How This Texas Realtor Will Close 400 Sides While Cutting Costs in His Real Estate Business

Well, Sean, how long have you been working with Lars?

We've been working with lars for about 15 months now.

Okay. And could you give some backstory, like how you. How long you've been in real estate and kind of what was the path that led you to work with Lars?

Yeah, so I've been in real estate. This is our. Well, this is my seventh year. I think it's my maybe fourth year, really trying to build a team. And we were with a few other coaching organizations, I don't know, for a few years, and found Lars as we were really trying to focus on the systems and tools and trying to find more than just sales training. And we stumbled across Lars somehow, and it seemed to make a lot of sense for exactly what we were looking for. So booked a call with him, and it just made sense.

Okay, and how was your business doing at that point 15 months ago? I mean, you'd been in real estate for a handful of years, but you know, what kind of made you reach out to him?

So the year before we joined with lars, we did 60 million, and there were about 15 of us. That was 170 units, but we just weren't that profitable. I didn't have some of the things set up properly. It was fine, but it wasn't what it. What it is now and what it. What it could have been. So Lars kind of straightened us out with some of the things we had as far as margins and some unnecessary expenses. And then last year, we. We did 82 million over 200 and almost 250 units. But we've got our margin corrected and expenses under control. So we're set up really well right now, thanks to a lot of the things that Large preaches and teaches. So this year we should do about 120 million over 400 sides, and it will be very profitable, a lot better than it would be if we had not met Lars, I'll put it that way.

Awesome. Okay, what were some of those tools that you started working on right away, some of those things you started implementing just to make it more profitable?

One of the first tools we implemented was his business tracker. He has this really powerful Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of all your expenses and all your sales and commissions paid and sourcing. Just tracking everything to know exactly where every deal came from is huge. And we knew that before coming on with Lars, of course, but it just helped us get more dialed in as far as exactly what our ROI is, because we knew it was good, and on some things, but we didn't realize the Exact numbers. So he helped us really get dialed into the exact ROI of basically everything we do. That's the main tool that we probably use the most at this time. But I don't know, there's just countless. I mean, there's like 20, 30 things that we've implemented since joining. They usually centered around a tool of some sort.

Okay, could you go into a little bit more maybe tracking that return or what kind of results you've been seeing with those tools?

Yeah, I mean, before we used to use a lot of Excel spreadsheets, but they just weren't as dialed in or as powerful as the one that we use with Lars now. And so there's like 10 or 15 tabs across the bottom, but mainly one that you input the data on, well, two, one for the sales and the second for the expenses. And then it just spits out all these reports on all these other tabs that you can get a really good idea of exactly what's going on in your business if you just use this tool and input what you would input somewhere else, just at a more basic level, but it spits out just a lot of great info just so that you know exactly where all your money's going and where to spend more money or where not to, where to stop something so it gives a quick snapshot or you can go into real great detail. And when you're doing a couple hundred transactions and have six, seven different things you're doing to get business main pillars of your business, it's vital in figuring out where to spend your time and efforts and money without wasting a lot of time and analyzing and trying to track things down kind of haphazard, hazardly running the business, how maybe we used to do it when there were just a few of us with Lars and setting up the way that he suggests, I can, I could leave town for a month and come back and the business is going to be running maybe even better than with me here. And it's his tools that would allow something like that to occur because it's all cloud based. And you can see exactly what's going on in our business right now just by looking at a few documents that we've implemented. So that's been pretty huge. The main difference with Lars program, as opposed to a couple of the other coaches we've been involved with, is that his really revolves around the business, not necessarily the sales training, which there's a lot of coaches out there for and it's necessary. But when you're trying to build a team and a business, and a very profitable one. There's more than just scripts and learning how to convert a buyer lead, for instance. And so Lars is really, I mean, it's the title of his bit of his coaching company, real estate business school. And that's exactly what it is. It's with his, with his background, he really dives deep and ton of knowledge to share with us in teaching us how to grow this as a business as opposed to, you know, being a sole operator running around selling 30, 40, 50, 100 homes. And so there's a big difference between some traditional coaches and what Lars is really great at. And so if you're just an individual agent that is just kind of trying to figure out scripting or prospecting or how to convert a buyer lead, and you don't really have any hopes or dreams of building a team and growing something to run it as business, he's probably not the best fit for you. But all those other coaches were a great foundation for what we have now. And we still use a lot of what we learned there. But he really kind of just puts it all together and systematizes everything and helps with, you know, making it an actual business.

