you have recent, first-and experience.    The board of directors test  In this industry, many people struggle to change brokerages and business models because their egos and identities are wrapped up in where they are now. One of the most powerful lenses through which we can view our businesses is acting as if we have a board of directors. How different would our decisions be if we answered to a group of people and not just ourselves?    The courage to make a change It’s okay to say that something doesn’t work for us and pivot. If you put a lot of time, effort and money into something that failed, it’s only a failure if you don't take lessons from it. You can use the lessons from that to make more money or better decisions going forward.    How brokerages can shut down innovation  In the traditional brokerage model, a company is often good at one particular thing. That knowledge base attracts more of the same thing, and that runs the huge danger of the mindset and practices in that company becoming insular. That means any new and innovative concepts don’t make it in because it doesn’t fit the model that exists.    A time for ideation, a time for implementation  Our businesses take the biggest leaps when we get around other people and learn from them. There’s a time to hunker down, but there’s also a time to get ideas, insights and pull apart our businesses to make them better. The problem is, most people do one or the other - both pieces are necessary, they aren’t sufficient alone. We have to find the balance between taking in information and taking action based on that information.    The consumer doesn’t care As agents, we get so caught up on the brokerage we’re at and how our clients might react to us changing. The truth is, the consumer doesn’t care what brokerage you’re at, it’s not that big a deal to them. Ultimately, the relationship they have with us overrides their relationship with our companies.    Guest Info   Trevor Halpern is a Phoenix based Realtor with over a decade in the business. As the founder of Halpern Residential, Trevor takes pride in delivering high-level strategy, efficient negotiations and precise tactical execution. He conducts his life and business by simple rules: treat people with respect; lead with honesty; put more than he gets out; and do the right thing 100% of the time. Follow @halpernresidential on Instagram.    Angela is the host of Ponderbox and a real estate agent who focuses on the east valley cities of Phoenix, Arizona.  With an emphasis on community impact and support of local businesses.  As an agent who finished 2022 in the top 1% in Maricopa county, rest assured, the experience you have with her will be one you will rave about. Follow @angelagordon_ on Instagram.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

45m

Jan 15, 2024

We may not see it this way, but real estate isn’t as risky as we think. In fact, in many ways, we’re conditioned against taking risks, and that’s why leverage is such a hard concept for the majority of our industry. Think about the restaurant business - leverage is built in from day 1, you know that you’ll need a manager, front of house, chefs and servers so you take loans and do what you need for the business to succeed. In real estate, leverage is a line we cross kicking and screaming, and that actually harms our businesses in the long run.    There are many reasons why we won’t invest in leverage - we don’t think we have the time, the money or even the ability to let go. All these reasons are barriers we can overcome. With the right strategy and roadmap, leverage is something we can implement. What are the roles that can propel out businesses if we hire them? How do we overcome our limiting beliefs about leverage?    Today, founder and CEO of Rocket Sphere VA, Justin Nelson shares how VAs can make your business more valuable.    Quotes    Being a solo agent’s not a problem but being a solo agent with no leverage can be a big problem. -Justin Nelson    Key Points     Why you need leverage  There are only 2 things virtual assistants can leverage, personal activities and business activities. When people start with VAs, the first thing they want leveraged is things like cold calls because they don’t want to do it themselves or they aren’t having success with it. Your goal when it comes to hiring a VA is to buy time back so you can invest it where it truly matters, like cold calling.   Comparison isn’t always bad for you Comparison is a thief of joy if you’re emotionally immature. If you don’t beat yourself up afterwards, you can learn from other people, and that can bring clarity and propel your business.    Reinvest your time wisely  The first thing we need to do is look at things in our lives we can leverage. If we leverage personal activities that gives us more time in our businesses so we can reinvest that time. The problem is, most people that hire VAs and fail get time back and reinvest that time in crappy things.    How to seamlessly integrate VAs into your business  Don’t operate VAs like computers where you send them a task and wait for them to send it back. You’ll have more success if they sit in a Zoom room for 8 hours a day.    If you had $50k to spare, this is how to build out your leverage; __ __   VA hiring order for agents;  __ __   Use leverage to retain the best people  If we want to build a team that retains talent, we have to make agents see a path to having a forever in our world. One way we can do this is to provide a VA for the top agent on our team. That’s something that keeps them in our world longer.    Why you hate leverage  There’s no such thing as business problems, only personal problems that affect your business. So some of the reasons we have limiting beliefs about leverage go back to our mindset and emotions, and that stuff can be sorted out through coaching and therapy.    The biggest barrier to implementing leverage  Most people don’t hire a VA because there were 2 extreme options before; hire a huge, expensive company or do it yourself. Both options can make it hard to take action. Sphere Rocket VA is the perfect middle ground.    Guest Info   Justin Nelson is an entrepreneur, leader, coach to Top Producers and CEO of Sphere Rocket VA, an 8-Figure Company with 5800 VAs.    For more information, head to www.sphererocketva.com.    To get access to all the files and documents mentioned today, head to sphererocketfiles.com.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

33m

Jan 08, 2024

“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” On any given day, we’re walking a tightrope between success and failure, but when we’re in a good market and a time of abundance, we don’t see how thin that line is. Right now, we’re in a time where our bad decisions, bad business practices and bad habits are being exposed.    With what the last year has been in real estate, we haven’t seen this many people hurting in business in a long time. For many of us, this hard time exposed that we haven’t been doing the right things all along. Success in real estate is 3 things: what we say, saying it enough times and who we say it to. These are the variables we have to apply pressure to. Even at a time like this, if we’re not getting the results we want, we need to work on one of those 2 things.    2024 promises to be better - but only for the people who do the hard work in the lead up to the end of the chaos. Today, Ben Kinney talks about what it takes to keep our businesses and our minds solid through a challenging market.  Quotes    Leadership is a constant conversation of caring. -Ben Kinney   We get paid to help humans make good life decisions with their most valuable asset. -Ben Kinney    If we’re struggling in our businesses today, that means you’re not having enough empathetic conversations. -Ben Kinney    Many of us are in the home purchase business. If we want to own the industry, we have to be in the homeownership business. -Ben Kinney   The goal should be to have a model for everything. -Ben Kinney   The number 1 killer of a business is optimism. -Ben Kinney   Key Points     Why we quit  Quitting is easier than plugging away at something when it gets hard. Whenever you start something new, there’s this unfounded amount of optimism, but ultimately, reality will set in and we sink into the pit of despair. This happens with every new thing. Real happiness comes from digging out of the pit and enjoying the journey.    The undisciplined pursuit of more  As human beings and business owners, we tend to think that if we’re doing great in one thing, we can take on something else. We think that more will solve our problems so we add a bunch of stuff to our lives. It’s fine when things are going good, but when things start to go pear-shaped, it collapses on us. We have to master boredom if we want success.    Treat leadership like parenting  Every real estate leader has found themselves frustrated because their agents aren’t calling leads. Instead of putting it on your agents, point your frustration back to yourself because it’s a leadership problem. How many times do you have to tell your kids not to touch something hot? Why do we expect adults to be different? You have to have the conversations over and over, find different ways to say it and even find other people to say it.     Homeownership vs. home sales  Many agents are struggling right now because they are in the business of home purchases. If we want to own the industry (and stay on our feet during hard times), we have to get into the business of homeownership. The homeownership business happens every single day, it’s hard and it should be our role to make it easier for people. That way, we can get paid in other ways outside of the transaction (something that’s really important right now).    Doing the two  When the market is tough, it’s important to find ways to bring yourself back to par. If you’re a team leader, do as many deals a month as you need to take care of your personal expenses. Additionally, you’ll need to recruit 2 agents a month, and meet with the key people on your team often.    The variables you need to put pressure on  __ __ If you’re not succeeding, you need to fix one of those 3 things. If you have a team, you need one more thing: enough people saying the right things.    The good news about 2024 (and the huge caveat) Expect 2024 to be filled with great opportunities for 50-75% of the year, but in the first couple of months, we should be filling our hopper with people that would take action if rates drop 1 or 2%. We have to spend the first 2 months making sure the entire year is kickass instead of feeling bad for ourselves. At the same time, don’t have rose-colored glasses that it will magically happen in 90 days. Optimism can be deadly in our business, so we have to maintain a healthy balance.    The simplest leverage model  Leverage is simply increasing our hourly rate. We do that by giving away things that we could pay someone less than we believe we should be making. If you’re doing 0-2 transactions a month, you don’t deserve leverage. If you can close 3-4 transactions a month, you can get leverage in the form of light admin or a showing assistant. When we create leverage, we have to remember to create it for our agents too, or else they'll leave. We have to show that we’re a pathway for them to accomplish their own goals.    Guest Info   Ben Kinney is an entrepreneur, professional speaker, author, real estate agent, and CEO of Ben Kinney Companies. He owns and operates one of the top 25 producing real estate teams in the nation from all brands. He also owns and operates multiple Keller Williams Realty Franchises that includes 1200+ agents across multiple locations servicing all of Washington State. In 2015 he opened his first international brokerage in London, UK and in 2016 he purchased the KW master franchise for all of the U.K. Those offices sold over 10,000 units equalling over 4 billion in closed sales volume. Ben is also a nationally recognized author, trainer, and speaker. In the last few years, he has personally trained over 100,000 business owners via conferences, classes, and webinars.  Ben Kinney Real Estate Team is ranked by the Wall Street Journal and Real Trends as one of the top 25 real estate teams in the nation.    https://www.youtube.com/BenKinney   CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

