$100 Million In Growth In One Year

I mean, it was that simple. You know, we just started talking recruiting. It was one change. And if ChatGPT is right, we're up 57% this year. So one little change can make the difference in growth. That's what I would say.

Welcome to the Check Black Live podcast, where I sit down with proven, tested leaders who are doing it in the trenches right now. And where are we at? We're at November 14, 2025, a year that has been interesting for most. And my good friend Grant Johnson, just to. To lay it all out here, did 202 million last year, 318 million where you guys are at right now. And big number 84 net recruits. There's all kinds of things we could be talking about just from that, but we'll get as far as we can get. Grant, thanks for your time, man. I appreciate you.

Thank you. I love being here. Thank you.

So let's do this. I mean, a lot of times I think that when folks sit down, the backstory can consume most of the time. And I know who you are. You're a contributor. Contributor is. Is why your organization has grown. And you're a contributor from the standpoint of you also love coaching, coaching your agents, coaching your leadership, and you're also a Chip Black Live coach. But I think most of what we really want to do is share with people, you know, what you guys have done. That's very, very remarkable. So, but let's start back when. When did you get into real estate and what made you get into real estate? And just kind of take us on a, you know, give us your bio up until now. Reader's digestion.

Yeah. Well, when I graduated college, which, by the way, I went to three colleges because two told me not to come back, and I. I graduated college, I spent one year repossessing furniture and.

Wow.

Yeah. Then this is the truth. How I got into real estate. We used to go to a bar after work. My friend was the bartender. He looked at me and said, I'm starting real estate school tomorrow. Do you want to come with? And this was. Well, this will date me 1993. And I said, sure. So the next morning, he picked me up in his Volkswagen where the doors didn't shut. We had to hold him to go down the road. And we're off to real estate school.

Wow.

Wow. And that's how I got into real estate.

How long ago was that?

1993.

93. Wow. 28 years. And. And how long did you go? Did you come out of the gates? Did you struggle at first talk about the.

Those initial couple years, I was great at the beginning. My Darren and I, my friend, we joined the same brokerage. First six months, we led the whole brokerage in sales.

Wow.

And the way we did it is one of the top agents there told us, go through my garbage can every night, you'll find more leads I didn't want than. Than anywhere else. So we actually dug through his garbage can and called all the people the next day. So great story.

That's old school, man.

Yeah. And we thought we were the right. We were big sales, so we decided we should go to a different brokerage. Spent the next six months not selling a home.

Oh, really?

Yeah. So I went six months as a star and then six months being extremely humbled. Of course, I was young and cocky, right? Yeah. And then formed a team at. Truthfully tried to form a team about 15 years ago. And there are some people on our current team that were there when we started.

Wow.

So I have at least two people that have been with me 15 years.

That's awesome. So good.

We didn't truly start building till four years ago, though. We were always selling about 100 homes a year till four years ago.

Is that right?

Yeah.

So for 15 years, you guys. Well, no, I'm sorry, Let me do my math. Right, so for about 10, 11 years, you guys played around in that 100 transaction?

60 to 100. Yeah. Wow. With me selling most of them.

Yes.

There were years I'd sell 60 to 80 myself.

You know what turned the corner?

I made a conscious decision that I did not want to go big until my daughter graduated high school because I didn't want to miss any of her events growing up. And I will say, as a parent, I never missed one. Wow. So that was very important to me growing up. And I had a daughter that was big into competitive dance. We traveled like the nation doing this stuff. So I had a very conscious decision I didn't want to do it. So when she graduated high school, I decided it's time to go for it.

And I'm gonna stop. I'm stop you right there because we're going to come back to when you decide to go for it. I think this is. You touched on something that's really important because I think a lot of people out there are. I said it to a couple coaching clients the over in the last month or so. I said, hey, you're looking at 20, 26. Let's try this plan your personal life, then your business life. Most people do their business plan, you know, we're entrepreneurs, we're hard chargers and we love our families. But you know, that consciousness, I, right now I'm having a moment because we never had this conversation thinking, wow, so many times people think about, you know, lead conversion and recruiting and this and that and, and they're in conflict with where they're at personally. You made sure that your personal was in alignment before you really started growing the organization.

It was number one to me was to be a good dad. That was number one to me for years still. Obviously today too, right. I mean, but that was the number one priority. I knew I could sell homes. That wasn't an issue. I, if I, you know, back then, if I wanted to, selling 50 plus homes a year was pretty easy for myself, right. So I knew I'd make enough money. But how, you know, there's only so many years, I forget what the percentage is. But you spend so much of the time you're going to spend with your kids at a certain time in their life and I wanted to be there for that.