Absolutely. Okay. And you're, you're in the boardroom as well, aren't you, Sean?

Right.

So could you maybe explain how the boardroom might be different from the normal coaching program or what compelled you to that group of people or to that close proximity?

Yeah, I've been in the boardroom almost as long as I've been involved with Lars, maybe a couple months after I joined and it's been really cool. That's been probably the most beneficial thing for me at the level we're at at the moment. And it's really kind of like a more close knit mastermind. A lot of high level ideas are shared there and, and tested there before. It may be brought out to the regular group. And that's really for the, for the benefit of everybody, for the people in boardroom and for the people not in boardroom because, you know, Lars is very anti chasing squirrels. And in the boardroom we talk about a lot of squirrels or shiny objects or new tools and systems. But you know, with where we're at in our businesses, we're able to test a lot of different things, whereas the normal, let's say his regular group, you know, probably wouldn't be advised if they go spend seven grand a month on some new thing that someone in boardroom may be testing. But boardroom's been great, really, because it's a mastermind and a lot of great people. It's invite only with from Lars. And so the people that are in there are just awesome. And it's been a just great experience seeing what other people around the country that are selling hundreds of homes a year are doing.

You mentioned kind of with the systems and tools that it's something that you could take a month off of work or a month out of the office and it would still be running. Have you gotten a chance to do something like that? Have you noticed any personal time freed up at all or any stories of just personal success outside of the business?

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely freed up some time. I only work Monday to Friday and I've been going home earlier than normal. I mean, I used to work from 8 to 8 or midnight even back when I was single as a single agent. But no, my time is definitely more free with setting up the tools and systems the proper way that Lars advises. I haven't taken much time off though. I could, I know I could, and I feel fine with doing it. But my personal thing is I just feel guilty because we're still trying to grow. If I wanted to just, just sell another 250 homes this year, I could probably leave for the next six months and just make a couple phone calls a couple times a week into the office and I'd be fine. But we're still in high growth mode and our goal Is to grow 30 to 50% every year. So with that, I feel like I can't be out of the office. But if I just wanted to maintain, I could definitely be out of the office and not be here much. But I don't know what else I'd do with my time.

Well, Sean, what tips would you offer to someone who's in the program right now to kind of maximize their success with the B school program?

Yeah, a few things. One, I'd say just get to know some of the other people in the group and great value can be had in just networking with the other members and bouncing things off of them and helping having them help you with your journey and vice versa. But also Lars has it set up where you can be as hands on or as hands off as you want to be within the group. Meaning if you want to speak with someone once a month or more, they allow that, which is great. But if you just want to go through the, say, the weekly calls with the big group and then just use the online modules that he's built out and do it on your own time, that's also an Offering, but I'd suggest speaking with and just getting involved more with the group. As much as you put into it is what you'll get out of it. But also just I hear that a lot of people get, can get fairly overwhelmed with all the information. And so I guess one tip would just be to get with Lars or one of the coaches and figure out what you need in the business first and put a plan together or an outline of some sort of the order that you're going to implement them in. Because everybody's going to be different. Some people have the buyer system roll built out already, some people have the listing system real built out or their margins are messed up or they don't even have a buyer lead gen platform or something along those lines. So it really, you know, just, just put some thought into it in the beginning as to how you're going to attack this, this beast that Large has built because it can be very overwhelming, especially if you're, you know, selling 20, 30, 40 homes a year and are just kind of getting your feet off the ground as far as building a team.

Awesome. I just have one more question for you, Sean, and that is it's kind of a two parter, but what does success look like to you and where is your business headed?

Well, success to me would be that if I leave my business runs without me and doesn't miss a beat or a step. But the real reason I'm growing this is just for the freedom to live anywhere, to take as much time off as I'd like and really I just enjoy building businesses. With what he's built and is building Lars, and with what we have, I mean there's potential. You know, our goal this year is 400 homes, but the year after next year should be 600 and we should be at a thousand within a couple years. And so we're just going to keep building until we find something better to do or it just doesn't make sense for whatever reason. But we have pretty high goals. And so that's why if you're not complacent, which we definitely aren't here in our company, then this is a great place to be. But if you're complacent just wanting to slide by and sell a few homes a year, then this definitely isn't the group for you. I wouldn't think.