Is Your Brokerage Holding You Back? A Deep Dive into Broker Support During a Down Market

Welcome back to the weekly show that we do for all of the game changers tuned into this channel. I'm here with my good friend Mr. Lars and Mr. John. What's up, guys?

What is up?

Cool. Well, let's dive into it. So I think this is a really timely discussion for really every agent, every independent brokerage, and it's are you partnered with the right brokerage to take you through these uncertain times? And that applies to the independents out there too, right? Because, you know, they're essentially partnered with themselves. Are they operating on the best platform to navigate these uncertain economic times? So in this training or in this show, we're really breaking it down into six main pillars that we look at to really evaluate a business, a brokerage. And, and I'm excited to dive a little bit into each of our backgrounds of how we got to where we are today. We've all been in real estate for 10 plus years at this point, and I know we've been with different brokerages or independent. So I think by starting off with the history of kind of where we all came from, then going to those six pillars, it's going to be really beneficial for everybody. So make sure you stick to the end because there's a couple things that we're going to talk about that you're not going to want to miss. And, and it's regarding kind of multiple streams of income, which is going to be really important during these uncertain economic times. So without further ado, let's start with you, Lars. Give a little two, three minute background on, you know, the different brokerages you were either with or talk about maybe being independent. And then we're gonna go to you, John, on that.

Yeah, so it's an interesting question. And AJ there's one thing that you said that I really didn't quite understand until I moved my business into this platform. You used the word platform and I never heard word before exp. So, like any agent listening, and I wish I would have realized this earlier, you kind of have your business, you know, and you could be independent, but you know, you have a set of tools and infrastructure and you, you want to be partnered with a brokerage that gives you the, the easiest path to what I think is time and money freedom, you know, and that's called the platform. So the brokerage you're with now is the platform that you're choosing to put your business on top of. And the bigger question is, you know, is that platform the right platform for you to succeed in the next two to three years? I think is going to be really gnarly. I think NAR is telling us at least 30%. I think it's going to be more than 30% of agents will get out of the industry. And so that is kind of the guiding. That's like our, our theme for this show is like, are you really on the right platform to succeed? And then beyond these uncertain economic times, it's like, hey, if we could have a time machine and you could, you know, take the business you have now on the platform, slash brokerage you're with now, and then on the platform that we've moved our businesses and we could fast forward 10 years, you know, and just get a glimpse. What's the, what's the old movie where the guy at Christmas.

Oh, it's Nicholas Cage though, right?

No, it's what a Wonderful Life. Yeah. Yeah. He gets to see like, what, what the town he lived in, what his life would have, what that town would have experienced if it wasn't for him. So it's almost like, you know, what were, what could your financial freedom, your location freedom, your time freedom look like if you're on the wrong platform versus the right platform? And, and then specifically, you know, looking back on, on my journey, I realized that most of my success, it really comes came down to the, to the decisions I made, the work I did on the daily. But I was with a small brokerage here in my market, I mean, they were, they focused on condos. They hardly did any single families. I sold, you know, a lot of real estate in my first 10 months with them. Then I went to a ReMax for three years. And John, I think you were at a REMAX as well. I owned a ReMax for five years, but I didn't run it like a brokerage. I just ran my team inside the reMax. So that was a complete waste of money. And they were mad at me that I didn't play their game of just, you know, getting to 100 agents, essentially. And then I was with Keller Williams and Gary's top 100 for four years and just around the, you know, quote unquote, top teams in the country with no sharing and collaboration for the most part. You know, it wasn't that sort of environment that I was independent for a year and, you know, two and a half years with, with exp. So all that to say it's really a question of, like, is your brokerage putting you in a position to earn multiple streams of income and, and have a chance of exiting production at some point? Right. There isn't a pot of gold at the end of the production rainbow. So that's the essence of the conversation today. Brother John, what say you, man?

