6 Movies That Will Change Your REAL ESTATE Business Forever
13 Mar 2025 · 17 min
Lars Hedenborg picks six movies with lessons for real estate agents: The Founder teaches standardization, The Pursuit of Happyness shows resilience, Erin Brockovich rewards perseverance, Jerry Maguire prioritizes client service, Wall Street warns against unchecked ambition, and It's a Wonderful Life reminds you what matters beyond deals.
Today's training, we are going to dive into one of my favorite things in the world movies. Six movies that will change how you think about your real estate business. And this will be a fun one. And I recommend you watch every one of these movies if you haven't seen them.
The real estate industry has failed to create a clear path to time and money freedom. Having helped over 5,000 families in my real estate career and coached thousands of agents to scale their businesses, I know what works and what doesn't. And my goal on this podcast is to share all with you the good, bad and ugly of building a highly lucrative lifestyle business so you can focus on what truly matters in life. You won't find any hype or fluff on this show. Just real world tactics and strategies that get results.
You just gotta do the work. When I watch movies or I see documentaries, I'm always thinking about, like, how does this impact business? So we're going to go through six movies and they each have sort of a different. A few of them have a little bit of a similar bend to them. The I'm doing the first one first. It's probably the most impactful. I could spend an hour talking about a 90 minute video and how it impacted my business. So number one is the founder with Michael Keaton. And this is the story of Ray Kroc and the rise of McDonald's. Now in the movie, he's not portrayed as like the best guy. He sort of is portrayed to have taken advantage of the Kroc brothers. And the backdrop and the impact this had on my business is that if you've ever read the book E. Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, in that book he talks about Ray Kroc. And the thing that Ray Kroc did was take this single location. He called it the speedy system. He just saw the McDonald's brothers, you know, being able to sort of churn out food in a very predictable way. And Ray Kroc came in and basically just took that one. He called it the franchise prototype. In the book E. Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber calls it franchise prototype. How do I replicate that if I couldn't be at a single location or at every location, how would I replicate the systems and processes in that business so I didn't have to be the one flipping burgers? And instantly when I understood that mindset, the vision for my business completely changed. Why is it that I have to do. And this was me asking me these questions, why do I need to show every home? Why do I need to follow up with Every lead. Why do I need to, you know, input every listing into the mls? Why do I need to whatever, right? Deliver yard signs, install lockboxes, all the things we do to keep real estate going. I instantly was in a different realm of thinking than other agents. And I was thinking about how could this business, at least the parts I don't love and don't pay well, how could they operate without me? There is a scene in the movie the Founder where It's the. The McDonald's brothers are in a parking lot working on perfecting what they call the speedy system. And they're like, you know, chalking up. Oh, no, it's not parking lot, it's a tennis court. And they're like chalking up, you know, where the fryer is and the, the fries and, you know, and it's like an orchestra. You have to see it. You should watch the movie. But if you don't, if you go to YouTube and you type in the founder speedy P E, D E E, you'll see this. I think it's like a two or three minute video. And when I watch that video, I see, okay, in a real estate transaction, from generating interest in working with you all the way to like post transaction, you know, touch system and taking care of that client forever, there's at least a dozen things that happen that have to happen consistently for this thing to turn into a business. And when I saw that scene, I'm like, that is my real estate business. When the way they put the ketchup on, the way they add the salt to the fries. And if we can standardize the processes at a high level, I don't have to do everything in the business. So that, number one impacted me the most is the movie the Founder number two. And even three and four really are more just feel good. And the Pursuit of Happiness. Will Smith is movie number two. Really a movie about resilience and believing yourself. And this is, you know, the story of a struggling salesman. It seems like to me the backdrop would be a true story. But homeless. And he's got his son. I think that was his actual son. I think it was his real son in the movie who played his son. And you could just see there's this scene in the movie where they're homeless and he's trying to sell these machines to doctors and his last machine got stolen or something and they end up sleeping in a public restroom. And he locks the door and he's crying, he's holding his son. And then someone knocks on the door and it's just heartbreaking. Spoiler alert. He does get this, you know, super high paying job. He is just the belief in himself. And this relates to real estate. A lot of real estate agents do not have this mental fortitude to get through the really tough parts of building a real estate business so they can get to the other side. And that was the big takeaway of that movie. Number three, and I love this movie is Erin Brockovich. Julia Roberts is. What would