YESTalk-165 - From A Dark Place to the Top 1% - Interview with the Best - Sam Garretson and Kevin Ward

Welcome to Kevin Ward's YES Talk for Realtors. This is Kevin Ward. Hi, there. It's Kevin Ward with YES Masters Real Estate Success Training. And welcome to another episode of Interviews with the Best, where we interview top performers in real estate who not only make money, but also believe in adding value for their clients and. And having a life. And today we have a very special guest who is just finishing his rookie year as a real estate agent in Midland, Texas, with Weickert Realty, Mr. Sam Garrettson. Sam, thank you for joining me, man.

Hey, thanks for having me, Kevin. It's a pleasure to be here.

Oh, man, I tell you, it has been such an exciting thing to watch you your first year in real estate. You and I've been together since the very beginning.

Yep.

Right. So tell us kind of before we talk a little about your background, all that, but tell us about how you kind of got started with me and where you were in that process, how we met, when we met, and how you kind of got started in real estate.

Okay. Well, the way me and you got started was kind of about two years into my actual real estate journey. So I had basically started out with wholesaling, and through the process of wholesaling, I met an individual who was actually in your coaching. I didn't know it at the time. And then I ended up getting a phone call one day from a broker, and the broker said, hey, somebody in my office thinks you might be a good fit. And I said, no, no way. You know, no way I'm. No way was I trying to be an agent. It wasn't even on my radar. You know, I was. I was really focused on investing. Wholesaler, right? Yeah. So she called me up, and I kind of laughed it off, but I hung the phone up, and I had to really kind of face reality, which is I wasn't making my ends meet the way I wanted to, so I had to do something. And I was already in the game of real estate, and I basically a corporate type of. So I really didn't want to go back looking for any other kind of job. Right.

Yeah.

So, you know, I started thinking about that phone call, and one thing led to the next. I went ahead and got my license, and once I passed my test, I went and signed up at the brokerage and met up with Jacoby, the guy that I was referring to earlier. Yeah. You know, the broker said, hey, while you're waiting on your license, why don't you go do some of that Kevin Ward stuff with Jacoby? Think he's got one Coming up in la, he can probably get you a ticket. I said, oh, really? I didn't know nothing about nothing. You know, I was just trying to. I was trying to make a few extra bucks, help my investing career, you know, I wanted to be able to run my own comps and make a little more extra money. So.

Right, right.

That phone call came in and I thought about it. Called back, signed up, Next thing I know, I'm in LA, right. $50 ticket. I couldn't pass it up, so bought me a plane ticket and a hotel, and next thing I know, I was sitting in front of you and so there.

That was last summer, actually.

July. Yeah, last July.

So that was last July.July of 2018. You had passed your real estate license exam, but you had not got your license yet, is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay. And you came with Jacoby Kendrick, who I did an earlier episode a few months ago with Jacobi Kendrick, also with Weikert Realties in Midland, Texas. That's how you guys met? That's how we met was through Jacoby. And so you came out for one of our. Which training camp was it at the time?

Real estate vortex, 2018. Yep.

Okay. So came out for three day training.

All right.

And so that's how we got started. So you were like, brand new, didn't even have your license yet, and just got going.

That was it.

Awesome. And then what happened next?

My mind was blown, to say the least. Man, when I sat in that conference and training, I guess you could say I honestly couldn't hardly wrap my mind around what I was witnessing. You know, the stuff that these guys were doing and the kind of people that they were. I just. I could hardly comprehend it. It was so amazing, so awesome. I sat there literally in tears. You know, I hid it, right? But I couldn't believe I was in such a place and had such opportunity in front of me. I mean, it all seemed legit, real, tangible, something that I was capable of or anybody would be capable of. And, man, it was. It floored me, you know, when I left that. When I left that training, like, I was. I was a new man. I didn't have my license yet, but I saw some future that I'd never seen that I could grab before.

So what did you. So this is. I think this is. And this is really. I didn't mean to get this deep this fast, but I think this is really kind of deep here. What did you see that impacted you so much? Because it wasn't. I mean, you know, I don't think it was so much about me. It was what you saw in other people there, right?

Absolutely. It was. You know, you've got, of course, you've got the inner circle and a whole bunch of people that are not in the inner circle, that are just such top notch players. I mean, when you're in the presence of greatness, I mean, proximity, you can't deny it. Literally, you feel it, you know it, it's in the air. And you actually have to be there to experience that. 100%.

Awesome. So a lot of people come to these events and a lot of people are in that proximity just like you, and they walk in and they walk out and they may do some stuff, they may add some business, they may make a little more money, but you came out and it changed your life.

It was a must, Kevin. I mean, I was in a. I was basically in a kind of a dark place and it was. I didn't have an option. And when I saw going from struggling to thriving if I, if I follow these steps and do what these other guys have done, and nothing that I saw seemed like something that I couldn't do or attain. So that, that left me with, you know, some real sense of, I don't want to say security, but faith and confidence. That there was a lot of things possible here. Yeah.

Well, I think I'm really intrigued and I think this is really, I think, important for the audience is that a lot of people see this and they're exposed to the same thing you're exposed to. They come to an event, they come to even my training camps and they get all excited and they see top performers and they see top achievers and, and they get inspired and then they go back and then within a month, they're back in the old grind and they're. Nothing changes. But you came back, you came back home and everything changed for you. So my question is, why do you think it changed for you and it didn't. Whereas it doesn't change for a lot of people. What was different about the way you took it? Because I don't. I mean, is it because you're that much smarter? Is it because you're that much better than everybody else? Why did it work for you? And when it doesn't work for everybody, what made it work for you?