Oh, sure, yeah. Brittany's going through that right now. Got a teenager and it's like, you know, yeah, there's other important, more important people right now than you, but teenage girls are hard. Do you have the keys to the car though, Mom?

Where we go? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I want to stay, I want to stay in this spot. How much of. Because I think this does tie in and I still want to go through the trajectory, but I think this personal side, especially in a year like this, you know, because when people have challenges in their business and it can carry over, you know, into personal, and then people can have money issues and, and all kinds of things can show up, be kept it grounded. Let me ask you this. In going back to the trajectory and what the business is, is doing, how much of the growth that's taken place has to do with you staying true to that, with your conversations with potential recruits, your conversations with the people on your team. Are you, do you carry that? I mean, do your people know that you really, really, really. Because people can say it. But is, is that something that's talked a lot about with, with your agents when you're recruiting them and you're leading them and, and supporting them.

So I don't know if I told you this, but I opened up following your game plan. 1220 minute sessions for our team on Wednesdays.

Okay.

So I, I'm coaching 12 of our agents.

Okay.

The first thing we talked about was their schedule and the first thing I told them to do was put their personal time in because it's the time you're not going to get back. And if you, you said this to our team this week. Right. If you work half a day on real estate, you're so much ahead of everybody else.

Everyone, you know.

So I really do try to encourage people to spend their personal time.

Okay. Yeah. Really good. That's great. So let's come back to this. And I just. And thank you. I love hearing that story and it's a good reminder for all of us. But then hearing how you lead, as far as that's concerned. So. So when you guys decided to turn on the gas about four, four or five years ago and growing talk about the trajectory of the business from there to where you're at now. The, the steps, the mistakes, the things that work, the things that didn't work.

Crap. Everything we've done probably was a mistake at first and we fixed it along the way. Right. You know, the first thing I did this. You're. You're gonna laugh. I reached out to you to see if you'd coach us back then four years ago and you said, I can't. I have an exclusive in your market. And I thought, I thought that damn jerk. I wanted to work with him, you know. And so we, we've made a lot of mistakes. I mean, now our growth has been great. I mean, right? What was it, 20? What are we in 2025? So let's 2023. We sold 270 some homes.

Wow.

Last year we sold 539 year to date we've already closed like 7:30 some. So the growth has been great. Right. But it's been a conscious effort of one. Recruiting. We only concentrate on two things on our team and it's sales and recruiting. I think everything else will fall in line.

Wow.

You know, we'll build systems around as we need to grow. We have failed so many ways. I have bought so many lead generation platforms. I bought so many systems. I've spent so much money I shouldn't have spent. You know, I tried to do it all.

Yeah.

Just this week I've been taken out of the ability to book trips because I guess for conversion con we're going to be down there two days early because I booked the flights wrong. So we're going to be hanging out and in Louisiana two days early.

So. Oh gosh.

You know, so I, I screw up a lot as most of the stuff here, they take away most of my privileges now.

I love it. That's good.

Let's.

Let's go into really good. Let's go into when you start. When did you start buying leads? Oh, well, there's buying leads, but when did you commit to leads? I would say where it's like four years. Was there a moment where you said, oh my gosh, this is a lot. Here we go.

It was four years ago. We were buying a lot of Zillow.

Okay.

And then we became Flex, which is now what preferred. And we are always buying a lot of leads for a long time from Y Lopo. So we bought a lot of stuff there. So we have a database well over a hundred thousand people. So our purchasing of leads now has dropped a lot. And now we're into how can we actually work our database to we have a hundred thousand people. How many transactions are in there? You know, there's so many. So bought leads for years, converted at horrible percentages for years. And why? Because one of us on this call wasn't good at holding people accountable.

You know. Well, let me ask you this though too. Were you, you know, there's two, this is that great discussion. Were you recruiting at that level, at the level you're recruiting right now so that you weren't somewh of a hostage to. Gosh, I like to hold them accountable, but then I don't have enough people handle my leads and they might leave me. Were you sitting in that spot?

Oh, yeah, for years. For years I didn't know how to recruit, if you want to know the truth. We never recruited at this level till this year.

Wow.

I mean, we've added 80 some agents this year. And I committed to you at the beginning of the year we'd add a hundred, so we got some to go still.

Yeah. Well, how did you. Well, and this is really, really good because this is your big recruiting year. What was the key? Let me go there. I mean, were like one transaction short of doubling from 23 to 24. What was the key to growth in from 23 to 24? Was it a staff move? Was it increasing more leads? What, what, what made that happen?