47m

Jan 01, 2024

2023 was rough for a lot of people. Agents and teams were selling less homes. Pending transactions hit their lowest number in 2 decades, and most pipelines were drier than ever before. On top of that, the NAR lawsuit verdicts shook things up for the entire industry, so many agents feel like they are getting hit from different directions.    There is good news on the horizon though. If you’ve managed to stick it out through these challenges, and your business is built on the right foundations, 2024 will be a lot better.    There’s still fear around the market and NAR’s legal issues running people out of the business. In real estate, very few people fail because of bad luck. Most fail out because of bad habits and not doing enough of the right things. You might look at the lawsuit as an existential threat to agents, but just like with market downturns, those who are doing the right things, and approaching business with the right attitude will never lose. Ever since being a Realtor was a thing we’ve needed to be able to articulate our value. If we do that people will want to work with us through hell, high water, industry lawsuits and slow markets.   What does the NAR lawsuit tell us about our industry and where we’re headed? How do we perfect our marketing?    Agent, social media coach, speaker, trainer and host of the popular Massive Agent Podcast, Dustin Brohm shares his predictions for 2024, and why he’s optimistic.  Quotes    I do know people that are successful that don’t work their sphere but they are such outliers I don't want to teach other people to do that. -Kevin Kauffman     Very few people fail out of this industry because of bad luck. Most fail out because of bad habits. -Kevin Kauffman     97% of agents surveyed think NAR is completely worthless, and they’d cut them off in a heartbeat if they could. -Dustin Brohm   With social media, you don’t want to do too much of any one thing. -Dustin Brohm   Ever since being a Realtor was a thing you needed to be able to articulate why they should hire you. -Dustin Brohm    Some agents need to do a much better job of selling the buyer/broker agreement, and how it is good for both parties. -Dustin Brohm   Key Points     Why agents fail  There are a lot of agents failing out of real estate not because of bad luck, but rather because of bad habits. There are people who say they tried everything but didn’t really and that’s why they’ve left the industry. There are some agents who are doing all the necessary activities, and following through on everything coaches tell them to do. They fail because they don’t have the confidence, or feel like they deserve success. It’s hard to do the work if you’re not showing up as the person who believes in it, so you have to grow into that person.    Setting new agents up for success  Teaching agents the buyer’s consultation before they start contacting buyers solves a lot of problems. If someone is afraid to get to the consultation, it might affect how they are on the phone - it might make them afraid of getting a positive result. By getting them to know and get comfortable with the outcome, it increases their chances of success.    The ultimate one-two punch  One challenge agents have is they are either content marketing focused or cold calling focused. If you combine both activities, one practice benefits the other. Content will make calling easier because they’ve seen you before, and your content marketing is a lot better when you have a database of people you can call directly.    How Dustin would grow his podcast if he was starting over  There’s a lot of value from recording a video podcast and taking clips from it. Clips will get more exposure and reach for your show, and help you pull in an audience. If you think about it, a 20-second clip can get you 40,000 views, and that’s a lot more than a full episode can get.    Just take action When it comes to podcasting or content creation, never let the lack of fancy equipment stop you from taking action. Once you have the basics of being clearly seen and heard squared away, what you’re talking about is the most important thing. It’s more crucial to have something worth listening to than having all the tech, but nothing of substance to say. You don’t have to be in a professional studio with foam on the walls to make a good show.    The NAR lawsuits might work in our favor  The NAR situation is actually a good thing for both agents and consumers. It will create more transparency and weed out the mediocre agents. Ever since being a Realtor was a thing, we needed to be able to articulate why they should hire us. The truth about the best agents is they are already doing the right thing when it comes to the buyer-broker agreement. They have the conversation upfront, know how to talk about the value they bring, and deliver an exceptional service. The agents who are nervous about these rulings, might be having an issue articulating and delivering their value.    NAR’s biggest problem  A huge portion of the agent population thinks NAR is completely worthless and they’d cut them off in a heartbeat if they could. NAR does have a lot of value, but they don’t articulate it. NAR is a powerful lobby for homeownership, tax advantages, property rights and more. They lobby better than any trade organization in the country. It’s also important for our profession. The problem is they’ve never done a good job of telling the industry what they bring to the table, and people want to get rid of them because they don’t know what they do.    Guest Info   Dustin Brohm is an agent, social media coach, speaker, trainer and host of the popular Massive Agent Podcast for Realtors and Mortgage Loan Officers. He is also the founder of the Massive Agent Society, a comprehensive Facebook Ad lead gen training and coaching program, and the Industry Syndicate real estate podcast network.   The Massive Agent Podcast is meant to help teach real estate agents and mortgage loan officers to get more leads and ultimately sell more homes. Dustin has spoken in front of 1000's of Realtors and mortgage professionals at real estate conferences all around the country. He co-founded the Snappack Real Estate Marketing FB Group. His content has been featured in Housing Wire, Inman News, RIS Media, Zillow's Blog, Homelight, FitSmallBusiness, and many more.   Dustin calls it like he sees it, gets straight to the point, and has been known to step on some toes from time to time. His no nonsense approach, combined with his social media & marketing experience, is why his Massive Agent Podcast is one of the fastest growing podcasts in the industry.    Follow Dustin on Instagram, and listen to The Massive Agent Podcast on your platform of choice.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

1h 14m

Dec 25, 2023

At this time of the year, people tend to get more reflective about the last 12 months. December 31st hangs over our heads, and this imaginary finish line forces us to really think about what we’ve accomplished, and what we want for ourselves next year. This is especially true in real estate, considering what the market has been like and how it has affected a lot of people’s businesses.    As we take stock of the last 12 months, it’s really easy to blame our challenges on the market, but some of the results we’ve had could be attributed to our activity. Did we put in enough effort? Did we grow in our skills and competence? Did we follow through on what we said we’d do?   These last few days of 2023 are the perfect opportunity for us to get clear on our goals, and most importantly, what we need to do to achieve those goals.    Today, mortgage originator, executive coach, creator of Win By Noon and co-founder of First Home IQ, Todd Bookspan returns. Today, we reflect on the last year, lessons we’ve learned and how we’re preparing for 2024.      Quotes    You know you’ve hit a home run when there’s a handful of speakers who were the top speaker vs. just one person. -Todd Bookspan    I think there’s so much to learn from getting outside your comfort zone of the same handful of people you hang out with at events. -Todd Bookspan    We all get more reflective this time of year because we have this imaginary finish line known as December 31st. -Kevin Kauffman    The people on the other side of the argument are just as adamant that they are right as you are. -Todd Bookspan    There’s lots of things you can glean from not just result tracking, but recording of activities - which to me is more important. -Todd Bookspan    If you can’t understand the other side’s argument as well as or better than they do, then maybe you’re not into this game as much as you think you are. -Kevin Kauffman    Key Points     It’s not just the market  There are a lot of people who are victims of what’s going on in the market, some to the extent of leaving the industry entirely. Though the market has been tough, it might be down to us not doing what we were supposed to do. It’s easy to track our results, but tracking our activity is key because it shows us if we’re on track, and also gives us an indicator of how the market is doing. If we’re not getting the results we want, it means there’s something in our actions that needs to be changed. Maybe we need to improve our skills, or we need to follow through on what we said we would do. We need to ask ourselves if we’re working hard enough, or if we’re avoiding what we need to do. It might be hard to hear, but it is what a lot of us need to think about.    Be careful what you believe about the market Many people believe interest rates will go down and when they go down, there’s going to be a lot more opportunity for buyers. They might be right, but it’s important that we get clear on why we’re so adamant about that view. We could be regurgitating views that aren’t our own without realizing it, and we might be parroting these opinions because we desperately need them to be true. We have to get curious and stop listening to people telling us what we might want to hear.    Be willing to hear what the other side thinks There’s been a lot of uproar in the industry about the lawyer for the NAR lawsuit being invited to a real estate event. Even though they are coming after our industry, we have to know what they are thinking. We have to know where the other side’s head is, and there’s nothing wrong with hearing from them.    Finding middle ground in a divided world In a world that’s driven to make us fight and pick a side, taking the time to understand the “opposition” is key. Social media and traditional media are focused on dousing the flames of division. Whether it’s politics, religion or any other topic, the more polarized we are, the harder it is to understand each other. Ultimately, we’ll discover that we have a lot more in common with other people, and it’s easier for us to find middle ground.    Guest Info   Todd is a mortgage originator, executive coach, creator of Win By Noon and co-founder of First Home IQ. Todd has 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and a business leader. For the past fifteen years, as a mortgage originator, Todd has proven successful in cultivating both teams and branch offices. Working alongside his wife Tara, Todd successfully helped grow the Arizona region of a mortgage bank from five to eighty-five employees at four branches. Now he has designed the Win By Noon Planner as a tool to help increase productivity.   Join Todd’s Life Planning class here.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