I think part of the thing, and a lot of people pointed this out to me when I was there, is they said, you do not realize how lucky you are to be here. Before you know anything, my slate was clean. I didn't have A bunch of crap to fix and do differently. I was just like a blank slate. Right?

Right.

Whatever you said to do, that's what I need to go do. I didn't have to go change a habit.

So part of it was just you were brand. You were like, you didn't have bad habits to unlearn or you hadn't been taught a bunch of BS that you had to, that you had been doing and now you had to stop doing. You were clean slate, brand new. And it's like, tell me what to do and I'll do it.

Yep. Now don't get me wrong, we've all got our bad habits that we're going to have to overcome when we get into anything new, you know, but I didn't have the realtor habits that maybe a lot of people have been in the business a while, have had ingrained into themselves.

Okay, so what else, what else made it work for you?

I've never really chased the dollar. So when I got into this deal, of course I needed to make money. But I left a job where I was making good money. And my commitment at that time was to never chase a dollar. If I can serve people, help them achieve something, get from A to B, I'll be rewarded. So that's my approach and I've always been so goal oriented that I'm kind of trying to wrap my business model around that in itself. It's just helping people get to a goal. And I'm not sure if that approach is helping me or not, but I really feel like it has an impact on people. People feel it when you're coming from the right place. And I do not chase the dollar. I don't chase the dollar. I want to make a lot of dollars, but I'm not chasing the dollar.

I love it. It's something that I think is so powerful that the fastest way to make a lot of money is not by trying to make a lot of money. The fast way to make a lot of money is by doing something that adds a lot of value to a lot of people. And that that's what it does. Alright, so you started your plan was not to be a real estate agent, right?

Not at all.

Originally your plan was real estate investing. So tell us about kind of like what you're, what you were doing in real estate because you said you'd had a couple years under your belt doing dabbling in real estate. So what were you dabbling in? Tell us about that and then how that kind of molded or transitioned into doing real estate. As an agent.

Okay. So I started out, like I said, wanting to get into investing. I wasn't sure how. I actually tried to buy a property before I had left my corporate job, and I just couldn't get approved. I didn't have the money in the bank to do it. Quicken Loans turned me down. You know, Wells Fargo shut me down, wouldn't give me home equity loan, and I just couldn't figure out how to scratch my way in. And I saw an opportunity to start a small business in which I had always wanted to do. And I jumped on this shaved ice business. So I rebirthed this old shaved ice company that has been a staple around my town for like 25 plus years, really, simply to raise money to buy my first property.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Okay. So is this what you're doing full time now, before real estate? Well, another job.

I was. I was driving a big truck and delivering for Coca Cola.

Okay.

At the time.

So you're a truck driver?

I guess you could say that I was more of a vending route driver. Okay. I spent a decade filling up vending machines. I went from that to Coca Cola, in which I drove the big truck for two years and made all those deliveries. But during that time, I was really, really, really getting that itch. And I was basically not leaving myself any options. I had to do something, I love it myself, a crutch or something, to eventually work for myself and not just be an employee, somebody forever. So I started that shaved ice business. I had big ideas around it. I was going to franchise them out and have. I mean, literally. You know, this sounds funny, but it's the best, right? It's the best shaved ice here to Hawaii. And I'll put money on that. So, that being said, I had the confidence to build this business out and, you know, I didn't know. There's a lot of things I wasn't sure of, Kevin. You know, I didn't know which way my life was going to go. I just knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to start getting into real estate. So I did that. That was going to lead to that, that and that. Next thing I know, I realized I used that as a crutch. Okay. I finally quit working for somebody else. I used that shaved ice business as a crutch. And I soon realized that it was actually going to take more of my time than it was going to be worth if I was going to do the real estate investing wholesaling. I got to a point where I literally needed to make a choice. It was going to go this way or that way. Am I going to be a shaved ice magnate or am I going to be a real estate investor? So literally one year in, we had a great year, super successful year. One year in, I made a hard decision to put that on the back burner and really focus on this real estate thing.

Really. So you did. So all this stuff I did not know about you before, which is really, I love this conversation because every time I interview, even though like a lot of my. These are. You're a coaching member, I mean, these are people that I feel like I know you and then I learn all this new stuff. So I'm very intrigued by this.

So.

So you did that for a full year, full time, doing the shave.

So it's seasonal. Right. But we, we started before the season. We ran a whole season. And when that season was over, I realized that it was very time and focus intensive and I was going to have to make a choice which direction I was going to go.

But you made good money in it. The year you did it right.

Success, man. Everybody in town was thrilled that this thing came back better than ever. And.

And then you're like, this is taking me the wrong direction.

Taking me the wrong direction. I looked at the big picture and I thought, you know, after 20 years of doing this or 20 years of focusing on this, where am I going to be? And man, it was a hard decision. And I, you know, I closed it out with a little bit of debt left behind, but I just knew that I couldn't continue my focus there and succeed the way I want to succeed somewhere else.

And yeah, I think that is a really powerful principle of success, and that is that when people are double minded, they tend to not do either one well. And you realized I got to be single minded. And right now you were being like, I want to do investing and I'm doing the shaved ice. I'm double minded. I'm focused on trying to focus on two targets at once. And that doesn't tend to work very well. So you made the decision, you shut it down. What a step of faith, man. You shut it down. And then. Then what?

So that all happened, you know, right after I jumped out on my own into entrepreneurship. And.

Okay, to be clear, now you have no paycheck.

