Building a Successful Team: Veronica Figueroa On Her Team’s Journey From Chaos to High Standards

Ooh. Because you're a leader.

And then you get to also say.

Hey, maybe I should have done this. I learned this from the experience. So we're learning based, right? I learned this, and I could have tweaked this. And then your peers get to say, you know what, Lars, you did a great job.

This is what I would have tweaked a little bit.

But, you know, we all do what we say we're going to do. If we say that, we're going to hold you accountable. If we say that we're going to train you, we also expect you to.

Do what you say you're going to do when no one's watching.

And if someone does end up hearing your call, it should be aligned with what we're teaching. And it's really interesting how those coaching sessions work because it's a coaching session amongst the agents, not Veronica coaching them.

Telling them what to do.

It's how the community has been established. So we have a lot of fun, too.

Fun is one of our core values, too.

If it's not fun, we don't want to do it. If we're not having fun doing this, it gets difficult sometimes. That's where commitment comes in. You're going to do hard things even when it doesn't feel good. But in the end, we are a community of love, Fun, you know, trying, not trying, focused on helping people become better, better people. But it all comes down to, you know, do you love what you do? Are you having fun? Are you delivering excellence? And, you know, it's. It's what I think, why the Figueroa team has been able to reach a level of success that we've had, because once we got really, really crystal clear as to who we are, it got really easy to convey it and live it. And when someone.

But give us a quick intro and then we'll get into that. That topic.

Absolutely. My name is Veronica Figueroa. First of all, thank you for having me. And I'm a fan of you, by the way. I'll tell you before I go into my brand B school, you know, I think Marie Forleo. I'm a huge fan of Marie Forleo. I don't know why. I just think, like, those two are connected. And then I have this, you know, her book, Everything's figureoutable. It just like when I saw your. Your school and then your, you know, you come over, I was like, I wonder if he's a B schooler, you know? Anyways, I just wanted to say that.

And I totally I enrolled in B school and I named real estate B school because of my association with Marie Forleo. So it. It was not a ripoff. And. And I also went to business school. I went to Duke for my B school, you know.

That's so cool.

Yeah, so. But yeah, it's totally. That was the genesis of it. And I fig out on a beach in Mexico. I came up with the name. So really, really cool. All right, your story.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. I can go down a rabbit hole. But anyways, just inspired by you and what you're doing. But, you know, my story is I.

You know, just kind of give you the elevator version of it, you know.

Grew up in the military. My parents, you know, worked really hard. My family's from Puerto Rico. My father was a drill sergeant.

So that's where the discipline comes in. There was no slacking off in my mom or my dad's household. My mother was an entrepreneur. She opened a Hispanic grocery store in cities like Junction City, Kansas, where there weren't a lot of Latinos. Columbus, Georgia. Wherever my dad went, she found a way to open a business. And I was working since the age of 12, but I was in awe with everything that they did. Graduated high school with a baby on my hip.

The 16 and pregnant story wasn't one that was in the books, but I figured out early on in life that I had to figure things out. And I had a very, very supportive family, but they also always kind of held me accountable. Went to college and graduated at the same time of everyone else who graduated when I graduated. So I was always a hard worker. And any obstacle that I faced, I always tried to be honest with myself at a young age and realize I had to now care for a young child that I brought into the world. Worked my way up in corp in the hospitality industry. Had a passion for human resources. I knew I wanted to go to school for human resources. I knew I wanted to work in human resources. I love people. I got that opportunity through the hospitality industry. And then at the, I would say, young age of 24, now faced a divorce. And I remembered I had a real estate license because a friend of mine convinced me to get my real estate license right out of college.

But 911 happened the day after, so.

I never thought I would need it.