58m

Dec 18, 2023

With most of the people I see who have over 30 years in the business, it shows on their faces. I’m excited everyday, I look forward to my day, I look forward to meeting great people in the business everyday. -Rick Geha    I’m reminded of how exciting life can be if you’re willing to do the boring basics and the things that are uncomfortable so you can have the things you want. -Rick Geha    People want to work with exciting people. Wake up everyday excited out of your mind about what you do, and with a willingness to share with people whether they want to do business with you or not. -Rick Geha    In today’s special episode, we’re honoring our good friend, the late great, Rick Geha. Back in our Short Sale Power Hour days, Rick was a guest on the show many times, talking about mindset and pulling from decades in the real estate industry to share what it takes to succeed at a high level. Here are some of the most powerful insights from Rick.  Quotes and Key Points   Mindset is the biggest part of absorbing anything you might learn and deciding what to do with it. We have to believe in being bigger and better than ourselves.    We enrich other people’s lives by sharing.    Everyday you’re doing something that creates major, drastic differences in your life and moves you in the direction you’d like to go.    How big of a life would you like to make for yourself? Who in your life sees you much bigger than you see yourself? Surround yourself with these people.    If God is one of the 5 people you surround yourself with, it brings your average up significantly.    You don’t want to be around people who want you to succeed but are holding onto your ankles saying “don’t leave us behind”. You want people who say “go, succeed and we’ll be here if you need us.”     The money you make is how you fund your mission and your dreams. How much time do we waste not being productive and not moving towards the dreams we’ve created for ourselves? Figure out what you’re doing everyday that’s getting you nowhere, and what you can be doing everyday to get you somewhere.     In our hardest moments, we’re capable of 20 times more than we’re capable of in our best moments.  Look, see, move. We have to make a conscious decision to not be in a reactive state.     In the book “Fish: A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results”, the author talks about how easily we can snap our fingers, and make a choice to feel different, and act excited and be happy.    If your work is what brings you down, stop doing it.    You’re not just doing short sales because they’re fun. You need to have a passion and desire for the people you’re trying to help. It’s not just wanting to close short sales because that’s the only listing you can find.    A carpenter said he used to hate his job until he realized that the nail, hammer and wood represented the dreams of someone who was going to live in the home he was building. From that day on, he loved his job.    Information will only help you when you make the choice to use it.    You’ll only improve your business if you take the stuff that’s being shared and use it to create a difference.    What does an attitude of abundance have to do with your real estate sales business? A mindset of abundance means “I’m enough, you’re enough, there’s enough.”    How often in your day are you worrying about where the next deal is going to come from, instead of consistently making the assumption that there’ll always be enough?   Look towards abundance instead of looking towards scarcity. If your mindset is abundance, you’ll always create more leads, and when one falls apart, you can just move on. Of course, you’ll be disappointed, but you can acknowledge that and then make a purposeful decision to focus on abundance and move forward.    What you do today will set your path for the rest of the week.    Many people are suffering because they don’t truly know what’s happening in the real estate market. You need to be the local real estate resource. People are listening to national negative news, reading negative national newspapers and postings on the internet. Your consumer needs to know that what they’re reading nationally has nothing to do with what’s going on locally. What matters is they know that you’re a resource for what’s happening on the ground with them.    Lead generation is at the core of what it takes to exist in our business. If you want to be productive, think abundantly all the time.   The biggest part of lead generation is mindset - it’s what keeps you from doing what you’re supposed to do. Whether you’re a brand spanking new agent, or you’ve been in the business for decades, we all know that creating some sort of daily lead gen activity will get the results we want. But there’s such a big gap between people who know this and the people who actually do it.    That action piece - moving from what you know to actually doing it starts in your head. Working on becoming a better you is the most important thing you can do for your business.    I want to surround myself with people who see me bigger than I see myself, not people who see me as smaller.    Be around people who say “I love you exactly the way you are and here’s how you can get better,” not people who just say, “I love you exactly the way you are”. The two are very different.    “I’m going to take care of me for you” - when we work on being better versions of ourselves, we become our best for everyone else.    Lead generation comes from moving into action. What gets you into action is being so dedicated to what you want that nothing will stop you.     Lead generate from a place of contribution. When we’re helping our clients, we have to remove ourselves from the equation and focus on doing what’s best for that person.    You might not think focusing on doing what’s best for your clients helps your lead generation, but it has everything to do with it. When your whole life is spent making sure the people around you are well taken care of, your life will open up.    When you become a lean, mean, talking, knowledgeable real estate machine, people will throw leads at you.    CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

10m

Dec 11, 2023

Whether it’s a traditional real estate team, an investment portfolio or a fulfilling life - building anything great is a process of constantly asking ourselves big questions and challenging whatever we believe. It’s really easy to copycat our way to success until we find ourselves up the wrong mountain. The only way to combat this is to take everything we believe and pierce holes in it - play devil’s advocate to our own beliefs, if you will.    Our business might be good now, but what if changing the model and our identity could make it better? Flipping homes sounds sexy, but it’s actually not investing. The market is tough right now, but what if getting a tiny bit better, or even staying the same is a sign that we’re crushing it?    When you get really good at asking these questions, and become okay with being wrong about what you believe, pivoting and moving through changes gets easier and faster. When we get clear on what we truly want, and lose the fear of going after something completely different, we’re able to build something we’ll be proud of today and years from now.    What kind of questions should we be asking ourselves all the time? How can we walk through chaos without it impacting us?    Today, I’m joined by friend, collaborator, coach, trainer, and CEO of Guaranteed Home Buyers LLC, Matt Chick. We talk about the ultimate cheat code to make anything happen.    Quotes    Our model has changed many times over the years. We’ve never been afraid to go after something completely different to what we’ve been doing. -Kevin Kauffman    One of the great things about this industry is it’s easy to copycat and find success if you’re willing to put in the work, but that’s also a curse. -Kevin Kauffman    In my hierarchy of what I need from my business, time is number 1, money is number 2 and I'm very clear on that. Of course I want to make money, but time is first. -Kevin Kauffman    Running flips is not an investment, it’s a business. -Kevin Kauffman    I’m a big proponent of taking my active income, no matter where it comes from and using it to create my residual income by buying assets. -Kevin Kauffman   If you can walk through chaos and not experience it, you can print money. -Kevin Kauffman    Look at real estate investments through 3 lenses. Cash-flow, future appreciation, and taxes. -Kevin Kauffman    Flipping is just a business, just like wholesales and commissions from transactions. It’s how we create active income, the passive income is the true investing. -Matt Chick     As your portfolio grows, your reserves have to grow too. -Kevin Kauffman    Key Points     Redefining success in a tough market  There’s a lot of people we know who won’t be surviving this market, or even this calendar year. That means crushing it looks different to what it looked like 3 years ago, 2 years ago - even a year ago. There’s a certain level of business maturity you’ve got to have to realize that sometimes not going backwards or only going backwards a little bit is actually a win when people are going backwards a lot.    Poke holes in your deeply-held beliefs  Question everything you think you’re right about, and assume what you’re currently doing is wrong. Take every belief and try to see the opposite of it. Even if something is working, ask yourself if it might be preventing you from getting the results you really want. With anything you believe, ask: “is this really my opinion or am I repeating something I heard?”   Not afraid to be wrong  No one is a perfectionist, we’re just afraid of looking wrong. Our egos are fragile to how other people perceive us when we fail, get something wrong or fall flat on our faces. But when we’re willing to make mistakes, be wrong or fall flat on our faces, we can get closer to what we want.     Don’t copycat your way to success  One of the great things about this industry is how easy it is to copycat and find success if you’re willing to put in the work, but that’s also a curse. You can look at someone else and copy them, but the reality is, we all have different wants and priorities. For some people, time matters more than money and for others, it’s money over time. Knowing what matters to you allows you to build the right thing and climb the right mountain.    The ultimate win-win of cost segregation  Because agents have 1099 income, it can be challenging to qualify for a traditional mortgage. The lower your income looks on your tax return - regardless of how much money you actually make - the harder it is to get a loan for another property. The great thing about cost segregation is, while it takes that income out when it comes to paying the taxes, your mortgage lender will add that back into your income. You get a high income for qualification purposes, and a low income for tax purposes. It’s the best of both worlds.    The biggest misunderstanding about flipping We call flipping homes investing, but it actually isn’t. Flipping is a business, just like wholesales and commissions from transactions. It’s active income that we should turn into passive income. Wherever our active income comes from, the ultimate move is to use it to create residual income by buying assets.    Guest Info   Matt Chick is an agent, flipper, wholesaler, coach, trainer, and CEO of Guaranteed Home Buyers LLC. If it has to do with real estate he’s all about it. His agent relationships have paid dividends such as putting off-market deals together in a low inventory market.   For more information, visit https://mattchick.com/ and follow @iammattchick https://www.instagram.com/iammattchick/ on Instagram.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