Like, you have no, no job. So I had a few things going on for me. So my wife, she had a small house cleaning business. So she was cleaning houses.

Yep.

And you know, I actually an old investor of mine that I had Run into, which was really one of the biggest mentors and factors in me finally figuring out which. Which direction I want to go in my life. This guy actually had some properties that were not being managed very well. So he had a big portfolio. Almost half of it was sitting empty. He came to me and said, I need. I need somebody. Can you help me out? So I was in a position where I had the shaved ice business that I was thinking hard about. You know, I knew how to do handyman work, and I knew how to mow grass, and I wasn't gonna let my bills go unpaid. Right. But I could not continue to work for another man. I was to the point, Kevin, where now or never, if I don't light these boats on fire, I'm just gonna sit here forever, you know? So it got to that point where I had to light those boats on fire. And then this kind of transpired. You know, things started coming together. This guy was the guy that I was going to. Trying to learn how to start investing, and he ended up needing a guy. Right. So I stepped up and started taking care of his properties just for him as a. As a sole owner. And soon learned. Soon realized that I could only take that so far. So, you know, I needed to get my license to expand upon that. Yeah. And upon basically any other way to make income for myself other than doing handyman work, mowing grass, or going to get some other job that I didn't want. So that it all just kind of led me into realizing that getting my license was my next step. And I didn't realize what route I was actually going to end up on with that until I found myself in Los Angeles listening to you. And then all the dots started to connect. Right, Right.

So even when you were getting your license, your main motivation to get your license was actually property management, helping this and investing.

Right. So I had to. I was helping that guy. I wanted to get my license so I could move forward with that and expand upon that if I needed to.

Yep.

And just to. With, you know, to learn the game of real estate even more than I already was. And I just felt like if I had my license, I'd have my finger on the pulse a lot more. And, of course, I could probably make a few more dollars and not have to pay another agent to do a deal, you know?

Right, Right. Okay, so now, once you got your license, what did you. How did this tell us about the decision or kind of the how you charted your course between selling real estate and investing? Because in the last year, you really focused on selling real estate. So have you given up the other stuff or is that still in the plan? Where kind of. What are you thinking now? What are you doing now and what are you thinking?

Investor first, realtor second. That's my mindset.

That's your mindset.

And I'm never gonna let that go because I will retire from being an agent as soon as possible. All right. Yeah, it's nice to meet old Mike Wolf. You know, he's such an inspiration, right?

Absolutely.

And so definitely, definitely still in my game plan. I slowed down. I bought a couple properties in those first two years and I got behind on a few things, so I got basically needed to do some catching up. So in this last year, since I got my license, it's been catch up mode. You know, get to where I'm in a position so I can continue investing. I had big plans, I got behind on my investment plans, but I'm still right here at the gate getting myself in position, ready to blow through it just as soon as possible.

All right, so your plan has been and now continues to be, I got to make money so that I can invest in real estate, so that I can have money. I'm working for money so that I can invest in real estate, so money will be working for me.

That's right.

That's been your plan. So even selling real estate and adding value to other people as a means to an end of being able then to build your real estate portfolio and eventually retire from selling real estate so that you can be a full time real estate investor 100% or financially free?

Yep. And I feel like I'm in a hurry to get to that point because I feel like I can even affect more people and help more people once I get there. So the more people I can help in a hurry right now, the quicker I can help more people as soon as possible.

Love it. So do you mind sharing? So your goal is to get free, financially free, as fast as possible. Right. Do you mind sharing with the audience your financial freedom date or is that too personal?

Honestly, it's by 45. 40.

So how long you got? Do you mind?

I got about three and a half more years. All right. All right.

I love it. You've now gone public, my friend. So your goal is to be financially free in three and a half years and then you can sell real estate as long as you want. You can quit real estate. Now you've got the option of doing what you want to do.

That's right.

Which is one of the things that we train in. Yes, Masters is we teach you how to make money and have a life, which means creating financial freedom, which is not really taught that much in real estate. My experience and over 20 years, real estate, nobody talks about getting financially free. And then like you, you know, you met Mike Wolf, who's one of my best friends. It's also a former realtor that's financially free and been financially free for years. Um, so I love that. Alright, so now let's go back to your first year in real estate. You've been in for 15 months now. You started in last August, you got your license last August 2018, which as we're recording this, that's 15 months ago.

Correct.

Right. Okay, so you are doing. So you started full time in August once you got your license. And tell us about your first year. Tell us how it went. Yeah.

All right. It started out fun. Started out real fun. And actually kind of slower than I expected. So, you know, I thought, man, I'm gonna get 10 deals in 100 days. That was my goal. And I just knew I was gonna do it. All right. I was committed. I was ready. Scared shitless, but committed. Right, right. And it didn't work out. Didn't work out that way. In my 100 day challenge, I had a few deals that fell apart. You know, I had my first listing, actually went under contract and that deal fell apart. And I think I closed like one buyer deal within the 100 day challenge. So, you know, I learned a ton during Boot Camp, aka the 100 Day Challenge, but it didn't seem to be paying off at the time. But I wasn't concerned because, you know, I was disheartened because I wanted to put numbers on the board and money in my pocket, but I knew that something big was happening slowly. So the framework was getting put in place, the confidence was building. Learning what to do, what to say, when to say it. All those things were being embedded into me. I just didn't quite have the execution yet. So, you know, I got out of the Hundred day challenge and things just kind of came together for me a little bit faster in the next few months. Yeah, you know, I've done quite a bit more this year than I did on those first few months last year.