And I went the safe route. Right. You know, you get your license the day after, the day before or the day after. 9 11, you get a little, you know, there's a little fear. And I was in the hospitality industry. Timeshare was A big thing in Orlando and. But it wasn't for me. I took a peek at it. So I just decided to go more on the HR side. Developed agents, helped benefit, helped work in hr, agent development, hiring benefits, worked my way up. And, you know, when I was going through a divorce, I realized I needed to supplement my income. And I remembered I had a real estate license and tried it again in timeshare. Wasn't for me. Three months later, I said, let me try this residential thing. And that was around 2000, end of 2004, 2005. So it was like it was raining commission checks. You'd walk outside and you stumble across a buyer or a seller. And it was a crazy market. And I quit my job within three months. I went in full time and I never looked back. I fell in love with it. And then, of course, when the market crashed in 2008, well, started crashing, obviously, I started feeling it. I realized it wasn't as easy as it appeared to be when I first got into it. And I had to learn a lot really quickly. I needed to learn short sales. I remember we were faxing documents over to the banks. Had needed to learn reos with the hope that someone would give me an opportunity. And I wasn't going to take no for an answer because by this time, I had become obsessed and addicted to real estate. I loved everything about it and how it also allowed me to still be a mom, yet kind of manage my schedule, but not. And then here I am almost 20 years later, you know, really, really proud of what we've accomplished. But I just. What I think the word is obsessed. I became obsessed with this industry, obsessed with people, obsessed with how much it gave me, I would say the excitement of change and always evolving real estate put me on my. Kept me on my toes real quick. And if you know my personality type, I love change, and I'm always up for a challenge. So it was just a calling. I think it was just a calling. And I discovered it early on, and I'm glad that it's been, I will say, a lifelong career for me.

Awesome. So let's talk about. Most team builders are born out of, like, you figured out a way to get busy enough where you had to think about leverage and kind of like you just need help. So when was that pivot point for you? And we'll talk about what didn't go well in that. But what did it look like when you realized, you know, how many homes were you selling? What were. What were your days like when you realized that you Needed leverage through the form of people.

Yeah, I feel very fortunate, Lars. I realized early on that I needed leverage. My first full year in real estate, I sold 56 homes, which, you know, it was a lot when you had small kids and, you know, had just gotten remarried as well and, you know, trying to raise a family at the same time. So 56 homes was a lot in a hot market, we're writing offers on hoods, you know, you're trying to race. And at the time the builders were doing lotteries. You know, it's kind of like what we're living in now, kind of like deja vu. And I hired my first assistant a year in, and I remember it was paper pad and, you know, she was my assistant. But she, if you talk to her today, which she's actually still in real estate, she's one of my best friends, Veronica Delick out of Texas, she'll say, I was your nanny, I was your assistant, I was your courier. You name it, she did it all. She's like, at the time, she was also the person who would have a glass of wine after a long day with me. I'm like, you're not going home until you have a glass of wine with me. So, like, early on I realized I needed help because I was closing 56 homes and I said, now I want to sell 100. How do I get there? And I needed help. So that was my first assist. My first hire was an assistant. Then from there, you know, I was recruiting everyone. My sister in law to be an agent, my husband to be an agent, everybody. I was like, you've got blood running through your veins.

I need you to get a license and you need to help me, whether it's opening a door or putting signs out or whatever the case might be. Because I got really, I would say, really blessed and fortunate early on in my career. And I had a lot of people trust me because they saw what I was doing and they, you know, said, hey, I'd like to get into real estate. Looks easy, right? It looked easy. So I started, you know, recruiting and, and, and I would say realizing the power of leverage really early on. But the true test of having to build a team came in 2009 when I, you know, took a leap of faith, Lars. And I went to Dallas and I knocked on asset managers doors and I said, I need a shot. I need a shot. I need one of these asset managers to give me a shot. And one did. And that shot came with some, some, some very big challenges. I came home to 37 assets. I'll never forget. I've told the story over and over again, but it's the truth. And they were all over the state. And I was hungry enough that I wasn't going to tell him that I couldn't service those. So in less than a week, I set up shop in every single MLS that I needed to have an opportunity in. I mean, to set up that I.

Had an opportunity in.

I. I recruited people to be my field service managers. I recruited people to be the agent who was going to do the BPOs for me. And I was able to build a team covering Tampa, Miami, all over Florida. And that was a true test of having to become an operator or a team leader and build systems and see if I could really scale. It was by accident, pure necessity. But then the opportunity was there. And then I said, okay, I cannot mess this up. And the rest was history.