55m

Dec 04, 2023

The gift of real estate is that we can generate leads the way we want, as long as we systematize it. Not everyone in real estate wants to cold call, door knock and have a business that relies on speed-to-lead. Some agents don’t want to do open houses because they treasure weekends with their kids. Laura Griffin found herself in this predicament, and the perfect solution presented itself - starting a Facebook group for moms.    6 years later, that group has 10,000 members, Laura does $22 million in volume and 90% of that business comes from the group. Many agents would love to have a lead generation method that fits their personality and lifestyle, but turning it into a real system is the challenge.    There is a way to grow a community and nurture people without jamming real estate down their throats. Laura found the perfect balance. She shares how she runs her group, the kind of content she posts, and how she’s successfully grown an engaged, hyper-local community.  Quotes    You need to have a good description of what the group is, where it’s located, who you are and a freebie at the bottom like a relocation guide. -Laura Griffin    Start a group, make sure it’s set up right and make an effort. It’s not an overnight thing. -Laura Griffin    Through your group, you’re going to learn things about your members and be able to identify clients before they know they’re ready to buy or sell. -Laura Griffin Key Points     Balancing community with marketing  If you’re an agent running a Facebook group, no one wants to have real estate jammed down their throats all the time. At the same time, you don’t want to be a secret agent. A blend of value-add content, questions and less overt real estate content works really well.    Protecting your community  When you build a large Facebook Group, you’re always at risk of the platform changing something on you or locking you out entirely. Putting the members of your group into your database and emailing them monthly helps you protect your community.   Make it evidently hyper-local  When you create your group make sure a town, city or county is attached to its name. You can’t be hyper-local if people don’t know what locale you serve. Having a location that people know and recognize allows you to also pull in the relocation crowd, and that will bring in a lot of leads.    How to get found  You need to have a good description of what the group is, where it’s located, who you are and a freebie at the bottom like a relocation guide. If you don’t have those pieces in place, it’s going to be hard for people to find you and for you to grow your group.    How to advertise your group  You currently can’t run an ad for a Facebook group, but there is a workaround. You can create a business page, run an ad to a landing page, capture their email information and then direct people to join the group.    No real estate people in the group  Laura chooses not to have other agents and lenders in her group. It might sound controversial, but at the same time, would you invite another agent to your open house and risk them poaching your clients?   One question, many leads One post Laura constantly uses is the question “what’s the one thing you’d change about your house?” Of course, some people will talk about minor decorative things, but others will share that their yard is too small, or that they wish their house was bigger. You can take those people’s names down and start marketing to them because you know the wheels are starting to turn. You’ll learn things about your members and be able to identify clients before they know they’re ready to buy or sell.    Guest Info   Laura Griffin is a Northern Virginia agent, brand influencer, coach and owner of the highly successful Facebook Group, The Loudoun Moms. The Loudoun Moms was created in 2017 as a safe space for Loudoun mothers to connect with other moms to ask questions, get advice, offer and receive support. Today, the group has over 10,000 members and Laura gets 90% of her business from it. Laura now coaches other agents to start and grow their own successful groups.    To find out more about Laura’s coaching and to watch her free webinar, go to https://groupstoleads.com/webinar/.      CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

28m

Nov 27, 2023

To have staying power in real estate, mindset and the ability to pivot is key. We have to be willing to make big changes to our models, and have the courage to do things differently. The problem is: many business owners get their identity so wrapped up in what they’ve been doing that making such a change is too hard.    We get so caught up in what we’ve done for the last 2,5 or 10 years that we won’t budge from a model, even if it isn’t serving us or our agents.    Daryl Owen has always been committed to where he wants to go, not where he’s been. That has meant shifting from the brokerage model to the team model. His mindset on his real estate business was forged in his early days, where a serious head injury nearly destroyed his dream. His ability to outwork hardship quickly paid off, and this mentality has been instrumental in his success.    Daryl shares his story, how he got started, the struggles of running an indie brokerage and the power of pivoting, identity be damned.  Quotes    You want to have ancillary businesses when you have a brokerage firm to make it worth it because there’s a ton of liability and overhead. -Daryl Owen   Most agents underestimate how relentless you’ve got to be with the follow up. -Daryl Owen   No matter what your issue is, you can outwork the problem. -Daryl Owen   Any problem, any level of knowledge in the industry you have, you can outwork it. -Kevin Kauffman     Most of us aren’t willing to be bored long enough to find the kind of success that would actually excite us. -Kevin Kauffman    Key Points     Leaning into the team model  The turnover rate of agents joining and leaving the industry is high. No matter what a brokerage does, you’ll be burning through money and resources, pouring in as much as you can, but still not moving the needle. A lot of people underestimate getting into this industry and what it means to be successful. They think it’s the Million Dollar Listing Lifestyle, but the truth is, you spend the majority of your day drumming up business.    You can always outwork the problem  Daryl went from thinking his real estate dream was over after suffering head trauma in an accident to being the top agent in his office. He was cold calling 500 people 7 days a week, and even though he couldn’t speak well, no one was doing as well as him in his office. What facilitated his breakthrough was a massive perspective change, the realization that it could have been worse, he was saved for a reason and he was going to make the most of it.    How to take an agent from 0 homes sold to #1 in the office You can’t make an agent productive, you can only provide an environment that facilitates growth. But if you’re dealing with an agent who has the drive, but just needs the structure, standards and handholding, that’s something you can provide. You’re giving them the scaffold to succeed, but not the fuel.    The indie brokerage challenge  In an independent brokerage, there just isn’t enough money to go around to get everyone the tools and support they need. It’s hard to service agents with the way the splits are structured. You can be an independent brokerage with 1000 agents (one of the biggest ones), but even at that point, you’re still not big enough to make it work at scale. In a team, the financial model is set up so it benefits the owner as well as the individual agent.    Commit to where you’re going, not where you’ve been  Real estate agents and business owners in general get in the way of their own growth because it’s in a new direction. Many of us have our identities so wrapped in what we’ve been doing, we’re not willing to budge even if it would be better. By untangling our identity from our business models, we’re able to pivot effortlessly.    Guest Info   Daryl is the Founder, CEO and visionary behind one of America’s largest independently owned real estate firms. At 19, he acquired his first rental property while attending college and never looked back. In 2010, I founded Nationwide Real Estate Executives, which boasts a team of nearly 1,000 sales executives. Thanks to his success in real estate, Owen Companies now owns and manages companies in the real estate, education, technology, construction, and eCommerce sectors.   For more information, head to https://www.darylowen.com/ and follow @darylrowen http://instagram.com/darylrowen on Instagram  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

37m

Nov 20, 2023

In today’s special episode of the podcast, we’re bringing you into two episodes of No Days Off, Brian Gubernick’s show. If you care about getting better, there’s no such thing as taking time off from the things that allow you to grow and reach your dreams. Every new day is an opportunity to get better, and today, Brian shares how we can become better real estate investors.    Brian Gubernick is a 15+ year residential real estate industry veteran, having held the roles of real estate investor, sales agent, sales team owner/leader, expansion (multi-state) team owner, brokerage operating partner, coach/trainer, and corporate executive. He is the co-founder of the Metrix Mastermind, Chief Real Estate Officer at PLACE and host of No Days Off. Listen to No Days Off on your platform of choice.   First: Brian Gubernick shares how to get comfortable with doing hard things.    Not hitting snooze when the alarm rings, making your bed or jumping into a cold plunge every morning. These activities may not be fun, but they are necessary.    That’s because doing hard things breaks through barriers, creates momentum and it creates the appetite to do other challenging things throughout the day. By doing that initial hard thing first thing in the morning, you’ve won your first battle, and that win will supercharge your results.    Then: if you’re a real estate investor, maximizing your revenue is one of the most important things you can ever do. Of course, you can do so by cutting expenses, but there are a few key strategies you can employ to get your rental properties to earn more money.   Brian Gubernick has discovered and implemented several strategies that have increased how much his property earns by up to $3400. From extra parking to upgrading appliances, he shares 6 ways you can earn more from your rentals.   CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

