How to Take Advantage of Turbulent Economic Times

One simple system for me is that I go to bed at night and I'm wearing my workout outfit. So when I wake up I'm like, oh, I have my workout outfit on. I'm not going to go to work in my workout outfit. So I have to get my workout done before, like, my kids get up and they leave for school and I sit down at this desk at 9am so sometime before 9am I have to get my workout done. That's a very simple system that helps me achieve the goal. If I just said like, hey, I want to work out five times a week, it may not happen, but a little system, right, will help. And this same thing in business, instead of just, you know, launching into your day, opening up email, the system could be, I don't open up email until I do two hours of prospecting. That would be a simple system that would change your financial future forever.

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 coach thousands of agents to scale their businesses, I know what works and what doesn't. And my goal on this podcast is to share it 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.

What is going on? Real estate business builders I was actually preparing for a talk that I'm going to give at an event in about a week and I thought this would be a really good episode to kind of come in and give you my thoughts on with a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt in these crazy times. Politics aside, I think we're just, we've got some challenges to deal with in the housing market. Just an election year with the insanity that's going on and some of the global unrest that we're seeing, I think it's going to be a really, really challenging time. So this is navigating turbulent economic times. The eight must dos to succeed in business and life. So if you have not been following me for any length of time, my whole mission in this industry is to help real estate agents increase their net worth with more time off so you can have more impact in the areas of life that matter to you. For me, my journey was not the straightest line here. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see me holding my son here. I got into real estate in 2007 didn't know a whole lot. Didn't know that the market had just turned. This is late 2007. Anders was born. And I didn't know that the market turned. In June 2007, inventory shot straight through the roof. And I did figure out a way to get busy. I did sell 27 homes my first 10 months in the, in the business. In 2008, my first full year, I sold 44 homes. I went on my individual production to go from 27 to 44 to 54 to 66 my first three years and 10 months in the business. So I did figure some things out, but it was pretty chaotic. And I just. With my beautiful bride Julie, she trusted me. And I. I was telling her, like, I have a plan. I am going to build this, you know, like a business that gives me actual time and money freedom. And I didn't see anyone in the real estate industry doing this more important than having a plan. I had a why. I came from a childhood that had a lot of chaos around it. So maybe I'm just good with chaos. That's why I thrive in these turbulent times. My dad struggled with addiction. My parents got divorced when I was 4. He was an alcoholic, actively drinking until I was 15. And just a lot, a lot of difficulty around all of that. So I knew that I wanted to have a different outcome in, in my life. I knew I wanted to be a good dad. I knew I wanted to be a good husband. And I wanted to provide financially and have the time so that I can have the impact. Right? So that drives my obsession to help agents more importantly than my why and my story. You need to know your why. This is the thing that's going to get you out of bed every day and do the work you need to do to be successful in a challenging industry. So let's talk about specifically how to navigate chaos. First off, I understand that real estate is super hard. Even in a balanced market where, you know, it's. There is an insanity. There aren't lawsuits, you know, class action lawsuits and scandals with the nar and global. All this stuff, normal real estate is hard. You know, I wouldn't wish. It's kind of like, you know, the old person that says, you know, when I was young, you know, I had to walk to school and back uphill both ways in the snow, barefoot, right? But the Great Recession years, 2008, 9, 10, in my market, we went from 15,000 agents to 5,000 agents. It was super, super challenging. And we're going through the same dynamic here. Even though it's slightly different. There was just way less income available for the amount of agents in the market. So there's this pinch of like less homes are selling and there's way too many agents. So naturally a lot of agents, probably 150,000 agents, got out of the business last year. In 2023, I think we'll probably see a similar number this year. I do think this year is going to be a little bit better than last year, but not a whole lot right at the end of the day for me, when I was getting up and running in the business, it was this realization that there are too many of us. There's a low barrier to entry to get into real estate and we're generally seen as a commodity. A commodity is something that's not all that valuable because there's way too many of them. Real estate agents are a dime of dozen. And I realize this doesn't mean that you are, that you're not playing the game at a pro level, but it's less than 10% of the industry. I think when times, and I think this is part of like me growing up in chaos, this is the time I get super excited. When everyone's freaking out, I'm like, let's dig in and let's make this happen. When other people are like not doing the normal things that are required in difficult times, they're just distracted and worried and I'm like digging in and I'm ready to do the work. Hopefully you're feeling the same way. I would guard you against the 24 hour news cycle scrolling all day on social media. Follow just a few sources. I'm following just a few sources that I trust around what's going on and most importantly its impact on real estate. This is the industry that I've committed to serve, right? I just turned 50 in June, probably 10 years left at this point. And this is the industry I'm going to serve. So I need to know what's going on and how it's impacting real estate. You can pay attention to the fud, so know what's going on but you ha. You can't like be in it, like know that there's, you know, all this fear, uncertainty and doubt. But you have to be the one that is, you know, the, the calm in the storm, right? So you need to stay out of the fight. You can't be the one like you know, frazzled and sharing stuff on social media. And like this is, you know, you need to be the trusted advisor that you're leading your Clients and your would be clients. And you're leading your family in a way where you're just the calm in the storm.