All right, so let's go back here because you kind of become a legend in. Yes. Masters training. Because on day 50 of the 100 Day Challenge, you sent me an email. You remember that?

Here's where I was. Kevin, you ready? I'm ready.

So 50 days in, first go Back the context here. The goal was you're going to do 10 deals in the first hundred days of your business.

That's right.

Or on day 50. And you sent me an email, okay, so go.

And I was basically at a point where I'm thinking, I'm in too deep if I'm not going to be a full time agent. Because this here, this training, this program is for the dead serious. Dead serious. If you're not dead serious, you're in the wrong place. Literally. I mean, there's really no other way to put it. I mean, I was there and I felt like, you know what? I'm not sure. I think I just want to be an investor. I just want to, you know, manage this property and make a few more dollars. I never wanted to be one of the best agents. It was never on my radar. Never wanted to be in competition with anybody in town. I just wanted away, make a few extra bucks and help my investing business. Right. So 100 days in, I'm thinking, man, this is crazy. This is, this is the real deal. And if I don't want to be this type of agent, I'm in the wrong place. So what's it going to be, Sam? Am I going to move forward with being like a quote unquote, the best agent, one of the best agents type of guys? Or am I going to just say, you know what, that I made a wrong choice. I really never should have got on this road because that wasn't what I was intending to be. I just needed to know what to do with this real estate license. So you responded to me and said, well, what are your goals? And just that question alone, you know, I had to think about it and I look at my goals and I think, well, how fast am I getting to these goals without being an agent? And how fast would I get to these goals by being an agent? And what's funny to me, with wholesaling and being agent, there's kind of a similarity. So with wholesaling, you take a property, you help somebody by finding somebody else to buy it from them, whether it be you or another person. All right? Now during that process, you're taking on a lot of responsibility because you're telling them you're going to buy it from them.

Yep.

Now with being an agent, it's almost the same, but you don't have to tell them the BS that you're going to buy it from them and then go try to find somebody else. You're saying, let me help you, I'll find you somebody. To buy this property. And at the end of it, I'll take a cut. To me, wholesaling was almost the same. You know, there might be some bigger cuts doing wholesale deal, but there's some pretty big cuts if you're doing regular real estate, too. Right. So I don't know, Kevin. It was just going down that wholesale route was scratching and clawing.

Yeah.

And I didn't do too many deals. You know, I probably had three or four successful deals throughout the course of a year and a half, almost two years. And it was just literally scratching and clawing, dealing with a whole bunch of distressed people and distressed situations.

Yeah.

And I backed up and said, if that was my goal, to do a whole bunch of that. What if I could do a whole bunch of this where I'm actually, like, helping people get to something that makes them happy and excited and moving on with their life and doing something that actually means something to them other than just trying to beat a foreclosure.

Right, right.

So I got excited about that, and I thought, man, I can help people do something that's fun and happy. I like people. I like people to smile and be joyful. Right. And dealing with the stress properties, that's a whole nother monkey.

It is that, and it'll. And there will be a day coming when the market turns where we will all be dealing with a lot of distressed people again. That's just the nature of real estate. Because I remember the first. I remember when I first started real estate, it was. It was years before 2007 when the first big market crash came in my business. But it was. It was. It was different. It changed everything. Okay, so you. At day 50, you sent me that email basically saying, I think I'm going to quit. I mean, you were trying. You were like, so you didn't quit. You finished the challenge. You'd only close one deal when your goal was 10. So you literally only hit 10% of your goal. So how did you maintain your. How did you pull through the frustration and the sense of what could be perceived as a failure of only hitting 10% of your goal? What kept you going? Because you didn't quit. What kept you going?

I just knew, Kevin, you know, despite not having the results and the points on the board, I knew everything I was learning was true, correct, righteous, and it would all come into play. I just. I mean, you know, it. There's no BS in it, literally.

Yep, totally. So you just kept doing the work.

Just kept doing the work. I never felt like any. Any of what you were showing me was the reason I wasn't putting points on the board. I knew it was all on me. It was basically my lack of confidence or execution, which I knew I would get better at.

Yep. Okay, so after the hundred days, how long did it take you to start closing some deals where you're like, okay, now, now I'm seeing some results. How long did it take you?

I think the following really, at the start of the turn of the year, things really started to pick up for me.

So that'd have been five months.

Yep.

Took five months.

About five months things started to pick up for me.

So from August to December last year, how many deals did you close in 20? 18?

Four deals.

Okay, so you closed four deals in your first five months, right.

First four months was.

First four months. Okay, so in your first four months, you go, you were so you. By four months, you were basically now averaging a deal a month.

Yep.

So that was making you enough money that you were surviving, is that right?

I don't even know if I could say that, you know.

Okay, so you weren't. What's that?

It wasn't where I wanted to be.

No, for sure. But it was enough to say, okay, I think I got this. This is going to work for me.

Right. So.

And this is, I think it's just important for especially New Ages to understand that, by the way, your starting was very similar to mine. In the first hundred days. In my first four months, I closed one buyer and it was Adam and Christy Bramlett. Sunday street in Halton City. $50,000 was the house they bought. It was my first deal. It was about four months in before I did my first deal. I had a listing that I had not sold yet, but I had a listing and they were my first buyer. That was my first transaction and it took me about four months to do it. And it was after that the things started picking up, picking up and really taken off. So in that respect, you and I are similarity was very much. And the other thing that was very similar was you during that first four or five, six months, you were working your butt off every day. You were prospecting, you were doing the lead generation, you were doing the lead follow up. You were following the system. You have to, to be in the 100 day list Master challenge that you were in. So you were doing the work and you didn't quit. Even though you got discouraged, even though you had self second, you know, second second thoughts about is this the right path? You stayed the course and you believed if I stay the course It'll work. And I love. So I'm just. I'm trying to dig down and get some nuggets of what is it that makes. That made you successful. And I think one is you had this belief, that belief in the system, if I just do it, it will work. And belief in yourself that I can do this. And this determination, this grit that says, I'm not gonna go work for another guy, I'm gonna work for myself. You had that entrepreneurial mindset. And another big part of this was that you were doing it with the belief that I am committed to serving other people, not just making money.