Yes is the answer. You know, first of all, it was starting recruiting and getting better agents or training them better. Right. I, I, that's made a difference. What has happened around here is I have gradually replaced myself in all the roles I'm bad at. And you know, my, you know, everybody on my team pretty much, yeah. And everybody I've hired is better than me. And I, I think that is honestly my number one skill set is I'm able to somehow identify people the right way and then retain them. Like Amber, who runs basically the whole operation here in the Boss.

You mean the boss.

Yes, yes.

Right?

Or the. The Velvet hammer, as you call her.

Yes.

Amber's been here 10 years.

That's so good.

Ten years ago, I met her on Craigslist.

I'm gonna tell you a funny story. She'll hear this and watch this. At first, it was like, she's in, and I don't. I'm a human, just like everyone. It doesn't matter how long I've been this business. I'm like, man, she's intimidating.

Yeah.

And yet, what's so good? Why? I see why she's so good. Just real quickly. Biggest heart on the planet.

Huge, huge heart.

Sweetest human being on the planet.

You know a story about that this week, Tammy, who, you know, on our team, was raking. Raking leaves with her grandpa, who's 99.7 years old. They were raking leaves. Amber showed up with them for. With homemade soup. Our team's about right there.

Was there. Was there a point for you? Because I. I don't know. It's one of those character defects I think a lot of entrepreneurs and team leaders have. Is. Is control freak. Have you always been someone that could move, put people forward and let go? Or was there a defining moment where, okay, I've had enough pain. I'm getting in the way. Was there a moment where you said, okay, I've got to go from. You know, we got to flip this thing, and I've got to have the people on top.

It was. The conscious effort four years ago was that it's not all about me. I. For years, you know, I'm. I'm as cocky as the next team leader. We all have egos. I mean, don't fool anybody.

Better. You better.

I had to make an effort to say, grant, you're not the best at some of this stuff. And I wouldn't even have my name in the team name, but it's there, and it's, like, too hard to change now. Yeah, I have, and I think maybe it's age.

You kind of.

You know, you get a little older.

And you care less about stuff that really doesn't matter. Right.

Right. And, you know, I. This year, I've started taking my health serious for the first time. I'm working out. I'm losing weight because I've. I know I'm chubby, and I know I want to get skinnier. So, like, I hired a personal trainer. Right. He knows more about fitness than I do. I have I have three recruiters that are damn good at recruiting. I got somebody that runs my sales and somebody that runs my operations that are all better than me. And it was me for years getting in my own way thinking I was the best.

So how, how did you guys recruit? What? If you look at from 23 to 24, was there just one person recruiting? Was it recruitment by committee? Talk about what? Because you've made a, a substantial human resource commitment to recruiting. I mean I. What 90? I mean there's a bulk of calls, but I would say maybe 90%. I look at all the time, all the coaching calls we've done, 70% of it is just purely been recruiting. I mean, yeah, now it's 100%. I mean, sure, we talk about other things, but who was it recruit by committee? Was it you that owned it before you made the big human resource commitment?

It was me for years. And then Amber helped a little bit. We judged personalities a little bit with people on who should meet with them.

Oh sure.

And then Tammy Roach came along. And Tammy's background was a local manager at a big company for 18 years.

When did Tammy join you?

Four years ago. But she had a three year non compete. So a three year non solicitation from her previous brokerage.

Oh, so she was with another. Was she recruiting over there too?

Yeah, she was their number one manager.

Oh wow. Okay.

And then this year we added Wyatt and David to the recruiting and they both approached me actually that they wanted to be recruiters and they wanted to help a team grow.

So from 23 to 24 it was Tammy who was kind of handcuffed. Yeah, right.

Yeah.

And then, but. But you really owned it. And then Amber support. Well, actually it sounds like you guys were pinch hitting back and forth really for whoever the personality was.

Yeah, that's how we did it. This year is when we took off though, right?

Yeah. Remind me when, because I remember the first you. You had told me when, when did you make that commitment to bring on two more people to recruit?

That's why it's only been here four months. Wow. And David's been here probably three.

And they approached you?

Yes. They both wanted to join our team based on like what they're see they were seeing.

Right.

I've been following your approach to posts on social at least three times a day. So they both saw what we were about, they wanted to be part of it. But they both wanted a role that wasn't just selling. Now they sell still about 10 homes a year.

Sure.

But they both wanted to be Recruiters. Funny thing is everybody, you know, Wyatt and David, everybody, our market knows them. And the quality of people we're getting since the two of them has changed.

I mean, how did you identify? Because what's very interesting, you know, it's the single most important position on a team in a brokerage period, because nothing else matters if you don't recruit. I mean, there's always outliers, anomalies, but I mean, that's just the way it is. How did you certainly they come forward with that, that, that spirit of contribution, wanting to give more. How did you identify? Hey, okay, you're a fit. You know, this is going to work. I want to put you in that spot. What, what, what did you look for?