Right.

One thing you need to make certain of if you haven't started doing this is that you need to monitor your personal economy. And that means like the, the inflows and outflows, have you taken the things out of your business and the things out of your personal spend that just don't need to be there because times are not going to get good. As a country, our credit card debt is the highest it's been in a long, long time. I don't know the exact stat but basically we haven't stopped our lifestyle. We, we've just put it on credit cards.

Right.

So consumer credit is going through the roof.

Right.

We had the best record breaking, you know, spending over the holidays and it was. And credit is going through the roof. So people are not stopping spending, they're just putting it on credit cards. Not great. I will say that the eight things I go over here are really, really simple but not necessarily easy. I'm going to go through these really, really quick. But all these things are where the real money is made. And I've been accused of not being the sexiest, most glitzy like guy on YouTube or a podcast because I just speak the truth. I know this stuff works. You know, we've had a thousand plus agents through real estate B school at this point. I've been doing this for a decade, just serving the industry and you know, I guess six years before that it took me, you know, six years to build a business from zero to you know, the year I didn't have to work too much in that business. We did like 453 transactions with 10 producing agents. So I understand this stuff at a high level and I would guard you. And this is what I'm doing is I'm staying focused on myself. I'm playing my game. You know, it's kind of like the horse. You know a horse when they run race, some of them have blinders on because some horses get spooked and distracted by the horses next to them and they can't run their own race. That's what I want you to think about. You need to keep your eyes on your own paper and do your own thing and stick to plans. So let's talk about how we get there. Really good quote from the book Atomic Habits. Becoming the type of person you want to become, someone who lives by a stronger standard, someone who believes in themselves, someone who can be counted on by the people that matter to them is about the daily process you follow and not the ultimate product you achieve. Number one, these are the must dos is that you have to realize that your time is money. Your time is money. So where you spend it, that's the direct, you know, determinant of your financial situation, is where are you spending your time on a regular basis? Is it in the most dollar productive activities in your business? Control chaos. Most agents, this is number two, you need to control the chaos. Most agents are like a chicken with their head cut off. The day starts, they're in email, social media, and then the day ends and they're like, whoa, what a busy day. And you literally got nothing done. Really good definition of productivity. This is by Dan Kennedy. Productivity. Productivity is the deliberate strategic investment of your time, talent, intelligence, energy, resources and opportunities. And in a manner calculated to move you measurably closer to meaningful goals. So when you wake up and you're the chicken with its head cut off, just running around doing all this stuff with no order, nothing aimed toward your meaningful goals. And it's not deliberate or strategic, you're not in the game. You're not even in the game of building something that is going to lead you to a point of time and money freedom. There are five things that make you money in real estate. I'm not going to dive deep on this, but it's the acronym is P L A N S Prospecting lead, follow up appointments, negotiating deals and working on systems. That's it. All the other stuff you do and you're rationalizing that you're making a ton of money and doing it like you're running errands, you're dropping off lockboxes, you're in your car, like meeting an inspector or all the stuff that has to happen, but it's not making you a lot of money. It's not making you the kind of money that you want to make. Make number three, you need to play a different game. So this is a must. You have to play a different game. You need to start to think about your business as a system of systems. Another quote from the same book, Atomic Habits by James Clear. You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. One simple system for me is that I go to bed at night and I'm wearing my, my workout outfit. So when I wake up I'm like, oh, I have my workout outfit on. I'm not going to go to work in my workout outfit. So I have to get my Workout done before my kids get up and they leave for school and I sit down at this desk at 9am so sometime before 9am I have to get my workout done. That's a very simple system that helps me achieve the goal. If I just said like, hey, I want to work out five times a week, it may not happen, but a little system, right, will help. And same thing in business, right? Instead of just launching into your day opening up email, the system could be, I don't open up email until I do two hours of prospecting. That would be a simple system that would change your financial future forever. Okay, so we're playing a different game. Yes, we want to generate leads on the front end, but you've got to be willing to do the work, have the conversations, and then it's just set medsigned. Are you setting appointments, are you meeting them, are you signing new clients? And then it's the whole process of delivering on the promise that you committed to in the sales process. Just a different game. Number four, defend your time. There are so many things that will take your time. Some of them are seemingly good, right? The buyer that's under contract, that has to get an update, you know, during the time where you committed to new business development and now you're not working on the thing that you committed to.