you say? She kind of like fights this whole public utility company. I think it's on the west coast. And this is based on a true story, another story of sort of perseverance, overcoming diversity in her personal life. She has basically no money and I think she loses her home at one point. And then on the other hand, she is putting this case together and doing all the groundwork, has no law degree. And then she basically aligns herself with this local attorney that's never worked on a case this big. And it's like the small little guy taking on this big massive corporate entity and they end up winning the case. And it's just this dynamic, not only the dynamic between her, you know, Erin Brockovich and this local attorney and just that dynamic there, but her decision that she was going to stand up for what's right and stand up for something and in the process provide for her family at a level that, you know, I think her bonus, it was like a multiple six figure bonus at the end of them getting the settlement and the attorney, everything settling out. And they ended up going on, the two of them ended up going on to represent a whole bunch of other class action lawsuits. And she had no business and essentially had no. I forget if she was hired to the firm to just be like sort of a secretary. And then she got her nose in a file and then all of a sudden she was out sort of investigating this case. And I think it was like a pro bono case. And then just took it over herself and just built it in something. And she was so passionate, so selfless in all of that. And the takeaway as it relates to real estate is anyone can decide, like I just came into real estate and decided I was going to turn it into a business that provided a lifestyle for my family that we never thought was possible. And it wasn't like the sort of, you know, the same version of it as Erin Brockovich. You know, she was fighting for the little person. The little person in my story was me and my meager beginnings. My wife came from, you know, dirt as a child and we both had A vision to provide for our families. And I, we just made that decision that we were gonna. We were gonna make it happen. So a lot of agents out there have that same opportunity, but they let their past maybe be the reason why they think they can't do it, or the fact that a lot of agents don't sell a lot of homes, you know, is an overwhelming idea for them to be one of the agents that can figure it out. So movie number four is Jerry Maguire. And I specifically chose this movie because I had a client name. His name is Tim. That moment in Jerry Maguire where he loses his job, big corporate sports management firm, and he's leaving with his box of office supplies, and he gives this speech, thinking everyone's going to be inspired by it. And nobody rallies except one administrator follows him into this new venture. He basically becomes an independent sports manager. And that firm, the big sports management firm, takes all of his clients, they're calling him, while he's leaving. And he's left with a single client, Cuba Gooding Jr. And the dynamic between them and another story of kind of like impersonal integrity story and also perseverance. You know, once he was able to put all of his effort into serving this one client and doing a really good job for this one client, the. His business as a result of it, everyone called him. And I think in real estate, you know, the tendency is to not, you know, we barely get through some transactions versus, like, treating every client like gold, because that client is your ticket to, if you do think everything right with the right heart, your future clients will come as a result of it. And that was the practical takeaway of Jerry Maguire with me, specifically with. With Tim. That story. He left a business partnership, a big business doing over a hundred million dollars worth of real estate. But it was structured the wrong way. Misaligned with his business partner, he had that moment where he literally left, took his single license to start over. And he tried to take the admin with him, and the admin said no. So it was like a Jerry Maguire moment. He built a business with a lot of guidance from me and our team to over a hundred million dollars in volume on the right economic model in a way where he was able to exit production as well. Starting out as a single agent, going back into all the production himself. In three years, he was over 100 million. That movie really struck a chord. Number five is Wall Street. And this is Michael Douglas and what's the other guy's name? Anyway, this is all about essentially losing your soul to your business. And kind of like when ambition goes unchecked, the collateral damage that could be. And in this case, it was Wall street and insider trading and ambition unchecked happens a lot of times in real estate. We give more focus, you know, to our clients and the weird hours and like, hey, can you go show that home? Friday at 7:30, it's like, yeah, I've got nothing on my calendar. Friday at 7:30, it's like, no. In my world, in real estate, B school, and me personally, I had a time block on Friday that was family time. If you asked me to see a home on a Friday night, the answer was no. I have an appointment, but I do take appointments with active clients. Saturdays from 11 to 1pm My calendar was time blocked. And in that movie, the lengths that the junior guy went. What the heck is his name? Charlie Sheen. The lengths he would go through under the guidance of Michael Douglas or staying out of the insider trading weeds and putting him in a position where he was doing all this, like, sort of behind the scenes, you know, figuring out deals that