Yep. Would you.

Anything I missed? No, I mean, key elements.

I think the only other key element is behind all my dreams, man. Like, I've been pent up at the gate dreaming for a long time, feeling like I should have been closer to a lot of them a long time ago. So it penced up at the gate for my dreams. That. That's a big one.

Totally agree, man. So you've always had big dreams.

I haven't always known what they were, Kevin. I mean, I look back to junior high and it goes back to when I was being a bad kid in eighth grade and they put me in alternative education for a half of a year.

Okay, go on.

Yeah, I spent half a year in a cubicle in the eighth grade. And I just sit there and I do my work. And then I just think, you know, during that time I just started writing. Writing things down that came to me that had significant meaning or had anything goal oriented around it. And I go back to that point because I've been doing it as far as I can. That's about as far as I can trace it back. But I've been doing it ever since. So anytime something compelling, inspirational, motivational, wrapped around success or improving ourselves, if I hear it, I'm just a sponge for it. But I have always. Why I was supposed to. I really, to this day, and don't know for sure why I've been supposed to capture all this stuff, but I've been capturing it. And over the years, it's just kind of ingrained into me, and it's who I am. And in my mid-20s, Kevin, I got real unhappy and miserable at the. The job that I was at. Didn't know how to get out. I was in that position that a lot of us have found ourselves in. Yeah, I'm making good money. I'm respected at my company. I could probably stay there until I die.

Yeah.

Saw nothing there that compelled me and there was zero light at the end of my tunnel.

Wow.

So you were development. That's it. Personal development. Kevin. I've been on the personal development stuff since eighth grade, and in my mid-20s, Kevin. It was my lifesaver.

So you were in alternative education in a cubicle as a problem child.

Yeah.

So most people would not call that personal development. But you took that. You're sitting there and basically pulled out of a regular classroom setting. Like, did you do naughty stuff or.

You know, I was kind of a troublemaker. I cut up in class and.

Yeah, you're such a nice guy. I can't really see you that way. But anyway, okay, so I came a long way.

Kevin.

Well, here's what. So there was always, it seems to me, like. And I remember you sent me, I don't know if you've messaged me or you sent me one time, a picture, a screenshot of one of your journals, pages from junior high when you were in that detention thing or whatever it's called. And you. And I just remember looking at this, and I'm like, here's a guy who had this belief, even in junior high, that he was. It was always, you were meant for something big. And I think that's pretty telling that people who do something big tend to have a belief that they were meant to do something big. What are your thoughts? What do you think on that?

It becomes an obligation. It becomes something that is inside of you that you can't even deny. And when you have it to the point of it being an obligation, that's when I think, you know, that there's more to it and you should be pursuing it.

Yeah.

And for me, it actually has become somewhat of a liability, because feeling like there was something I was supposed to do with all these things that I'm feeling in ways that I am, but not knowing what to do with it put me in a very, very, very dark, black place that I never thought I'd find myself. And that is what led me to seriously diving into, like, real personal development in my mid-20s, which, you know, consisted of Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Les Brown, all these guys teaching, that kind of stuff. And thank God it was out there, because I found it and it literally saved my life. I mean, I was. I never dealt with depression or anything like that, but I really found myself in something that is basically referred to as situational depression. And I just needed to change my situation. And when you let these things go on over time, over years, year after year after year, it can destroy you all Right. We're meant, Kevin, we're meant to follow these things because when you don't, they burn you down, man. That fire inside will burn you down if you don't pursue it.

Well, I just think, and you know, and this is something that I teach, that I believe strongly is that every single one of us were meant for greatness. I think you were designed for greatness from birth. And when I meet somebody like you, I see somebody who comes in and make and does great achievement their first year in the business. There's one, there's one universal trait. It's not the people that are the most, that have the sales training or the best background or they're the most powerful communicators or they're the best looking or they're. Or they have the most money. It's, you know, you look at what is the trait, the character traits of people that are massively successful versus those who aren't. And one of the things that I see across the board and including in you is, and not to say that you're not great looking and all of that, but I see that there is this belief that I was, I'm here to do something great. You can never achieve above your belief of yourself. And I know there's a lot of people watching this that are going to be watching this that have not. They're in a dark place. And you said, when I started real estate, I was in a very dark place. And it was. The dark place is simply your awareness that this is not my destiny. This is where I am right now, but it's not where I want to stay. It's very uncomfortable, it's very miserable, but it's part of it is just like sitting on a hot rock and is. It's gotta be when you know you're doing something great that's hot enough, it burns you into action. So there's that push to do that. And a lot of people watching this have that sense that I know there's something out there, there's something. I'm meant for something. And I'm so upset right now. I'm so mad because things aren't going the way and they're frustrated, they're discouraged. It may feel like a depression that. It may feel like a very dark place, but it's simply that discontent with the way things are and the way that, you know, they should be.

And that's such a beautiful thing because that shows you the contrast between where you are and where you want to be.