I looked for somebody that would get along and fit our group. First of all, right. We're not 100% normal team. I mean, I got shot by a Nerf gun here the other day. I mean, you, you never know what's going to happen in this office. You know, we're very business like, but we're also a lot of fun. And I knew with both of them just in my heart the moment I met them that they would fit here. And I also knew their reputations, so I knew that what they had done, who they knew, and I don't have an exact formula. I get to know people on a personal level.

Yeah.

You know, our whole team, we have 120 some odd agents. 126, I believe today.

Okay.

I know most of them on a pretty personal level still.

Wow.

And that's just, you know, to me, that's what a team's about. I mean, there multiple people. You talked about this to me earlier this year. You need to keep recruiting because you don't know what's going to happen in people's lives. Right?

Yeah.

You know, people go through slumps, people go through divorces, People will have deaths. There's multiple people on this team that I know, their personal experiences and what they're going through and highly involved in things I'm not qualified to be involved with. But to me, that's what a team is. You're here for each other. And we're here to support them in business. If I can support them in personal, I will do it too.

Really good. That's great. What. When you look at your recruiting, let's use a number of. It's 84 right now. We got time to get 83. 84 right now. We'll, we'll get the 16 more.

We will.

How would you say the dynamic breaks down. And, and also I call experienced. You know, I mean, we can, we can discern and say, well, you know, if they haven't been in six months, they're still new. Let's, let's do this. Because it's still a tough decision for people. Been in the business four months and failing. I mean, we've watched it. You meet with someone, they're convinced, but they're so scared to move. What percentage of people come in and you're there first? If we bring in 100, what percentage are going to be. You're the first place to hang their license. So brand new. And what percentage would you say are licensed?

I would say we're about 25% brand new.

Wow.

And that's because.

Remarkable.

We're running the scholarship ad. Right. But. And I should say, and because I remember Nikki saying on stage not to.

Say, but.

Something switched like three quarters of the way through this year. At the beginning of the year, it was all brand new agents. Right. A lot of them are very inexperienced. In the last few months, we're getting people that have already done 15 million in volume this year, 10 million in volume that are coming here.

Why is that? Let's, let's break that one down. I think that's especially in the timing of this and the season that we're in. The season from time of year, the recording of this, the season, from the marketplace that we're in. Economic conditions. Why do you think that is?

What I'm hearing is people are looking for a sense of community right now, somewhere to belong in real estate. Like these agents that are. If you're doing 10 million, you're not coming to join me for leads. Right. Maybe you are, maybe you want a few. Sure. But it's not your number one thing.

Right.

They're looking for community. They're looking for systems they don't have somewhere else. They're looking for support. They want to be part of something bigger than just them. And that's the people we're attracting there. And they're good people.

And, and is it through outreach? Is it through your agents, their relationships, them referring people to you?

A lot of outreach, though. Our. We, our recruiters use your. The get comfy script.

Yeah.

And they're on the phone every day for at least a couple hours calling.

Beautiful.

You know, it's not an eight hour a day calling thing by any means. No way.

No one's gonna. No, you're gonna burn through someone.

Yep. If they do an hour to 2, I mean, I've Sent you videos of like Wyatt doing Get Comfy and it's like he's insanely good at it. They. They do their hour or two. I make a few calls every day, send some text messages. So I'm still involved in it. We have hit a target market that we're doing very well with too. Is that two companies in our metro pay for people to get their license. Once they've been there nine months, we look at their production and most of them haven't sold much. We start going after them and we have some really good examples to show them that they after they came here in the first couple of months they sold you know, four or five homes. The people that moved over.

So do you. Let's stop right there. This is really good. So in the interview process, are you selling gadgets, tools, systems and processes or are you sharing a story that they can fit in to based on talking.

To Always a story.

Right.

It's always is proof. Right. Proof of concept.

Right.

So and so joined us three, four months ago from the same place you were at. Had sold one home in a year and here's their production since they came and we'll go right into the system and show them their production because, you know it's just proof of concept.

Sure. Yeah.

You know, I don't need to sell them a gadget they want. I'm not selling some accountability. Right. I'm going to. I'm going to show them what we have but then I'm going to prove to them we're going to help them.

Really good. That's good. The. I want to touch it. It just struck a chord. I was. Was texting with someone else sharing with them. I sent a text to a coaching client. I said to them and I was sharing what your results were said that comparison is not the thief of joy. Comparison is the inspiration to show us what's possible. And. And I went further to share with them because in the time I've worked with you, not once have you worried about it concerned about it used as a reason. You are in a remarkable marketplace. It's very rare when you look at.