Right.

I get that there are competing priorities, you know, personally and in your business. And on top of that, these are met like crazy extraordinary times, right? With the onslaught of information, social media, YouTube, the 247 news cycle, people texting you, right? It's insanity. So I get that the struggle is real, but you need to be honest with yourself. Are you doing a good job defending yourself, your time, so you can focus on the things that are going to make you money in a reasonable amount of hours every week. And you have to create an ideal week that has to be in your calendar. You have to show up every day and look at your calendar. And that is what tells you what to do. It's called time blocking. Everyone knows it, but nobody does it. Nobody does it. And it's something that everyone could start doing. And the reality is, whether you like it or not, the cash is in. Your bank account follows the calendar. So cash follows calendar. Really, really important to realize that. And the protected time on a daily basis is that first chunk of the day, it is longer than you want it to be. If you're not sitting still for as many hours as possible doing new business development, which is, I call it lead generation and lead follow up, that's the prospecting and lead follow up in the plot ans the P and the L are new business development. That has to be like 50% of your day. Has to be if. Well, it doesn't have to be. If you want to be financially free and have any shot at buying back your time, you know, getting out of the lower dollar productive tasks, then it has to be that first part of the day. Like I said earlier, the income you've been making in real estate is simply the result of the choices you've been making with your time. It's not rocket science. Number five and I'm going to go through this one quick, quickly. You must create your future. This is a process we follow in real estate B school. It's begin with the end in mind, which is where do you want to be three short years from now? Create an annual plan. Ask yourself based on that three year vision, what must I accomplish this next year? Construct your quarters. So in order to realize that three year vision, you know, actually achieve the annual plan, ask yourself, what must I focus on during the next 90 days? So these all feed into each other, then win your weeks. What are the top three for the coming week? The week feeds into the quarter, feeds into the year, feeds into the three years and then dominate your days. What must I do today to reach my goal? So the days feed into the weeks, feed into the quarters, feed into the year, feed into the three years. This is how I achieve what I achieved. Number six is you've got to turn pro. You must turn pro. And this is a combination of becoming the expert, knowing the market and knowing how to communicate it on social media and with your clients tracking your numbers, right? Your, your daily conversations, your, your contacts, your nurtures added to the database, all of that, right? Know your numbers. You cannot win in this business if you're not tracking your numbers. And this is building a muscle, you know, so spending the time, you know, in, even to become an expert in your market and tracking your numbers and doing, you know, time blocking in the mornings for new business development, it's building a muscle. The great news, the great news is most agents won't do this. Most agents won't actually do the work required to turn pro.

Right?