Totally. So I love that that you were not comfortable being mediocre. You're like, I got to be here. That is. And so for those that are watching this and feeling that you're right where you should be, that's just because it's. It's a signal that something is meant out there for you, and you just got to go find it, and you got to be willing to do the work, because now you did the work. So now back into the real estate. Let's just rehash so your first 12 months in the business. Now you're 15 months in. Right now, as we watch this, in your first 12 months, GCI, do you remember about what your GCI was after your first 12 months? And I'm talking about including the first hundred days where you just sucked. What was first year?

First year was probably right at around.

Right around 200, right around 200,000 in Midland. Now we're talking Midland, Texas. We're not talking Beverly Hills. We're not talking Miami Beach. We're not talking the high end where you sold three. $3 million houses. We're talking about. You did a lot of deals to get that. Now you're three more months. You're 15 months in. You have been. You are with weikart realtors, nearly 7,000 agents nationwide. You' top 1% of your company nationwide of nearly 7,000 agents, you're in the top 1% in basically in a year, Correct?

Correct.

Dude, that's huge. And how many people are there in your city that make $200,000 a year especially? Do they make it in one year in a new career, Right?

No.

I mean, there's not many places you can go do that. Do you think other agents can do that? Are you a fluke? Is it luck? Is it connections? What allowed you to pull down that kind of income your rookie year in, basically in a rural city?

No, I think anybody can do it. There was nothing special about any of the things I did. You know, to me, it's just been keeping your head down, trying to stay relentless and, you know, working every nibble you get trying to convert it into a fish in the boat. Right?

Yeah.

Because there's a difference in fishermen. Some fishermen get a nibble.

Yeah.

And they're just not as good as getting that nibble. Turning that nibble into a fish in the boat, that's kind of what I've learned, and that's one of the ways that I feel like I've progressed. When I started, I knew how to get a nibble, and I've been taught the Things to do, but there's just something about doing it. You know, once I started doing it and got into it, my conversion rate got higher. I felt more confidence, which of course leads to the conversion rate, but there's nothing I did special. It's just working hard, taking everything you can, grabbing it, and really trying to convert every single lead that you get. Because I feel like a lot of people may not even know what they want, where they want to go. Like you teach, it's our job to lead somebody to a decision. Now you can lead something out of their mind that they haven't even really accessed yet.

Right. So where did you get your, where, where are you getting your business? Over the first 12 months you did 30 something deals, right? Is that right?

Yeah.

So where did you get all those deals?

So about 50% of my business was just straight up from prospecting my PC and people that have been referred to me through that prospecting. About another 25% of it has been like office leads that I've gotten through the office. And then I'd say the other 25% has been maybe probably for sale by owners. Rough numbers there, but it's been a mix of that. So.

So about half of your business comes from people that you already knew prospecting them. So tell us about that. So you actually take the people that you know and you actually prospect them. How do you prospect them? You call them, email them, text them, knock on their door, take them to lunch. What do you do?

So really it's just a matter of keeping toma with everybody. Top of mind awareness, I can teach. And with that, you know, whether it be calling, keeping top of mind awareness through Facebook, text messaging, you know, those are, those are my three main things that I'm doing. And right now I'm starting to up my email contact. So that's kind of where I'm at in growing my business right now.

Are you calling people consistently?

Yes.

Okay. And so 50% of your business comes from that 25% come from office leads. That's just something that like the company gives you leads.

So I was, I was originally set up with my broker to take her her Zillow leads and work her Zillow leads. So we called that shared Zillow. So I was doing her shared Zillow for a while, and then there was another lead generation system that she got me set up through the brokerage. And those two things right there were giving me some deals. Now I made a conscious decision to cut that out of my business because I was just Basically paying thousands and thousands of dollars to have somebody hand me leads in which I know I can go out and create my own business if I do the work right. Yeah.

So you don't do that anymore?

No, I mean, I do still have my own Zillow, but I got off of her Zillow and I got off of that other lead gen system. Yep.

Okay, so was that something she does for everybody in the company or just. That was your deal.

Yeah. She offers it to all new agents.

Yeah.

And I think Jacoby kind of went through the same process where you start out with some paid leads.

Yep.

And he even told me, you get to a point in your business where you don't want that anymore, and then you get to another point in your business where you can re. Incorporate it back in.

Okay, so a lot of. Because a lot of agents have companies that give them company generated leads. You actually converted that into good business. Why were you able to convert that when a lot of agents aren't able to convert office company leads? Why do you think you had success with that?

One thing that I have got a lot of since I started is people tell me I'm different than the average agent. I don't know if it's. I just. I just. I just be real, you know, for lack of a better term. I don't. I don't try to butter anything up. I don't try to sell people anything. You know, I'm a. I'm a tour guide, basically. You know, I'm helping these guys find what they should look at and I'm helping them see it as a buyer's agent or as a seller's agent, you know, kind of the same thing. But yeah, I don't know, Kevin.

All right, so if of the deals you did your first year, how many. What percentage was buyers and what percentage was listings sold?

You know, the first year was definitely more buyers before I made that conscious switch. Now, the reason I made that conscious switch because I wanted to literally focus hardcore 100% on being a seller's agent after everything I've learned through your coaching. So before I made that switch, it was more buyers. So I probably did maybe upwards of 60, 75% of buyers in my first year. And just there's been a huge shift. So I've got a lot more sellers in my hand now since I made that conscious decision.

Yeah. Nice. Awesome. And you have. How many pendings do you have right now? How many deals do you have pending?

I've actually only got. I've only got Three in pending right now and I've got, I've got three on the market to fix and hit the market. So things have actually kind of slowed down here for us, but you know, time to crank up the work.