20m

Nov 13, 2023

When you look at successful and influential authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to think they are geniuses whose greatness comes easy to them. This gives us an excuse not to put effort into achieving what we want. In order to write their books, they have to enhance their identity, put a lot of work and intensity into that project, and have freakish commitment to accomplishing that thing. They may look like overnight successes, but if their lives look easy now, best believe they did the hard things over and over for a long time.    We’re no different. Whether we want to thrive in this market, achieve a bigger goal in our businesses or write a book ourselves. We don’t have to be geniuses, we just have to apply work and intensity to what we do. We have to commit to being the people who deserve the higher thing we want.    Dustin Runyon and I recently got to see Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday speak in LA. Today we’ll share what we got out of the event, what we learned about achieving great things and other insights from the last few months.  Quotes    If someone’s life looks easy now, they put in a lot of work. -Kevin Kauffman    People are eager to help especially if you’re willing to notice the work they’ve done. -Dustin Runyon    To survive right now, you’ve got to be good. In order to do well right now, you’ve got to be great and in order to thrive, you better be outstanding. -Dustin Runyon    If someone’s got a singular dominant message, that’s the thing they struggle with. -Dustin Runyon    Your results in your life will find the level of your identity. -Dustin Runyon    Key Points     48 Laws is a warning, not a how-to manual  Many people haven’t read the 48 Laws of Power because the concept of power itself makes them uncomfortable. People look at power the way they look at money - it’s taboo, but power is very important. It’s why you want to have the right people in power. It’s why we want to be successful - it gives us the power to do what we want to do.    What living through history feels like When people are going through historical moments, they don’t realize it’s historical, they’re just tackling what’s in front of them in the moment. When you think of defining moments in your life, it’s the same thing. It won’t feel pivotal in the moment, but the moment after is what makes it feel important. It’s your behavior after said moment that makes it historical or not.    History is also made by what didn’t take place History isn’t just about what happened, it can also be about what didn’t happen. If you think about the fact that the Mongols were about to invade Austria but didn’t because Genghis Khan died, you realize how powerful something not happening can be as well.     Be the person who deserves the higher thing you want  When you look at authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to attribute their accomplishment to genius. Of course, they are brilliant, talented and intelligent people, but they are also hard workers. You have to write and read the equivalent of 100 books to produce that 1 great book. To get their results, they’ve had to enhance their identities many times over. We’re capable of putting in the same level of commitment and work.    Talk to an expert in an avenue you’re exploring We have to enhance our identity if we want to achieve something new or bigger than what we have now. Sometimes that enhancement is through gathering information from people who are experts in that field. Dustin will pay for time with an expert in the avenue he’s exploring. You’ll discover that people are eager to help if you’re willing to notice the work they’ve done. Investing in event attendance  There’s tremendous value in putting ourselves in rooms where people are doing better and differently than us. We can go to an event because of who’s speaking at it, or who is going to be attending or both. Sometimes it’s swing and miss, but it pays off more often than not. There are a lot of successful people who will refuse to go to an event unless they are speaking, but that means you cut yourself off from a lot of learning opportunities.    Dustin Runyon is a real estate team leader, speaker, coach and connection specialist. He is a stimulant for change, helping thousands find their truth and their path in order to create a life they can truly be proud of. Helping guide companies and individuals break into their power!  Dustin believes we need the truth in order to move forward and that your truth lies inside of you waiting to be faced, waiting to be confronted with arms of openness and readiness.   Runyon dreams of a world where we are filled with joy, fulfillment and a deep need to give and serve those around us. A world where we are excited about who we are and are moving towards becoming more of who we were destined to become. A place where we help instead of hurt, give instead of take and love instead of hate. His mission is to create just that. He hopes that you decide to take part. When you look at successful and influential authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to think they are geniuses whose greatness comes easy to them. This gives us an excuse not to put effort into achieving what we want. In order to write their books, they have to enhance their identity, put a lot of work and intensity into that project, and have freakish commitment to accomplishing that thing. They may look like overnight successes, but if their lives look easy now, best believe they did the hard things over and over for a long time.    We’re no different. Whether we want to thrive in this market, achieve a bigger goal in our businesses or write a book ourselves. We don’t have to be geniuses, we just have to apply work and intensity to what we do. We have to commit to being the people who deserve the higher thing we want.  Head to https://www.dustinrunyon.com/ for more information. To sign up for Fired Up Fridays visit https://firedupfridays.com/.  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

1h 5m

Nov 06, 2023

In an industry that celebrates making rain, GCI, units and volume, it’s really easy to lose sight of why we got into real estate in the first place. Most of us got into this for our families and for freedom to spend time with them. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, we forget and find ourselves working too much, prioritizing the next meeting,  appointment and commission check.    It’s only when we have a smack-in-the-face moment that we realize that we’re running our businesses all wrong, and that we have to refocus on the original goal. A lot of what we hear from the stage doesn’t share this truth, and what the road to refocusing on what matters looks like.    The great thing about this business is you can build it, find out you built it all wrong, burn it all down, start over and build it right. You can regain the vision and start doing it in alignment with what matters to you. It’s certainly not an easy thing to do, but following through on it is worth it. It gives us a business that puts pressure on the things that really move the needle and nothing else. Shonna Ruble shares her own path through this process, from realizing it was built wrong to building it right in a new city and becoming the top team there.  Quotes    It’s crazy how much real estate you can do when you’re sitting in your car while your kid is at dance or swim class. -Shonna Ruble   If you make the recruiting door wider, make sure someone on your team can kick them out the back door or you’ll lose so much money on that. -Shonna Ruble   We’re always going to be fighting battles, but I don't like to fight somebody on their playing field. I want to fight it on my own. -Shonna Ruble   There’s no secret sauce, programs that I bought or shiny objects that I found to make me successful, other than my phone. -Shonna Ruble   Leading with profit is something a lot of us don’t do. We get caught up in the numbers and the awards. What we award is units, GCI and volume, not net worth statements, bank accounts and profitability. -Kevin Kauffman     Life is always going to happen, but you can’t slow down when life happens. -Shonna Ruble   Life is going to happen and it will get in the way, but we have to focus on the big picture of things. -Shonna Ruble   Run your own race, don’t be running someone else’s. -Shonna Ruble    There’s so many shiny objects in our industry - there’s more people selling picks and shovels than there are people actually mining gold. -Kevin Kauffman  Key Points     Smacked in the face What led Shonna Ruble into real estate was making sure her children could get what they needed, after her son needed a $700 nebulizer she couldn’t afford. Again, her children are the reason she ultimately decided to build a business and stop working all the time. Sometimes, we get so lost in rain making we forget what matters, but a slap in the face moment got Shonna to refocus.    Prioritizing what matters It’s crazy how much real estate you can do when you’re sitting in your car while your kid is at dance or swim class. Shonna learned how to work while her kids were doing something so that she could be there for them. Then after time with her family in the evening, she’d go back to the office. That level of focus is what allowed her business to grow.    Great people, not-so-great systems  We can have really amazing people on our teams, but if we don’t have systems, everything falls apart if those people aren’t there anymore. It’s so important to take the time to document what has made you successful because that’s what will keep you going through staff changes. From how we do client events to how we celebrate birthdays on the team, you need to have everything written down.    Focus on profit  Leading with profit is something we’re not taught enough in our business. We get caught up in the numbers, awards, units, GCI and volume, not net worth statements, bank accounts and profitability and it gets us in trouble. Shonna learned how to make focus the priority and it gave her staying power while everyone’s business tanked.    Put pressure on the things that matter most  A lot of team leaders think you get a new agent ready by teaching them the CRM. The truth is, we have to put pressure on things that move the needle. The onboarding doesn’t end when they sign a contract, it ends when they get their first deal. We have to get them into production and get them to understand the importance of being prospecting-based. That’s what gets them paid and gets them into a deal.  Even if we have the best recruiting system, it’s impossible to predict who will be great in the long-run. Even the people who interview well can end up just being all talk and nothing more. No matter how detailed your process is, you can never really tell or predict who will be successful. That means we have to open the door for more people, let people prove who they are by their actions, and then also keep the back door open so that the wrong ones get out the door quicker. Guest Info   Shonna Ruble is the Owner/Broker/Auctioneer/Freedom Real Estate & Shonna Key Team.  She launched her career at the age of 23. In 2008, she opened her first brokerage, Freedom Real Estate. In 2009, Shonna Graduated from a worldwide auction school. Freedom Real Estate has grown to include offices in four states, as well as Freedom Auction Services. In addition to being a broker for her own firm, Shonna has also had the privilege of being the principal broker for two additional real estate firms. In 2018, Shonna and her team founded the Shonna Key Team. She has worked tirelessly to be one of the most respected real estate offices and dedicates her time and energy to improving the lives of each agent and client. Shonna holds a spotless real estate record and so does every agent that has been under her brokers license. In her spare time, Shonna enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies, and enjoying a slow-paced, simple life. She is a passionate and honest person who loves that her job allows her to constantly change the lives of others for generations to come. For more information, connect with Shonna on LinkedIn or find her on Facebook.  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