That's a. That's a lot like, you know, I'm. I'm listening to you, and I hear what you're saying because I know your journey. And I think it's pretty cool, the three of us, how we all kind of started out in the Charlotte area and larger. You're still in that Charlotte area, A.J. you're on an island in Puerto Rico. I'm over in Bozeman, Montana. So we all kind of started in the same nucleus, and now we're all over, which, you know, I think gives us each different perspectives. You know, I'm hearing the conversations that are happening in real estate right now. And, you know, I think a lot of people aren't really assessing where they're at as regards to time and money freedom. I think they're assessing where they're at on if they're going to survive or not. And I'm hearing that across the board from, you know, team leaders, broker owners, down to agents that have been very successful over the last few years. And, you know, a lot of times, the tendency is when things are going really well is that we don't take the time to evaluate. You know, everything's just coming in, everything's working like we want. We're growing. But right now, I think everybody's gotten a rude awakening over the last two months because spring came yet. Spring hasn't really come for most businesses, and people are saying, what is going on? And they're like, I just thought the deals were going to come like they always did in spring, and they're not. And they're starting to freak out and reevaluate. And I think that's why this call is going to be really important for people, because we're having those conversations. We know you're not alone. And, you know, when I look back to my journey, you know, I started out with an independent. It was a great experience. I did real well out of the gate. I moved down to Charlotte. I thought, hey, we're just going to continue this as business as usual. Started out with another independent. It didn't go so great. I was in a new market, a new environment. There was new types of people I was selling to. And ultimately I went and I sought a proven path, and I found that form of that proven path. At the time at ReMax, my coach was with ReMax. He was a big ReMax guy. So I went to ReMax. I followed along the path that was laid before me. I had tremendous success and I really didn't think anything of it. I'm like, I'm at ReMax. And that was as much thought as I gave it. I was following a path. And it wasn't until I saw something I liked better, which came in the form of another independent that was doing things a little bit differently. They had a cool coffee shop atmosphere and it made me reevaluate. Why am I giving six figures a year to ReMax when we use a hot air balloon? And I don't even like hot air balloons. And I said, but I like this coffee shop thing. So I ended up leaving ReMax, going independent with my own brokerage. And similar to you, Lars, I ran it like a team. It didn't run like a brokerage. And everything was good and everybody was happy until we weren't. Until I found myself in my own proverbial shift where, you know, my business model was succeeding to the detriment of my own success because agents were coming in and they were leaving. And that's when I eventually said, okay, let me reevaluate. And when I started to reevaluate, that's what ultimately led me to exp. And I think this conversation will be super helpful for people watching across the whole spectrum, whether you're an agent, a team leader or a broker owner is. Let's have an open conversation and let's reevaluate together on this call. And let us show you these six different pillars and just ask yourself the question, if you're watching, how are you going to compete with that? Super simple. Doesn't have to be real aggressive or anything like that. But you know, ask yourself that question as you're listening to this. You know, we're going to lay out a very compelling offer with what's being offered right now at EXP to help people through this shift. Ask yourself how you're going to compete with that. Maybe what you have is better. That's for, for you to decide. But what I'm finding right now is that people are asking the questions that they haven't been asking in a long time.