So you've got three pending, three pending transactions, you got three listings active and two more coming. So you've got, you've taken five, you got five listings that are not even sold yet.

Right.

Three of them on the market. Two of them are getting ready to come on the market.

Yep, everything. It's 45 transactions total, including sold plus the under contract and about to hit the market.

Nice. Very, very cool. Alright, so let me just kind of look here. You said you've said some things I really, really like. I want to make sure that I've covered everything. I want to go back to our first. Just relive the first 15 months and if you were to do it again, what would you tell Sam Garrettson 15 months ago that you wish you had known back then that you didn't know the things you missed. What did you miss that looking back, say, man, I wish I'd have known this. I wish I had been. If I could have told myself this, what would you tell yourself starting out?

I probably would have liked some more clarity with myself on the hundred day Challenge as to basically what I figured out 50 days in, that even though I didn't intend to be some top producing agent, that, that this is really the fast track to where I actually do want to be. That would have helped me clear out a lot of crap in my head. Those first 50, of course would have been. So yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.

So if you're going to do real estate, do it 100% all in clarity. Get your goals and go get them.

That's right. And you know, I hear people asking, I see the typical, should I do it part time? You know, can I do this part time? And I say no way. Any, anything that you're thinking that you're going to go do with another portion of your time should that time will be 100% better spent in real estate, on your business, trying to find deals, prospecting, cleaning up your business so it runs smoother. I just feel like, you know, part time money is alluring whenever you don't have much going on. But I really feel like if you're going to spend four or five, six hours somewhere else at another job. Yeah that money, that it's golden to spend that in your real estate business and it will pay off way more. Maybe tenfold or more of any money you can make on some other part time job.

Yeah. Just got to be willing to give yourself the time for it to.

You got to know that when, when you make those kind of commitments, it's called jumping. Right. And sometimes when you jump you go down in the ditches in the trench for a while. But you got to know that when you're down here, you knew you were going to be here but you committed to yourself when you were here that when you were down here you were going to know that you'd be here to keep going this way because it's the same distance that way or that way. Right.

Wow, that's really good. Alright, so if, if somebody was, let's go back now to your. When you were new. Somebody is brand new now they're watching this video, they're brand new or they haven't, they haven't had the success. They're you know, kind of just getting started. What would you tell them that are the keys to your. What should they do? Like I'm a brand new agent. Tell me three or four, five things that you're like, you got to do this to succeed. If you're going to succeed in real estate, you want to make $200,000 your first year in real estate, this is what you got to do. What would you tell a new agent they got to do to make 200,000 or more their first 12 months in the business?

Show people that you're different and you're not chasing a sale. When you put people's needs first, I believe that you just go so much further with them. They're going to want to work with you. They're going to continue, they're to going process, they're going to close the cell with you. I feel like that has a huge impact on me versus maybe another guy. It's just, I'm just straightforward. I don't, I don't bull crap nobody. Yep. I don't have any reason to. I don't believe that will lead me to success. Right. So I don't do it.

Okay. What else? So first be in it for other people, not yourself.

Right. Past your current capabilities. You know, every, everything that you think you can do, go a little bit further. Because if you just grab for what you can do, you might reach that you damn sure won't reach any further. But if you reach past what you're pretty sure capable or confident that you can do, you're always going to hit that and then you're going to go a little Bit further. And that's how we inch along.

All right, awesome. So push yourself beyond your limits. Stretch yourself. What else?

Don't hold back, man. Nobody wants a half ass version of you, you know, and don't beat around the bush with people. People, you know, you ask anybody you know, would you want me to beat around the bush with you? You know, the answer is always no. So I guess that kind of goes back to the rule number one, which is just being straightforward with people.

Awesome.

It floors people. They're not used to it. They're used to being sold.

So were you asking like people even when you were brand new? Are you asking people for business?

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So what do you say to a new agent goes like, what I need to prove myself first. And how do you deal with that?

You know, it goes back to that objection handler as a new agent, which is, I may not have all the experience, but the focus that you're going to get from me, there's no comparison to that that you're going to get from another agent. I mean, it'll offset itself. And you can promise people that the focus that you'll get from me because I'm not spread thin, you'll have a better result than some big top agent that is barely talking to you.

So you're not afraid to ask. Even when you're brand new. You're asking people that you knew give me business. Who do you know? What can I do to help you?

Yep. And when you have credentials with people that you've known in the past, they're gonna know what kind of guy you are. So if I call somebody up, they didn't know I was in real estate, but they know I'm a pretty legit dude. So, you know, build, build credentials with people over time. And when you go to cross that bridge, the bridge is already there, you know, because.

Yeah.

You know, you've been thinking ahead for quite some time and I've always tried to build bridges with people and before I know why, I'm going to cross them.

Awesome. So how did you. How do you, like if somebody. A new agent, we're asking about a schedule. How do I, what do I do? What do you do in a. What does a regular day look like for you?

So it goes back to focus zones that you teach basically before noon is focused business building, generating new leads and nurturing the existing leads that you have. So those are your focus zones. Of course, before that I got ahead of myself, but mornings are critical. You know, I believe that you have to be Right. If you're not on point, you cannot serve the world. You know, it's almost cliche nowadays. We're hearing it a lot. But you know, like in the airplane, put your mask on first, you don't have oxygen, you ain't gonna do no good for anybody else. Not for long anyways.

Yeah.

So I really believe in, what do you call it, the fire zone? The morning.

Yep.