44m

Oct 30, 2023

Real estate and mortgage are businesses where we can earn more by doubling down on the thing we know (production) or force growth through other people. Agents and LOs often choose the former, so they take steps away from buying back their time, experiencing freedom and making room for other opportunities.    Though doing more production pays us in the present, forcing growth through other people ultimately pays a much higher dividend. The sooner we take that step, the better off our lives will be.    Greg Whitmire has grown through other people and dialed in his schedule so much that he’s able to be CEO of 2 successful businesses - a mortgage company and a title one. That’s a lot of moving parts, but Greg manages it effectively.    It takes a lot of discipline and effective self-management to run and grow 2 businesses, have a great family life and do everything else you aspire to do. Greg shares his incredible approach to life and business and how he’s able to work 2 high level jobs simultaneously.  Quotes    It’s just easier to get someone to buy into a system when they don't have other systems they are used to. -Greg Whitmire   Everyone started as a new agent, all of the greats were brand new at one time. -Kevin Kauffman     Boredom is the devil for me. I have to keep myself structured, if not I’m all over the place. All the moving parts work when I’m dialed in. -Greg Whitmire   If you’re going 10% forward every year and the market’s going back 10%, you don’t realize how big that really is. -Kevin Kauffman    Key Points     Outlasting winter in real estate As far as seasons go, this is definitely winter in mortgage, title and real estate. For those who are able to grow - even marginally, are the ones who will benefit when things swing the other way again. They’ll get all the deals by default because there’ll be no one else left. During the winter of 2008 and 2009, it felt like it would last forever, but it ended. You don’t even need to be growing right now to benefit in the end - even staying stagnant is as good as growing if everyone else is shrinking.    Don’t knock a newbie  Sometimes hiring a new agent or LO and training them is better than teaching an old dog new tricks. It’s just easier to get someone to buy into a system when they don’t have other systems they are used to. Schools are always spitting out new agents and LOs. Everyone started as a new agent, all of the greats were brand new at one time, so don’t overlook brand new folks just because you think they lack experience.  Whether it’s the agents on our teams or the clients we help, it can be hard to empathize when people are struggling to live up to their potential. It’s frustrating to see someone not do what they need to be who we know they can become. To overcome this: we have to not hold people accountable to what we think they’re capable of, but rather what they’re own goals are.    An entrepreneur who is too tightly scheduled can’t transform  In order to do what needs to get done, it’s important for us to have deliberate time blocks and schedules, but there’s a caveat. Sometimes we can have so many boundaries,it keeps us from what we want so it’s necessary to loosen up and give some leeway. Even the most dialed in calendar needs some white space    Guest Info   Greg is the dual CEO at Summerlin Title Agency and Summerlin Financial. Greg's passion lies in helping others. One way he moves through that passion is by helping people achieve the dream of homeownership. Greg has been a loan officer for over 20 years and in 2016 along with a group of investors launched Summerlin Financial, Inc. Another way he navigates his passion is through fitness coaching as he is a USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach and has his Level 1 CrossFit Certification. In his spare time, he coaches CrossFit and Olympic Lifting, enjoys paddle boarding, vacationing, and hanging with family and friends.    https://www.summerlinfinancial.com/ CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

51m

Oct 23, 2023

In real estate, whoever controls the leads, controls the business - they call the shots. The rise of online lead sites like Zillow Flex means another way to generate leads, but also another entity making a claim on our earnings. The fact that a marketing company can come in and do something we can be equipped to do says a lot.    Our understanding of online leads and what the process of generating them needs to be corrected. Generating leads and taking them from the top to the bottom of the funnel is something we’re all capable of with the right tools.    If we want to future proof our businesses beyond next month’s and next year’s deals, learning to leverage tech and generate our own leads is a must. It’s how we stay relevant in the consumer’s mind, and how we defend ourselves getting disrupted out of business. If not, we’re doomed to basically become Zilow’s showing assistants.    For Syed Mohsin, teaching agents how to become their own Zillow is his mission. He shares how technology became such a driving force in his business, and why that’s key to our survival and continued success.  Quotes    The biggest brokerages and teams who are doing big numbers are leveraging technology, online lead gen and automation. -Syed Mohsin   The company that spends the most amount of money to acquire clients will always win. -Syed Mohsin   Buying leads from aggregators is only going to get more expensive, it’s never going to be cheaper. -Kevin Kauffman     It’s almost like Zillow is the big team and the agents who take leads are their showing assistants. -Kevin Kauffman     People quit when the person doesn’t want to sell or buy right this second, but that’s not the life cycle of a lead. -Kevin Kauffman     You have to be willing to play the long game with them to make the money. -Kevin Kauffman     Key Points     How tech became Syed’s superpower New real estate agents are taught to generate business from the people who already know, like and trust them. When Syed dropped out of college a lot of people who already knew him didn’t like or trust him. That meant he had to learn to generate business from people he didn’t know, and that’s how tech became such a huge factor in his business.    Real estate agents have online leads all wrong We think a lead we bought from Zillow was generated just yesterday, but they attract and nurture it for months before handing it to an agent. That would be no different if we generated the lead ourselves and nurtured it until they were ready to sell. The problem with agents is we think if a lead isn’t ready to do a deal right this second, the system isn’t working. The life cycle of a real estate lead is long, and the people who make money are the ones who are willing to play the long game.    Work the whole funnel  In real estate, we’re either taught to work top of the funnel leads or bottom of the funnel leads, but not both. We actually have to learn the art of generating a lead and moving it from the top of the funnel right down to the bottom when they are ready to sell.    The best way to approach online leads If you’re going to generate business through lead aggregators, you better not be transactional about it. Once you’ve done the deal, you have to put that person in your database. If not, you won’t be able to get repeat and referral business, and you’ll never get off the hamster wheel of buying leads.    The fight to stay relevant in the eyes of the consumer A lot of consumers don’t think real estate agents add as much value as technology does. In fact, technology has left a lot of them feeling like agents aren’t necessary anymore. Not only are tech companies making a claim on our commissions, they have the pieces in place to make us look obsolete in the eyes of the consumer.    Guest Info   Syed Mohsin is an agent, coach, consultant, technology expert and host of Real Estate Junkies. He helps agents and brokers 5x their business by booking appointments with the power of AI. For more information, head to https://bossagents.co/. Watch my episode on his podcast here.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

37m

Oct 16, 2023

“Our past determines our present and our future” - that’s what most of us have been taught and what we believe. What if this concept is entirely wrong? What if our future determines our present and our present determines our past? We frame time based on our past, but it’s much more powerful to frame time based on our future, that’s what the people who achieve impossible goals and unreasonable success do.    10Xing is a whole lot easier than 2Xing. When we’re operating in the 2X version of ourselves, we’re just doing more of what we’ve already been doing. When we 10X or set the intention to 10X, we unlock more growth and put ourselves in conditions that will completely transform our lives.    How do we master our past, and learn how to operate much more powerfully in the present? How do we set a 10X goal and how does this propel us further than a 2X goal?    Renowned organizational psychologist and author of many books, including “10x Is Easier Than 2x”, Dr. Benjamin Hardy talks about the concepts of the book and how we can apply them to master time.  Quotes    Instead of letting the present determine the future, you let the future determine the present and you let the present determine the past. -Dr. Benjamin Hardy    These books teach you how to operate so powerfully in the present because of what they teach you about how to handle your past and your future. -Dr. Benjamin Hardy    The past is a skill. If you’re not very skilled with the past, then you’re not going to grow very much and you’re not going to gain a lot from your experiences. -Dr. Benjamin Hardy   Your quality of life in the present is largely based on the level of meaning and purpose you’re striving for in your future. -Dr. Benjamin Hardy   We’re living in the present, but our present is largely based on how we frame the past and our future. -Dr. Benjamin Hardy   The future is a draft, right now have your best current approach and over time you might shift the goal. -Dr. Benjamin Hardy   Key Points     Understanding the trilogy  “The Gap and The Gain” teaches you how to have mastery over your past. “10x is Easier” teaches us how to have mastery over our present and future. We’re all in the present moment, but everyone is having a very different experience because of our past and our future. Everything happening in the present is based on how we’re filtering our past and future. These books teach you how to operate so powerfully in the present because of what they teach you about how to handle your past and your future.    A more masterful approach to the past  We assume that the past actually comes before the present but that’s not the only way to look at time. We say who we are in the present is because of the past. We can look at this completely differently, rather than having the past cause the present, we actually have the present cause the meaning of the past. The past is a skill - if you’re not very skilled with the past, you’re not going to grow very much and you’re not going to gain a lot from your experiences.    Squeeze meaning out of small increments of time  In this present moment, we’re not who we were even 24 hours ago, we’re already different. The more juice we can squeeze out of a small amount of time, the more empowered we’ll be in the present and future. Recognizing the difference between our present self and past self and appreciating that difference is powerful. It also gives us the opportunity to turn our past into more of an asset rather than a liability. Even our biggest traumas or failures can be turned into our biggest gains and they can be things that pay us in the present and future. For a lot of people, their past is a liability, meaning it’s draining their present and future and they are blaming their limited present and future on the past. On the other hand, we can turn the past into something valuable that helps us instead of hindering us.    Why it’s easier to achieve impossible goals  Impossible goals are easier because they force you out of your current assumptions.  If something is possible, you believe you know how to do it. If we change the goal and make it truly impossible, that means we don’t know how to do it. That’s actually the best place to start because we’re no longer operating from our past. If it’s impossible, then we really can’t access it from our past. We can’t go about it in a similar way to get to the goal. If we look at our goals, chances are we’ll discover that we’re dogmatic about how we’ll go about achieving them. Setting an impossible goal forces you out of your current fixed mindset of how you have to do it.    2X vs. 10X 2X means you can keep 80% of your existing life. If we keep 80% of what’s in that present, we change our future only by 20%. In the 10x model, the future is so high and impossible but also so intrinsically exciting and motivating that we can only keep the best 20%, and 80% has to go.    Who Not How  What can make an impossible goal possible? The answer is usually a who. In the 10x model, who not how becomes more important because you need better who’s to do it. Whether it’s handing off the 80% so you can focus on the 20% or collaborating with people, your goal shapes your process.    What 20% looks like and what 80% to let go of  We’re living in the present, but our present is largely based on how we frame the past and our future. What if we started to view both the past and the present as a draft, and not be so tied to either of them? The future is a draft. Right now, you have your best current approach and over time you might shift the goal. If you think about it like a book where the first draft sucks and you continue refining, you can work on getting a clearer and clearer view of yourself.    Defining your 10X Goal  A 2x goal is us just continuing more of what we’ve been doing. A 10X should be intrinsically motivating and maybe even feel a little impossible. It’s going to be personal to you. It’s not going to necessarily be linear - it might be in a completely different space to what you’re doing right now. It’s the goal you might be afraid to admit to anyone.    4 major reasons why people waste their time __ __   Guest Info   Dr. Hardy is an organizational psychologist, keynote speaker, author of MANY BOOKS, and the world's leading teacher on transformational psychology. Dr. Hardy is known for his work in the fields of productivity, motivation, and personal development. He is the author of several books, including “10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less”. His work focuses on the importance of personalized approaches to productivity, motivation, and goal-achievement, and he has developed several frameworks and strategies for improving performance and achieving success.   Subscribe to Dr. Hardy’s YouTube channel and buy the book here.   CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