were happening before they were public knowledge and all this crazy stuff. He knew he was doing something that he shouldn't be doing, but the money was. So he basically sold his soul to the devil. Just the scene at the end where, you know, I think. I forget who punches who. I think Michael Douglas punches Charlie Sheen, but he has the wiretap and, you know, another spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie, but it's a movie worth seeing for sure. All right, number six, and then we'll wrap up here. Number six is It's a Wonderful Life, the story of George Bailey. And I actually hadn't seen. This is like a classic Christmas movie. I hadn't seen this movie until probably 2017, 2018, maybe 2018. And we watched it as a real estate team. So we're all watching it. Maybe 10 or 12 of us are watching. I just remember weeping watching this movie. It's a story of a guy that has the opportunity to see how his life would go if he were actually in the life and around and if he would have taken his life and not been there. And this whole town basically hinges on him. All the stuff he did that seems sort of small because he had a big vision. He wanted to be sort of out in the world and doing all these great things, and he was sort of forced to stay in this small town. But the ripple effects of what he did while he was, you know, working the local bank and, you know, I think he took over his Dad's business and just not the life that he thought he wanted to live. But then he gets a chance to rewind all of that, and as if he took his life, what would have happened? And then the whole town went into serious depression, and this guy took over and just really bad stuff. And so the takeaway there as it relates to business is that there is more to life than real estate. And we have the ability, obviously, in our direct family, but we have so many opportunities in real estate to truly impact those around us. And the encouragement there is, yes, we want to figure out how to make a bunch of sales, and, you know, some of us are in difficult financial positions and all of that. The encouragement there, though, that ultimately you must, even as you're building the business. And it wasn't perfect in my early days, but I did have my priorities straight, and I was in high communication with my spouse, even though I was working pretty much six days a week. And I say that I didn't work on Sundays, but there were times where I was working deals. I just didn't do appointments on Sundays. I was telling her that I had a specific plan and a vision for this business that allowed me to scale it, do more deals without putting more time into the business. And I ultimately had this vision going back to movie number one of, you know, the E myth and the founder that I was going to be. I was, in my mind, I was building this future business, and it was going to provide for our family. And then the ripple effects of having done that and the ripple effects of having started real estate B School in 2013, and thousands of agents have been through our world. My encouragement for you is to do all of that in a way where you're working on the right path. So, you know, you're going down this path. It may take longer than you want to build your business the right way. Maybe for you, it's two to three transactions per month consistently, or we've got members doing 20, 30, 40 transactions per month. Whatever it is for you, you have to have confidence that you're on the right path and that it will lead. Even if it doesn't go as quick as you want, it will lead to the things that you want for your life ultimately. And so the takeaway there, and, you know, obviously to sort of bring this full circle is if you're not on this path where you're confident that. That you're gonna end up in a place that is good financially and your family life and your physical body and your faith journey, that's not a good feeling. Right. I don't personally want to end up at any point having any regret about the time I spent with my kids or the way that I nurtured the relationship with my wife or I neglected my physical body and now I'm in disease and I'm unable to enjoy my 60s and my 70s because I don't want to end up in those places where I have regrets and or live a life that I don't want. Right? So if you're on that journey where things aren't the way that you want them financially or you don't have the amount of time or maybe that just the stress of the business is too, too much and you're not putting the pieces together. All I can offer you, and this is not a sales pitch, all I can offer you is a conversation about your business, where you are today, where you want to be in the future. Just go to million dollaragentmethod.com There's a seven minute video there. The big promise of our 90 day implement program. It is implementation. We're going to build out the lead generation and conversion systems in your business. Not cold calling, not door knocking, not begging your friends and family for business not paid leads but build out inbound organic lead gen systems so that once installed, once fully operational, you'll get to the two to three closings per month consistently and it's a 90 day process that we work through together. So that's all I've got to offer you. If you know you need to get on a on this journey of knowing that you're building the right thing and it's going to lead to an unreasonable amount of income in a reasonable amount of time. That's the promise that I deliver on for our members and that was what I was able to build out for myself. Just go to milliondollaragentmethod.com and we'll see you over there. See ya. Be good.
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