You know that that's everything. If you're not good, your business is junk. Your business follows you like a tail. So we need to make sure we're good. If we're good, it's. I mean, if you want things to get better, get better. Right. And when we focus on ourselves in the mornings and we walk out of our focus zone fired up, our fire zone fired up.

Yep.

We have an inertia and we're going to release that inertia on somebody.

So you have a strong morning ritual that gets you fired up for the day every morning. And do you mind sharing what that consists of?

It's actually, it's kind of all over the place, Kevin, as far as what I do. All right. I've got different things that I do, but to me it's just in the morning. You know, it's not as strict as some others might be, but to me it's just in the morning, do all these different things. Any variation of these different things, types of exercise that I do. I listen to empowering audio. Just. It's a matter of getting the gears turning in my mind and in my body. Because when they're turning in your body, the mind comes second. You know, that's how I feel. The mind kind of follows the body.

So you get, you get fired up in the morning and then you start your day and in the morning is prospecting.

Yep.

And lead, follow up.

Prospecting, lead, follow up. And afternoon after lunchtime, that's when I worry about all the knickknack to do's and listening appointments and showings and.

Yeah.

So I really try to honor before 12 is, you know, that's when you're at home, that's where you make your money. Right. That's. That's planting the seeds. You can harvest them later. And to me, Kevin, I don't care how many deals I close in a day, if I close four deals today, but I didn't plant any seeds, I don't feel complete. I'm not happy. There's something missing. And you know, I've got a lot of imperfections myself. And that's one thing That I try to tell myself is, you got to plant these seeds, because it doesn't matter what you harvest. Sam didn't plant the seeds. You didn't do your day's work.

Love it. Yep. And that's what you do in the morning, is you're planting the seeds, you're sowing the seeds, you're generating business, talking to people, building the relationships, finding who you can help.

Yep.

That is awesome. And I love the fact that you have such high expectations of yourself, and that kind of shows up in the way that you show up. A year after getting your real estate license, you already were able to join the inner circle. So you're one of our newer members in the inner circle. Congratulations. It was great to have you and your wife join us at Park City, Utah, for our last Inner Circle mastermind. That was. That was awesome to get to see you guys there and just kind of see how your life has changed over the last 12 months. What do you see? So what's next? What's for Sam Garrettson? What's your future look like?

So I'm ready to move. Kevin, a big part of our life right now is we really want to get out of this city. You know, nothing against this city other than the fact that we don't like it. We just. We want to do something different, man. We've been here our whole lives, and we're nature lovers at heart, and there's a whole lot of world to see and experience other than this little patch of desert. We put in our time here, and I think in the next. I think in the next year and a half, we're going to go ahead and pack up and go find another place to put some business down. Yeah. But in the meantime, it's built the business. Do as much as I can so that I can go ahead and be in a position to actually reach these goals.

Yeah. That's amazing that you do not see yourself as a victim of, like, I'm stuck here and, like, I'm taking. I'm taking life by the horns, taking charge and going for it. That is awesome. Well. So any last words of wisdom that you want to share with. All the real estate agents are going to be watching this.

If they're considering your coaching, I'd say they're in the right place, especially if they made it through this this far. I think they should go ahead and move forward if they're on the fence, because there's just no comparison to what you can do when you have structure, when what can be done is Right in front of your face. Literally tangible. The numbers, the people, it's real. And with your coaching, it was all real. And the reason that I gravitated towards your training is. I don't know if you want to admit it or not, Kevin, but you're a life coach before you're a real estate coach, and I think that's so awesome. And it goes back to, we have to be able to take care of ourselves first, because you can go learn all, everything you need to know about real estate. But if you're not right, what's it worth?

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. So if somebody wants to get in touch with you, if they got a referral for Midland, Odessa, for West Texas, Midland, Texas, Odessa, Texas. How do they get in touch with you?

You can reach me on Facebook. I've got a business page, Sam Garretson at Weickert Realtors of the Permian Basin. So you can reach me there. You can just reach me directly. Sam Garrettson.

All right. So I can find you online. That is awesome. Well, Sam, I am so grateful for not only for the time that you've spent spent with us today and for sharing all this great stuff, which is awesome for everybody that's going to be watching it, but also just watching you and your journey, watching the fruit that you have put on your tree that is changing your life, changing your family's life, you're changing the lives of all the clients and stuff that you get to represent, because that's the way you approach it. And I really respect and appreciate that. Watching you come through the moments of struggle and the victories that you've had, I think is just a kind of a foretaste of the great things that you're going to do in your future. And I have zero doubt that greatness is coming for you. Lots of it. So thanks for your time, man. Appreciate it. Great to have you on and thanks for everybody for watching. If this video helps you and you like it, make sure you give it a thumbs up. If you have any questions or comments for Sam or for me, you can post those down in the comments section below. Subscribe if you haven't done that, share this with other agents, especially rookies who are committed to really having great success their first year. I think they can learn a lot from Sam. So, again, Sam, thank you and we'll look forward talking to you soon.

All right, thanks, Kevin, everybody.

Hey there, it's Kevin. I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. Are you tired of getting no after no. When you're out there trying to get listings and trying to inspire sellers to say yes to you, then I'd like to invite you to download a free copy copy of my no BS listing presentation. This presentation will guide you through exactly what to say that will have motivated sellers saying yes to you over and over again. Stop getting stumped with skeptical seller objections or the famous we need to sleep on it. Eliminate the resistance and have sellers ready to hire you and give you the listing before you even finish your presentation. To get a complimentary copy of my proven listing presentation, go to yes masters.com forward/download again, that's yesmasters.com forward slash download to download your free copy today.