1h 2m

Oct 09, 2023

In real estate, there’s 2 governing philosophies. Earn more by selling more or buy back time and treat it as a business. In simpler terms - microwave money vs. crockpot money. You’re either cheating by taking more listings or seeking ways to earn money without being at the kitchen table. If you’re the one actively doing the work everyday, you’ll never get to buy your time back and pursue other opportunities outside of selling homes.    Unsurprisingly, most brokerages want us doing the former, but like athletes, many of us are starting to wake up to how valuable our brands are. Brokerages have known this for ages - why do you think they are willing to pay top producers to stay?    Maybe, just maybe, we’re more valuable than our caps. Maybe we have intrinsic value through our relationships and reputations, and that’s something we can leverage. How do we really leverage our influence? How do we actually treat this as a business? Chris Bowers joins me to talk about the thing most agents are starting to realize that brokerages have known it for ages.  Quotes    There are no business issues, there’s personal issues that lead into your business. -Chris Bowers    We committed to not let our income be dependent on sitting in someone’s living room. -Kevin Kauffman     If you keep an open mind, there’s people that can teach you something everywhere. -Kevin Kauffman     Once something changes your life, you feel like you’ve got to go out and stream it. -Chris Bowers     When you align incentives with human behavior, you get the things you want more of. -Kevin Kauffman     Influence is a currency, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you have good intentions. -Chris Bowers    If you’re a leader with influence, and you’ve got good intentions, lean into that. It is a currency that can be used to change people’s lives. -Chris Bowers    eXp gave me a chance to be entrepreneurial without putting a ton of constraints on me. -Kevin Kauffman     You’ve got to have a story that’s so compelling you have to say it to yourself again. -Chris Bowers    We let our egos get stroked too much in this industry. -Kevin Kauffman     People would rather change their goals than change their daily actions. -Chris Bowers    We let our past determine our present. The reality is, our present determines our past and if we do it right, we should let our future determine our present. -Kevin Kauffman    Key Points     A real estate rude awakening When you listen into a lot of real estate conversations, you discover how very few of us actually treat this thing as a business. Most people cheat growth by taking more listings, instead of building a machine that we can step out of and still make money from. We were willing to make less money in order to build that machine and it has afforded us an enormous amount of free time and opportunities outside of real estate sales.    The value of our influence  For athletes, there was a moment when it clicked that they are a brand, and that the influence they yield is something worth paying a lot of money for. That’s when they started getting into bigger business deals. In real estate, the same awakening is taking place. Agents realize they have influence and that influence is valuable. Brokerages have known it for ages, but it’s starting to really hit agents like a ton of bricks. Influence is a currency, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you have good intentions.     Crockpot money vs. microwave money There’s 2 modes in real estate - crockpot money and microwave money. In microwave money mode, we’re thinking of the next deal and commission check that will help us pay our bills. In crockpot money, we’re thinking of those long-term slow burn ways to make money. Now don’t get us wrong, the microwave mode is important, we need it to get going, but we can’t stay there forever. The problem with this industry is people don’t make the switch, they get trapped into next month’s deals forever, no matter how much money they make and they never plug into crockpot mode.     I couldn’t get over not wanting to swipe my friends’ credit cards  The thing about eXp is that it’s like picking a board of directors for our business without swiping your friends’ credit cards every month. We’re incentivized to be each other’s go to guys - whether we need 30 seconds or 40 minutes. We get to have high level advisors in our businesses for free, and because of how it’s structured, we all benefit from that.    Guest Info   Chris Bowers is a Realtor, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.    Follow @chrisbowers_realestate on Instagram and listen to agentXcel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.     CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

1h 12m

Oct 02, 2023

Whether we know it or not - all human beings have an internal thermostat, a certain level of abundance, joy or success we’re calibrated to. If we’re not careful, that level can make us blow up our lives and self-sabotage when we get everything we’ve always wanted.    Call it your comfort zone, your average or your upper limit problem, this internal temperature gauge runs our lives, and often runs us into the ground if we don’t do something about it. Our comfort zones are wrapped up in our identity, and anytime we have to assume a new identity, our brains can fight us and ratchet us down to the standard they are used to.    It’s how we can lose all the weight and then start eating junk food, or how we can achieve a financial goal and then make a bad decision with money. Without fixing this problem, we’re doomed to create unnecessary drama in our lives, constantly sabotage ourselves, taking 2 steps forward and 5 steps back.    How do we become aware of our own upper limit and start to raise the temperature? Real estate leader, entrepreneur, coach, speaker and Head of Industry at PLACE, Vija Williams talks about how a season of intense personal growth helped her break through her upper limit problem and become 100 times lighter emotionally.  Quotes    Conquering some upper limit problems is the number 1 most important thing I’ve done. -Vija Williams    90% of getting past an upper limit problem is just awareness. Anytime you see yourself sabotaging, take some white space time and ask, “what am I not admitting to myself right now?” -Vija Williams    I have learned to think in questions, not answers. -Vija Williams    I’m a big fan of asking myself questions, that’s my awareness tool. -Kevin Kauffman  Key Points     How to identify an upper limit problem  A sure sign of having an upper limit problem is sabotaging yourself when you’ve succeeded at something or got what you want. You hit your weight loss target and immediately binge on junk food. You make money and then go and spend a ton of money unnecessarily. In real estate, it’s having a really great listing appointment but procrastinating and failing to follow up. All these are signs that we’re trying to ratchet our lives back down to an underlying identity.    Crossover self-sabotage  Upper limit problems don’t always manifest in the same place. Instead of sabotaging your weight loss results by eating a bunch of junk food, you could lose weight and then go and needlessly spend a bunch of money. You can actually cross-sabotage ourselves without even knowing it by blowing your life up in a completely different area.    Intense Clusters of Growth  Personal growth can happen gradually over time, but sometimes we go through intense clusters of personal growth that concentrate the learning and also concentrate the results. Often we’ll feel that we’re gaining momentum, and no one sees it, and that’s the hardest part of the journey. If you’re still going through the process, and it seems like no one’s seeing it, keep going. If you keep your eye on the prize, the change in you will become very obvious on the surface.    The right question, not the right answer  Asking ourselves questions is one of the most powerful awareness we have. When we’re aware enough of what’s going on in our lives, we can ask ourselves high quality questions that move the needle. In coaching, a session should end with the right focusing question, not the answer. Then someone sits down and unpeels the layers to get to the right thing for them.    Sneaky ways your upper limit problem creeps up on us  Another sneaky way an upper limit problem presents itself is avoiding taking risks to create or maintain stability. It’s having all the money to buy an investment property and just not being able to pull the trigger. It might also manifest in an inability to celebrate big wins, or having an unquenchable, undisciplined pursuit of more.    Guest Info   Vija Williams is an entrepreneur, 2nd generation Realtor, coach, speaker and Head of Industry at PLACE. She is the president of Ben Kinney Brokerages. Under her leadership the eight offices had explosive growth: climbing from 1,330 agents to over 1,700, amounting to a 23% increase in agent count and 25% growth in sales volume. Vija also owns and runs Vija Real Estate powered by PLACE. This team of residential real estate specialists focuses on the move-up and luxury segments in the Seattle, Washington market. Vija is a co-founder of “Her Best Life,” a national women’s group that hosts annual events and is comprised of some of the top female business leaders and influencers in the nation. She is the co-host of the Empire Building podcast with Wendy Papasan, Sarah Reynolds and Seychelle Van Poole since June 2020.    For more information, follow @viavija on Instagram. You can also send an email to vija@place.com.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