Yeah. So. And if. If you're like me and most people that go into team building, it is sort of out of necessity and like, grab this person and grab this person and, you know, you don't know what core values are. You think they're just like, whatever. I don't need core values. I need, like a warm body. But talk a little bit about so some from. From that lord sort of like forcing yourself into team building versus, like, you know, eventually REO probably going away, and now it's more like legitimate business ownership. Talk about that. What lessons did you learn hiring anybody to like the business you run today? We talked about, you know, accountability and standards and kind of go into that whole conversation.

Yeah. So just for the record, FYI, don't build it the way I built it. Cause I just built it. Like you said, that was by pure necessity. Eventually it evolved into a real business that I was like, wait, why are things not working? Why am I having issues with employees? Why am I having issues with certain things? Why? Oh, you don't have a team agreement? Oh, we don't have this. Oh, we don't have that. You know, you think everyone's honest. And I wasn't running true business. And I'll never forget the first coaching opportunity that I think I sought out was Corcoran Consulting and a good friend of mine, Bubba Mills, at the time, who I had met in the REO world. I saw he was a leader in Corcoran Consulting. And I said, I need operations training. I need help. I know how to sell, I know how to market, but I don't know how to run a business. And I did go to College, but I went to college for human resources, you know, for people development, for loving on people, making people feel good. But there was a component of the.

Business that didn't feel good, and it was the standards and how you were going to hold people to those standards and truly have real big boy and big girl business decisions, you know, that you had to face.

And they were the first coach that I reached out to and I had.

To make some difficult decisions along the way.

And I had to establish core values. My core values didn't come or come.

Into my business probably till about, well.

Maybe I was living them. I knew I had them inside me.

But I didn't know how to articulate. Right. So right around 2013, 14 was when I really said I have to establish some sort of. Some sort of business foundation.

And even back then, it was super.

Rocky because I was afraid that people would leave me. But when I started really looking at this as a business, I realized I lacked accountability, I lacked core values, I lacked standards. And it was a free for all. People did whatever they wanted on my team until I made a business decision that it was time to really, really built a business with standards. Standards and you know, having a company that I would say had integrity. And at. For a while I realized I didn't run a business with integrity. And I wanted to be able to drop all the files and know that everybody was treated with respect and dignity and. And I didn't have that. This person had a deal, this person had a deal, this person had a side deal. And, you know, I was creating chaos. And it was the decision that I made. One day I said, no more. We're going to run a real business that is, you know, something that I can stand behind. And let's pull out those core values. Let's pull out. I think it was the Traveler's Gift was the first book that I read that helped me discover what my core values were or, you know, took me on that journey. And it was. It was a book I read a couple times. I also read the Alchemist. That was another book that I read that really helped me just kind of discover who I was as I navigated through this journey and learned that things happened to you for a reason. And then I just really dove into being coachable. I remember Bob Corcoran sat me. He has a strong personality, if you've ever met Bob. He's one strong cookie, right? But I'm grateful for him. I remember he said to me, he says, I don't think you're coachable. Well, I'm very competitive, so I. I was like, really? I was like, I'll show you. And, you know, at the time, I was really stalking. If anybody's listening, maybe you're a stalker. Like, I was. I was stalking Andrew Duncan with the Duncan duo and Angela. At the time, we were both remax. And I was like, man, I really like what they're doing. They're running a real business. And I said, wherever they're coaching, I want to coach. So that's where I started with Corcoran Consulting. And it was just, look, let's look at your standards. How do you onboard your people? Nope, I don't have that. How do you train your people? Nope, I don't have that. How you onboard them is the experience they will have in your organization. So if you bring them on with chaos, they will leave and lead with chaos. So I had to do this audit of how do you onboard your people? How do you, you know, what's. What's your core values? How do you hold them accountable? And I was like, I don't have any of that. And I had to do that deep dive exercise and really start. And then the budgeting and then the. You realizing, wow, we really have a lot of holes to plug here. But then once we started plugging those holes, Lars, everything started to change. The type of agent we started attracting, the type of quality performance, the standard of excellence, and the things that I used to think were just a dream started to become a reality simply because I made a decision as a leader to step up. And along the way with that, I lost a lot of people that I loved because they didn't like. This new version of Veronica, this new version of Veronica, who never felt comfortable having uncomfortable conversations or having standards, shows up. Knock, knock. And, you know, that created discomfort for a lot of people, and I had to deal with that, too. The emotions as a team leader that you're like, what do you mean you're leaving me? Or why are you mad at me? Because I have to make a business decision, and I had to walk through a lot of doors by myself. A lot of dark alleys, I think, of growth. But on the other, I stayed true to it. I listened to my coaches, and I watched and I learned. And, you know, now I probably run one of the, I would say the best organizations that I'm proud of because I have leaders that this runs without me. This operates even if I'm not in the room. The standards that they hold me to are pretty awesome, but it took a decade. It Was a decade of having to make a lot of mistakes to get to where we're at today. And I don't know if that answers your question, but yeah, we've gone through.