Sure.

It's a big metroplex. Well we can list all kinds of big metroplexes. But to have. There are three teams, three different brands that are and have been world ranked.

Yes.

Three different. And you want to know what's interesting? Not once. And there's something I want to get to here that I think is really, really important. Not once have you said to me or your team has but that team does this, but this team does that. As a matter of fact, I think you've been more collaborative with folks in your market. You know, you take a look at and maybe I'm missing someone. Chris, Ryan and Parker.

Yeah.

I mean those are three forces. I mean, like listen, how many. Let me ask you this. I mean, you know, Ryan o' Neill's been top of the world remax for years. Lynn Doll's done a billion in a year. And, and Parker' one in the world. Let's stop there for a moment. And here you are, you know, pacing 800 plus transactions going for a thousand. How many metroplexes are there where there's four. Think about this for a minute, Grant. How many metroplexes are there in the United States of America where there's four like mega teams like that? Do you know of any?

No. It's a weird market here. And the other one we forgot was Kirby and Christina. They do 800 transactions too.

Yeah, Kirby. Yeah.

It's. It's a very weird market that way that we're dominated by large teams. Right?

Yeah. But how do you, how do you. Because here's the human element and I think this is a ceiling for people. How do you compete in that market? And I, and I just know because it's not, it's not a hey, Parker did this or, or Lindahl did that or, or this person did this or that. Talk about your mindset. Because I think most people, humans, agents, anyone watching this, they get so caught up in the external that they don't have control over and focus of our time. What's that?

They're my friends, first of all. You know, I was just in Vegas for Zillow. Right?

Yeah.

I saw Ryan o' Neill there. We sat down and visited. Right. Parker and I go to lunch a couple times a year. You know, I talk to Kirby. You know, we all. There's no competition. The only competition is with myself. And we're going to keep doing what we do at the level that we're.

Going to do it.

And do we compete for recruits? I'm sure we do.

But the person probably some swip flip flops. Some of you are going to go there or they're going to, I mean vice versa.

You know, people are going to pick what's best for them.

Yeah.

Okay. And I also believe in treating person somebody right the way with it when they leave. So if somebody leaves us and goes to Parker, I am going to treat them right because they may come back. I learned that from call up John Colopy. And Brenda at Results. Oh, because when you left there, they still talk to you. They still wanted to go to lunch. They left your email on for so many weeks. They treated you right. We do it the same way. I'm. I'm not going to sue somebody that walks out the door. I'm not going to go after them for anything. I'm going to treat you right. I'm going to leave your email on. We're going to have conversations. Because what if you want to come back in a few months? I want you.

Well, I think, you know what I love and I think probably underneath you and, and this is about. I was talking to someone else about this, about, you know, how do you grow? Well, the big things. Emotion. I was on a podcast with Ethan Butte.

Yeah.

Follow up, boss. You know, what are the key attributes of someone to be a great team leader? I said emotional intelligence and emotional maturity. Big time. Because there's a piece underneath that, though, too. If someone does something, you can't do something to me. In other words, where's to say, I can't believe they. I can't believe they stole this or took this. You did nothing to me. You did it to yourself.

Yeah.

Because as long as I stay my path, I mean, I call it karma, call it, call it whatever you want to. I mean, I'm still going to do my thing. That's something you get to carry.

Yeah, I, I just, I firm believer in treating everybody right and treat them well. I. I'm not the jerk that in Vegas, I was told by somebody. They said, they walked up. I'd never met him in person. And they go, I thought you'd be an. I'm like, why? They said, because every big team leader is an.

I love it. Well, we got the thing in common. And I got my hat on, too. Justin Haver had a gentleman come up to him and I think, I don't know how the conversation at Zillow.

Yeah.

And said, you know, what's up with that guy with Chip? Like, who's he think he is with a hat? And Justin says, oh, you mean the guy I've coached with for 10 years.

Exactly. I mean, I, I just don't get it. I get to know. Get to know somebody before you judge them. Right.

Yeah. Curiosity versus judgment. So. So key. How have you done? Because you look at the growth. Because the, the challenge that can take place is that okay, well, John, we're growing. And you guys are up in profit this year versus last year. Correct.

We're up. Still not where I Want to be. But we are.