42m

Sep 25, 2023

From an average home to an ultra-luxury mansion, there are 5 buckets of listings agents can go after. For many of us, the idea of breaking into the luxury niche is intimidating as hell. Agents will wait years to take a higher price point listing, or worse - talk themselves out of opportunities because they don’t think they can go for high net worth sellers. Breaking into luxury is a lot easier than we think. You don’t have to live in a fancy zip code to become an authority in that niche. You don’t have to live in a mansion, drive a Maserati or even be with a luxury brokerage.    We tend to overthink the luxury niche, but there’s a lot of opportunities for the taking right in front of us. Ultimately, overthinking keeps us on the bench and away from the best opportunities.    How do we actually define a luxury property - is it anything that’s a $1 million up? What steps can we take to go after luxury? Real estate agent, leader and luxury specialist, Michael La Fido shares how to break through the mindset barriers to selling luxury real estate.    Quotes    Generalists get paid, specialists get wealthy. -Michael LaFido   There’s no easy button to break into luxury, but when agents continue to grow their knowledge, their confidence will grow. -Michael LaFido   Key Points     How to succeed from day 1 It’s hard enough to get started and successful in real estate, even when you’re full time from the jump. What really stands out about Michael is that he started part-time and did really well. Because he had the base income from his day job, he could put extra money towards coaching and marketing, which gave him a huge advantage.  Defining luxury  Many people think a luxury property is anything from $1 million up, but markets are so vastly different that what’s considered luxury won’t be the same. Luxury isn’t just in the big pockets and big cities - it’s all over the US. Michael’s definition of luxury is a home that’s 3x the average sale price, and then there’s uber-luxury which is a home that’s 10x the average sales price.    How to get your first luxury listing  In luxury listings, trust counts a lot more than experience. For upper price points sellers, their decisions will often be based on a referral. Getting more luxury listings is as simple as getting into that circle of trust and building solid relationships.    Guest Info   Michael LaFido is a real estate consultant and top-producing Realtor with over twenty years of experience in the real estate industry. Michael’s marketing has been the featured cover story in Crain’s Chicago Business and highlighted in Forbes and FOX News Chicago Business Hour. He is also the author of the books “Luxury Listing Specialist”, “Outside The Box”, and “Marketing Luxury”.   Throughout his career, Michael learned the importance of high-caliber marketing versus “traditional marketing”, which has become pivotal to his success. Over the past twenty years, LaFido and his team have developed a method that takes a more comprehensive, and proactive approach when positioning and marketing a home.  Michael, the founder of the Marketing Luxury Group, assists other real estate agents, brokers, and affluent home-owners by providing top-tier services including consulting, lifestyle marketing, public relations and coaching to help agents and owners sell their luxury homes; utilizing proven and innovative strategies. The Marketing Luxury Group has been recognized as the ‘Best Property Consulting/Marketing’ by the International Property Awards.   Michael has created the nationally recognized luxury designation for real estate agents which is known as Luxury Listing Specialist (LUXE). This designation establishes an in-depth and detailed set of standards for agents that represent luxury homes and is currently offered for Continuing Education (CE) for real estate agents in Texas and Georgia. The training is based on the same principles Michael outlines in his book, “Luxury Listing Specialist” that he teaches to agents across the world.   For more information, head to https://luxurylistingspecialist.com/ and buy Michael’s books here.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

24m

Sep 18, 2023

We’re all equipped with natural strengths, abilities and things that come easy to us. Those things are powerful clues to our calling. Unfortunately, when we go through the journey of unearthing that calling, imposter syndrome walks right beside it. There’s that voice that says, “you’re not worthy of this, so don’t even try,” and more often than not, we buy into it because of a story that’s been living in our brains for a long time.    In our moments of greatest revelation, our old stories and patterns come out. That’s how we can experience the clarity of knowing what we’re meant to do, at the same time as the imposter syndrome that we have no right to do that thing. If we don’t do something about it, we’re ultimately giving ourselves an excuse not to fulfill our dreams.    What blocks us from our next level isn’t tactics and strategies - we know what we need to do. The problem is the stories we tell ourselves, the mindset patterns that block us from our next level. Even incredible coaches and leaders go through the journey of discovering these stories and overcoming them. Peak Performance Coach, Kamille Rose Taylor shares her own journey to finding her calling and what blocks us from our next level.  Quotes    Don’t underestimate what comes easy to you because oftentimes, what comes easy to you may be the very strength someone else is looking for. -Kamille Rose Taylor   There is something for you in this world based on the very unique set of skills you have, you don’t just have to fit into the marketplace. -Kamille Rose Taylor   If you learn to harness the power of your focus, you win. -Kamille Rose Taylor   Success is 10-20% strategy and tactics and 80-90% the psychology of the individual. -Kamille Rose Taylor   The reality is, even people that are doing great aren’t doing great everywhere. -Kevin Kauffman    In your moments of greatest stress or revelation, your old stories and patterns come out. -Kamille Rose Taylor    Focus is going to start with clarity and the second thing is simplicity or elimination. -Kamille Rose Taylor   When you’re doing that thing that you’re meant to do, it feels like play to you and looks like work to others. -Kamille Rose Taylor   The mind is only going to do whatever you ask it to do. -Kamille Rose Taylor   Transformation comes from a relational walk with another person, particularly someone who is dedicated to being in your corner. -Kamille Rose Taylor   If you’re looking to up your game and take it to the next level, the main thing you can put your energy into is that power of focus. -Kamille Rose Taylor   If I’m going to answer what I consider God’s calling for my life, I’ve got to get really in touch with the demons inside me.  -Kamille Rose Taylor   You need to have a team around you, especially if you want to play at a really high level. -Kamille Rose Taylor   Key Points     Ask yourself better questions The question “what’s wrong with me” is really dangerous. Think of your brain as a Google search engine - it will just follow your prompt and provide the result you requested. Asking what’s wrong with us is an inefficient way to get to the solution. Instead, we have to learn to make better prompts and ask our brains higher quality questions.    Uncovering the story  The beliefs we have and stories we tell ourselves have a lot of power. When we have an underlying story that makes us feel unworthy, it’s going to come to the surface when we discover what our true calling is. If we’re going to answer the call God has for our lives, we have to find out what that story is so that we can change it.   Stop comparing down, start comparing up  Comparison is one of the biggest barriers to our next level, especially when we compare up instead of comparing down. When we compare down, we look at what other people have done, and we disparage and belittle ourselves. When we compare up, we look at what other people have done and get inspired and use that to see what’s possible for ourselves.    There’s no peak performance when you’re distracted There are so many distractions, so many shiny objects especially in real estate. We could spend all our time analyzing things, and that keeps us from our next level. The environment we’re in is no longer the information age - we’re way past that. We’re in the attention age, where we’re going to drown in information without even looking for it. It becomes more critical to focus our time and energy on what truly moves the needle.    Focus in 2 easy steps  There are two key aspects of focus - clarity and simplicity. First, we need to have a hyper-clear, high definition vision of what we want, then we have to seek simplicity which is ultimately the elimination of what isn’t necessary.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

1h 0m

Sep 11, 2023

In today’s episode, I’m really pumped to finally have my friend and business partner, Bob Sophiea on the show. I’m really happy to have him in the hot seat, pepper him with questions and find out how he thinks about business. One thing I really like about Bob is that he uses his deep awareness to constantly work on the next level. He’s never been afraid to tinker and change things for the sake of getting better. He truly gets what it takes to build a successful sales business, and today we discuss how he rebuilt this business after a down year, and why we need to see growth differently in this market.    Bob Sophiea is the founder and CEO of New Home Collective which was established in 2014 with a mission to revolutionize the real estate industry. Since its inception, Bob has sold close to 2,000 homes and garnered over 800 5-star Google reviews, cementing his reputation as a trusted real estate expert. Clients and professionals alike choose to work with Bob for a variety of reasons, including his expertise, social media presence, and innovative approach to the market. As a skilled negotiator, he ensures the best outcomes for his clients, while his commitment to transparency and communication fosters strong relationships. Punctuality, collaboration, continuous learning, and self-awareness also contribute to Bob's success. Under Bob's leadership, New Home Collective continues to redefine the home buying and selling experience, providing exceptional results through dedication, innovation, and client satisfaction. For more information, visit https://www.nhcnow.com/ Follow @nhcnow https://www.instagram.com/nhcnow/ and @rpsophiea https://www.instagram.com/rpsophiea/ on Instagram.   In this market, it’s not surprising that some of the most productive and capable teams have seen a decline. For many people in real estate, this can easily be seen as failure.  But the truth is: in a bad market, staying stagnant while everyone backslides or quits is actually a win. Part of our businesses getting better in a down market is other people quitting and our ability to outlast them. This is why it’s important that we adopt adaptive persistence. We have to be nimble - we can’t be married to one way of doing things, but we also have to be stubbornly committed to continue down the road, even if it zigzags a lot. Even moving forward in mere inches is massive growth when we’re in a shift, and that mindset is what allows us to take market share while everyone surrenders.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

39m

Sep 04, 2023