A lot and it's so good and thinking, you know, having spent some time with Bob Corcoran, you know, and having even that coaching experience be a model for like just the way he would push. Like, most people don't want to be pushed. Most people want to glide through life. They don't want standards. They. I think real estate in general attracts people that think it's easy and they don't want to. Actually, we would have to question our new agents that are in their 20s. Do you have an alarm clock? Do you have a way, a system for getting out of bed in the morning? I mean, it's really sort of the mediocrity that I think in general real estate attracts because they just see these big purchase prices and the big commission checks and they don't realize that it's super hard.

Yeah, it's kind of easy to accidentally.

Trip over some success.

But I knew I never wanted to be, let's say like a one hit wonder or just have one good year. I always knew I wanted to continue to evolve and I wanted to be more than just an average agent. And I just refused to do, you know, what was easy. So when Bob was pushing me and I knew, I like most top producers or high achievers, we crave for accountability. We crave for a challenge. And I know people might not think that, but like, we're always looking for that next challenge of saying, like, can I do this? Like, and it's not to prove it to anyone else. Usually it's to myself of saying, you never know what you're capable of until you try it. And Bob was a pretty. I don't think I've told him thank you enough. I don't ever. I need to call Bob and tell him thank you.

Yeah, that's really, really good. I talked to him from time to time just, just to keep up with him. And I recommend that book, Traveler's Gift as well. It's. It's really a great, a great read. Talk to me a little bit about, you know, I think core values. I know when I first did my core values, I literally copied Jake Hinders. I was coaching with him at the time and I'm like, well, those seem good, you know, but when you really sort of understand core values are an extension of you and the business you want to create, it's a living Breathing thing. Can you give us an example or two of like now that core values or sort of the DNA of the business? Typical examples.

Yeah. I mean for us it's, you know, personal responsibility is super important for us. And you know, accountability, you know, how do you deal with accountability? What's our, what are forms of accountability in your world today outside of real estate? So in our interviewing process we use Spark hire when someone wants to join our team and we talk a little bit about, we ask certain questions that are aligned with our core values, you know, like tell us a little bit of, you know, how you hold yourself accountable or a way, an example of how you were held accountable in your previous career. Right.

Or in your previous team.

Because accountability is important to us. Video is part of our world and we hold our agents accountable. So we start off our interview, you know, the journey with us with a video. So if anyone doesn't want to comply with the video, then they are not aligned with our core values as a team because we do what we say we're going to do. I do video, I ask my agents to do video. I'm never going to ask them to.

Do something I wouldn't do myself.

So therefore we start that journey off.

And if someone tries to to work.

The system, they're just not aligned with us. It's just, you know, personal responsibility, accountability. We're a team of contribution. So what is, what does that look like? Hey, we volunteer. We're going to do things as a community even if we're not getting paid for it because we believe in giving back. Is that aligned with you? So you're going to be at the soccer field probably sweating and giving out soccer balls to the little kids and you know, high fiving. And it's not because you are going to get a deal out of it. Because we come from a place of serving, right?

And all these things are things that.

Up front we make it very clear. Now one of the things that's very simple for us on our team is we do what we say we're going to do.

And in our data, how we do.

Our calls, like we train them on alm, right?

Appointment, location, motivation.