Sure, sure. And so. But with that said, here's what's interesting. I think this is good for people to hear. A lot of people will grow and they go in reverse. And, and really the exp. Yeah, maybe it's a lead cost marketing thing, but they bring on human resource. Human resource. Human resource. If I look at a P. L typically that. How have you been able to scale population while not doing what most people default to and just staff, staff, staff, staff, staff. I mean, still supporting your agents. Okay. And sure, you've brought on some recruiters, but you know, we can do simple math without going into the P and L and say, wow, you brought on 84 agents and your profits up in a down market. You've made some, some decisions or you've done some leadership development or you've done something in your culture to make it where you haven't gotten down, bogged down with staff expense. Talk about that. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Okay. We run what I would consider for a team of 126 people. Incredibly lean. I'm counting in my head right now, there's 1, 2, 3, 4, including me. Five people on payroll.

How do you get away with that? And we're not trying to get away, but how do you do that? Because you don't have the trajectory you have. By not happy agents.

We have some incredibly dedicated and strong employees and we are very everything systems. Now we do outsource RTC Smart for us, that just made the most sense. Right. So. But we have somehow I've been blessed with some of the people that I've never seen work at a level that they do.

Right.

And, and I've made some things to where like certain people on our staff own a small percentage of our team.

Smart.

And then like, we'll take people that we see as future leaders and say, I'll tell you what, I'm going to raise your split, but you're going to do this role for us that we see that you can grow into being a future leader on payroll. So, like, Amber's like assistant, I don't know, sales manager, whatever you want to call her. Her split's 10% higher than everybody else, but she does a bunch of accountability meetings for that. And she is somebody I can watch grow. But it's not costing me out of pocket necessarily. It cost me.

When she sells something, it's a tiny margining piece.

Yes. But we, we try to identify people early that we think have a chance to become a leader and we try to reach out to them, train them, support them, and. And that's kind of how we do it. So we just run really, really lean now. I will also tell you what our staff is paid. The five people is more than most people in the industry are paid for their role too.

Okay? So that's how I. I love that. I remember sitting down with my staff and said, you know, here's how we can go. I'm a little bit crazy, as you admitted. You are.

And, dude, I repossessed furniture for a living.

I got it. Yeah, right. I was a bouncer in a teen nightclub, and the janitors come on. And. And, you know, my thing is, is I love my family. I mean, I just. I love the joy of seeing my family enjoy life and. But. But I love work. I love. I mean, I love to work. And so what I share with my people is, as I bring them on, say, you know, we can do one of two things. I can staff up and, you know, we can have salaries that are commensurate. So we have a fiscally responsible business. It's profitable.

And. Yeah.

Or. Or would you rather. And I've said it. Or you. Would you rather work like a. Do money and they're work like a dog. I'm like, okay. And it's worked for me really well.

It. To me, it makes more sense. You know, keep. I keep in our circle pretty small. Do you think Amber and Katie are Texting Sometimes at 10:00pm at night?

Yeah, absolutely.

Or. Well, not Katie at 5 in the morning, but you and I could test at 5 in the morning.

But we do. Yes, we do.

But the dedication that we're getting, I think, is second to none. And they're high quality. And we always promote from within. We don't go outside looking. You know, they already fit our culture. They know what we're about.

How would people describe your. You know, if we went random and I talked to maybe one or two staff members or. And talked to some agents. People have been there 10 years. People have been there six months. What would they say about your culture? How would they describe it, Grant? Because that's such a elusive term by many. Yet. Yet I. I agree. I'm not challenging it. I am. I get to see behind the curtain as I work with your leadership. I get to see the numbers of what's taking place. And. And that can't happen without culture. Numbers won't just keep people. I'm sorry, it never does. How would you say that people describe it? If you're sitting back, you're saying, if I was talking to Sally. What would Sally say about culture? What would Joey say? What would Amber say?

David think they'd say it's loose in a way where.

Latitude. Latitude.

Yes. Yes. Can I describe what I'd rather have somebody say, I think is that if somebody came and said, what type of leader are you? And I hope this describes our culture, because culture is such a buzzword right now. Humble is what I'd like to have people describe us as. I don't want anybody to describe us as that cocky, leadership. How about humble, helpful. That's what we want to be. You know, if an agent sells two homes a year, I want to help them. If you sell 70 homes a year, I want to be there for you. And I don't want it to be about the leadership of the team, but more about the agents of the team. Yeah, I hope that's how they describe us.

I love it. I remember one of my mentors said to me, he says your three most important attributes as a leader are humility, vulnerability, transparency. He said, and I didn't say, John, that you need to be a doormat because if you live in principle. Right. You know, you stick with the principle. You know, I want to point out something because although you and people watch or heard you say loose, I'm going to argue that from a, from a healthy space. And here's what I'm going to say. I could go talk now to another organization on pace to 800 to a thousand and they've got 25 staff members. And here's what I'll share with you all in. I don't know if we've even talked about this before, but I'll get people come in. Okay. We do 500 transactions, they do 500 tractions. They've got 15 staff, they've got four staff. And there's one difference. It's principles. It's principles.