It's less than 10% that will actually do this. Number seven is that you have to prioritize your health. You must be able to generate the kind of energy you need to engage fully in your business, but also personally. This is simple. It's move your body walking or lifting or doing, you know, interval training. I do three weight training sessions and two interval training sessions. 30 minutes a day, very simple. They're hard, hard workouts, but that's it. Five 30 minute workouts every week. And my health is increasing, right? So it doesn't take a crazy amount of time. That's two and a half hours a week. Hydrate or die. You have to hydrate. I don't know if it's a gallon or if it's eight, eight ounce glasses. It's. We're chronically dehydrated and you know, sometimes it's that you can't focus, you don't have energy. It's just you're, you're dehydrated. Sleep, you cannot hack sleep. That's the next one you have to get. For me, it's like seven, seven and a half hours. Lately we've been cheating at night and we've been going to bed after 112 nights last week we went to bed after midnight and I was, I was not functioning the next day at the level that I knew I could or should be functioning. So you cannot hack sleep and then eat real food. What you consume has a direct correlation to your ability to focus and have the energy to engage. Right? So if you're eating a bunch of sugary carby crap bagels or whatever and you're over caffeinated, you're not going to be able to sustain the level of energy you need to be massively successful. And then a lot of us have to do a digital detox and clear the mind from all of the distraction.

Right?

All of those social media apps are designed to keep you on them and out of you actually achieving something that's worth something. You're looking at other people's lives rather than, you know, creating a life that you never thought was possible. All right, number eight is first things first. With all this said, there isn't anything more important than you paying attention to the things that matter right now. In the season of life that you're in. If you have small kids, maybe it's not your season to work 70 hours a week in real estate. A lot of us compare ourselves to others. It's the expression. Comparison is the thief of joy in real estate. Especially, you look at another agent, they have all these listings or, you know, and they just went on vacation. And you know, I talk to those agents that go on vacation and they're not even on vacation, they're working deals, they're not present.

Right.

I talk to agents that are doing a lot of production, they're making no Money because they're. They're paying a whole bunch of money for lead sources that aren't converting the way that they should. So stop that. Just run your race, like I said earlier. And all you need to worry about is doing your next right thing. It's the next thing that you need to focus on in your business that will have you one step closer to building a business that can scale. You could buy back your time, and you can have time and money, freedom. Uh, and if you're watching this on YouTube, I told my son recently, it's a picture of my son spiking the ball. I said, anders, you know, he's. He's a sophomore, wants to go to college, D1 in volleyball, and he's doing great. And I told him, you know, I said, this is just you versus you. Like, I know you're comparing yourself. He was comparing himself. He was worried about making the 16 ones, which is the highest level team. And I said, iners, this is just you versus you. You know, there, there isn't any competition. Like, you're playing a different game than all these other players. They're not thinking about, you know, playing D1 or D2 or playing, you know, professionally after. They're just like half halfway doing it, you know, so they're eating like French fries and chick fil a during tournaments. And my son is, you know, eating protein bars and, you know, fruit. Like, he's got a very specific diet that he's following. I mean, and he's working out, you know, heavy weight training twice a week. He's doing stretch training now and he does jump training, and he's just playing a different game. And now he really realizes that it's just him against himself. He's only competing with himself. Same thing in business. The last thing I'll say here is that this will be really, really messy. Anyone that's achieved anything, it was not easy. And there were times where it just a complete crap show. Complete crap show. If you're watching this on, on YouTube, you can see the picture there is. This was our, our Christmas card one year where it was a complete meltdown. I think Kendall, our daughter, was probably 5 and Anders was 7. Anders, the only one that is, is paying attention to this picture and he's doing what he's supposed to do, which is an awkward, like, smile, and Kendall's just melting down. This is the reality of, of. Of life. This is how life is most of the time. And just understand that not a lot of people have it together all the time. It's just this commitment as a unit, as a family to support each other along the way because it will be messy and just stay out of the comparison trap is my biggest word of advice. And then ultimately we have to do the work. So that's all I want to share with you on this episode. I know it was a lot. I impact a lot. I went a little bit longer than I wanted to. If you're at the point in your journey where you want to dive a little bit deeper, go to milliondollaragentmethod.com There's a seven minute video on that page I'll go through. $40,000 of additional GCI will help you generate in a 90 day build out. We'll build out the lead gen systems, build out the lead conversion systems on your technology, on all your, you know, build it out for you and you get to own it forever. Doesn't matter where you are in your journey. $40,000 minimum of additional GCI gross commission income in that 90 day build out from the stuff that we install in your business. So take action right now. Go to milliondollaragentmethod.com and we'll see you over there. Be good.