We have principles.

Yes, right, right, right. And, and, and, and so those principles guide. And when people live by it, it doesn't feel restrictive. This is who we are, what we do and what we stand for. And so that's the key piece. It's like, you know, two things I want people to hear is, is there's principles here. There's commitment, there is, is consistency, there is contribution. But what people also heard are the values that are important. You can stack on it. I think too many people go, our values, what's fun and this and that. Okay, great. But where are the principles? That's, that's really what's, what's Loose talk to me about this. Because everyone's got theirs, you know, and it's interesting. And everyone can sit in the same room and go, wow, we're. We're pretty much the same. Our end result, you know, similarities. We're at different chapters in, in the book of our business. But you know, we've got some people. It's 20 conversations a day. Some are 25 a week, some are 15 a week. And some are. Good friend Clayton.

Yep.

Clayton was sharing John in June. We did this one thing. We moved up. What. What's the general standard that, that Amber communicates and coaches up to. In, in your organization as far as activity for agents?

We do. We base it on two minute conversations as much as possible.

Okay.

And we have not been able to get to 20 a day. We, we have not been able. We're at about 10, 10 conversations per day. So let's stop there.

What percentage of teams do you think are getting 10 a day?

Probably very few.

Very. And that's why you're in the very few stratosphere of production.

But we also started running a follow up boss contest weekly. Oh and the person who gets the most points on follow up boss, and this is silly. They get a 50 gas card and that has.

Listen, people work harder for that gas card than a damn commission grant.

It's.

I'm the same. We do stuff with, with Dean Graciosi and Tony Robbins. We've done some stuff of their launches and, and with these people that you know, you know in the, in the online industry, man to watch us go. And these guys are making millions of man to watch them go for. I want first place or I want to win.

That. That has actually changed the conversations on our team. Wow. It's playing all day, you know, on the TV and it's at 3:30 on Friday. Whoever has the highest point total gets a $50 gas card.

You found your lever.

It's hilarious to me, but it works.

Yeah. Yeah. You found your lever. Yeah.

Yeah.

Let me go a little bit deeper because I think everyone, you know, again, we, we talk to people all day. But I get to talk to all your peers.

Oh yeah.

Multiple times a day. But talk to someone yesterday about that one person. And if you look at people that are doing really. They got that one person. And, and not to discount the rest of your, your staff.

Yeah.

That's around you. They're all wonderful. But what, what, what attributes would you say if we're sitting here, we're analyzing Amber and her work because she's got the Guy. I mean, folks, you need to listen to this. I mean, she's primary closest to the sales persons, right? Like in their database. Did you make your calls? Did you. This the gotta. I mean, everything. What is if you were to say, hey, you guys, because Amber's remarkable. Amber Erlacher, follower, folks. She's got a pet chicken.

I think she got a dozen chickens.

No, man. Oh, she's so cool.

There better be chickens at the farm in December.

I love it. God. What. What attributes? If you're saying, you know, here are the attributes of an Amber, because, you know, Lori Reader's got a Camilla, right. Dan Beer's got a Laura Branca. You know, people. Adam Bradley's got a Kobe Sway, right? What. What are the attributes? Because I think a lot of people that aren't getting the growth, they don't have that one person. What. What would you say the makeup is of that person?

Well, you described her perfect that she. People if they're intimidated by her at first, right. She has a. Well, that's partially because her cousin played what last second cousin played linebacker for the Bears.

Brian Erlacher was something.

Well, she has the same intensity in her eyes.

I remember she would like in our. In our first calls. I've never told her this. I gotta reach out to her because now I'm talking so much about her. I gotta reach out and text her. She'd sit on calls like this.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I'm checking you out and I don't know what I think yet. I'm gonna survey the scene now we're buddies.

Yeah. She has a heart of gold.

Yeah.

I've never. The heart she has for our agents and the work ethic that she has for them.

Like work hard and work ethic. Those two.

That's.

Are. Are those two the big primaries?

I think they are, yeah. I mean, if you call her, she'll call an agent back within five minutes every time available. She gets 100 calls or texts a day from our agents.

By the way.

She'll still sell 20 homes this year herself too. Yeah.

Well, here. Here's very interesting, folks. We're talking about a leader. That one person sounds like the attributes of. Of an agent too. Heart, hunger, work ethic. Work ethic. I heard heart, work ethic, hunger. But the big one, Availability.

Oh, wow.

Availability. And. And. But I. But I think though too. Which, you know, I think people can figure that out. And when I said, man, she's intense, it's like I'm checking you out. She's principle based because I Bet she knows when to say no. Or when to create a boundary though too. Fair enough.

Yes. Her phone goes off every night at 9pm until 9pm she's available to our agents. At 9pm it's off. And that's a hell of a boundary, though. So she's working 15 hour days probably. You have to know when to shut it off. You know, you can't be everything to everyone at all times.

But you've got to have. I think this comes back, though. I'm going to come back to the heart. It's a big deal. It's kind of like what I say to people and I say to my wife. And it's, it's not that. Because we always. The number one conversation my wife and I have is time.

Yes.

It's the most important one. And for preemptive. Right. Not a, you know, defense problem that we talk about it. So it's not a problem. Right. And, and the thing for me is I love to work.

Yes.

I love to work. Well, because my heart's in this. Because I love to see change. I love to hear. And it was your choice and your thing that you did. I didn't say you've got to lose weight, you got to get healthy. But, but I know we've got a community where people do it and it fosters that. And so, so for me, I absolutely love it. So that, that, that heart piece is so, so critical. It's everything.

She's also. Her son's big into robotics, right? On the robotics team.

That's right. Didn't she go to convention or something?

She never misses an event of her sons either. Well, you.

I don't think you'd let her.

You might, you know. You know Katie on our team, she's in Mexico today. Okay. She's texting me this morning, working on stuff. I told her to put her computer away and go get some guacamole.

That's why we get along. Christy. Okay.

Yeah.

Christy, her husband Tim, who worked with for me for 14 years. And it tells you, it's just remarkable, the relationships. And, and when, when he decided to, to go do something different, Christie stayed with me. Been amazing. And actually they're on vacation and I sent him some. A little vacation money yesterday. Says, hey, here, go spend some money. Right. Which is what we do. Right?

Yeah. That's how you're supposed to do it.

So. But she had, and Tim and her were texting me. She, she had a hip replacement.

Oh, she snuck her.

This was a couple years ago. She snuck her laptop into the hospital and had it snuck in there. She was barely out of recovery, and Tim's pissed she's on her laptop. I says, tim, I tell your wife, she pulled her laptop out in the hospital, man.

Amber's the same animal I was with. Amber had her appendix burst at the office. She refused to let any of us drive her to the hospital. She drove herself. Okay. Then I called her the next day and say, how are you doing? Do you need anything? She goes, yeah, I need the power cord for my laptop. I got work to do.

I love it.

I'm like, okay. So I drove to the hospital with a power cord for a laptop. I mean, I think you only grow as far as the people you surround yourself with, Period.

Period.

And that's the magic to me.

Yep. Yep. Well, we'll have to do this again because there's a lot, a lot deeper we can go. But I think you know what I would say, and I hope everyone hears this is, is. It's. It's the human resource business and how we develop them. And the only way to develop them is that we're constantly developing ourselves and having our principles and our values. Two last questions that I have. What would you say to, to someone right now who. Because you coach teams. And by the way, you can go to Grant.ChetBlackLiveCoaching.com Grant.ChetBlackLife Coaching.com or you can find him on, on social. But that's a questionnaire if you'd like to do a, A discovery call with, with Grant and explore what coaching would look like with him. And I always tell people this. I mean, I don't know. There's one shortcut. Talk to the guy or the gal that's done what I'm trying to do. But I digress. What would you say from a, from a coaching perspective, if you're talking to a team leader who, who did not, you know, hit their numbers, the year wasn't where they want it to be right now. What, what's one thing you would say to them as a suggestion from a.

Coaching consulting perspective, you kind of nailed on the head. Work with the people that are at where you want to go to. Right. Number one, it's like when I, when I'm talking to people, it's. If you've already been to a level of they say you want to sell 100 homes or to whatever the number is. If you've already been there, it's a lot easier to dig in and help them see where something. One little change right. Look at the little change you made with us this year with just around recruiting. I mean was that simple? You know, we just started talking recruiting. It was one change. And if chat GPT is right, we're up 57 this year. That's all right. So one little change can make the difference in growth.

Yeah.

Really good. That's what I would say.

Good. And best place to reach you. Website, email, personal Facebook page. Where's the best place people can find you? Anywhere.

The above. I mean, I'll give everybody my number if they want to call or text me. It's 656-513-243787.

Yeah, really good. Couple things. First of all, thank you for your time.

Oh, thank you.

Number two, thank you for the friendship. You know, when. When I get to work with people over sustained period of time and walk right alongside him, I'm better. I get to. To grow through it. And. And I appreciate the relationship. So thanks so much, Grant. Appreciate you.

Thank you. And thank you everything you've done for us.

You bet.