Awesome. And I'll share my background a little bit. And then we're gonna dive into these six categories that you should really be using to evaluate your, your brokerage or the brokerage you're at. So I think a lot of times when agents get their license, they just join whatever brokerage either maybe was speaking at their pre licensing class or, or the one that they see the most, or maybe they used an agent from that brokerage to sell their house or buy a house before, and they don't really put much thought into it. It's kind of like, you know, if you just join a brokerage randomly, it's like going into, you know, Dick's Sporting Goods or the Nike, you know, shoe store to buy a pair of shoes. And you're like a basketball player, but you're just going to buy any pair of shoes there. Like, you got to know what game you're playing before you can buy that specific pair of shoes. So if you go into your real estate career and you're not partnered with the right brokerage, you're really going to struggle playing that game. Like, Lars was at a brokerage where they're selling mostly condos, and he's like, I want to sell, you know, single family homes and condos and, and build this business and not just be so niche. You know, there's these companies that Maybe they charge $300 a transaction, but they provide no training, no support, and, and you're looking to build a big business and be part of this amazing culture and grow. Well, you're probably going to be limited there. You know, that's for the agents that are just selling a handful of deals a year. So when I got my real estate license, I was like, you know, I want, like, Lars opened this up with time freedom, money freedom, and the third one I always throw on top is location freedom. And I was like, I'm joining Keller Williams because I read millionaire real estate agent prior to getting my license. And I was like, there's this, you know, if you guys haven't read it, still a great book to read. A little outdated for sure, but, but still good for the mindset. So I read it, I was like, there's this thing called the seventh level agent where you can actually exit your business and it runs without you and you're still making all this money and, and you get to go live your dream life. So that's why I joined Keller Williams, because at least I knew the game I was playing. I wanted that freedom. What I discovered pretty quickly at Keller Williams was, man, this idea of residual income in the form of running a team, being a seventh level, exiting yourself from that team, that's kind of like a unicorn. Maybe not a unicorn, maybe more would be another really rare animal that actually exists because there are some seventh level agents, but they're so rare you're likely to never see one. You know, maybe it's like A whale shark or something, I don't know. So I don't want to say unicorn because I want to be realistic, but. But there's like, so hard to find. Like, they really don't exist and sometimes they don't even last that long. You know, they get pulled back in the business. So I was like this, this is a losing proposition for me. I don't see that exit strategy happening. Never even met a person who had done it successfully. So I was like, man, I feel kind of stuck. So, so the game I was playing wasn't really working at that with that platform, but at the time, there was really no other options. That was the talent for what I was looking to accomplish. So I was like, I'm gonna just go as hard as I can on this and hopefully make enough money through running this team that I can invest in real estate and eventually buy my freedom that way. Long came the brokerage I'm at now, and the rest is history. So that's kind of my best advice is when you're looking at the brokerage that you're partnered with, like, are you wearing basketball shoes if you're trying to play basketball? Right. Maybe that's not the best analogy, but hopefully it helps.

I think the seventh level concept is, is interesting and, and I do feel like it's attainable and, and I feel like I got there to a, to a moment in time, but it's, it's fleeting. So, like, if that's the game that you're playing, hey, I want to be a seventh level agent, and I'm at this company that teaches you a way to do that. I think the, the next question you have to ask yourself is if you achieve that, how long do you expect it to last? Because if, if people have done it, but nobody's done it for more than, say, 24 months. It's like you're working all of those years to get to a place to build something that's going to last two years or less? Like, like, who do we really know that's done that, that's been able to exit and it still continues on. And when I say continue on, like, does it continue on and grow or does it continue on and slowly die? Because I feel like I had done all the things that they told me to do to achieve that seven level type agent. You know, I, I coach with Lars at real estate B school for a long time and it was super helpful and it really got me to that point. But when I exited my business and I was gone, I saw My business in a decline. It was slight and probably you couldn't see it from the outside looking in. But I was like, my business isn't going to last five years on this trajectory without me being in it. So like, we just have to reassess and really question what is it that we're building and how reliable do we think it is? Is it reliable enough to withstand a market like we're in now? Maybe it was reliable enough to last the last three years, but everything was growing and going up, up, up in the last three years. Where's, where is it right now?

Yeah, yeah. And I think my definition of seventh level was, from what I understood was like being totally gone. You know, like, Lars successfully ran his businesses one day a week selling, you know, millions of homes a year, certainly hundreds and hundreds of homes a year, one day a week. Like, I think that's like the true dream, being fully exited. Like you're just, you know, me and John were talking about pulling the ripcord and just being gone. You know, no one ever sees you again. That's, that's really the myth. But, but I want to dive into these six categories. I want to start with the ones that I think more or less the, the average producing agent, average to good producing agent would start looking at first maybe to the newer agent. And then the last pillars or categories that I want to look at are the ones that really are the independent brokerages would be looking at the top producing agents. So I just want to start with culture. I put that down for number one because I think during the uncertain economic times this becomes more important than ever. And people are really seeking a culture of winning, a culture of safety, security, stability, more so than they might in a growing market, in a growing economy when know houses are easy to sell. They're just like, I just got to join the brokerage that has some training in the lowest splits because I'm just going to crush it. But now they're like, like who am I surrounding myself with? I, I think that's really important right now. And, and what I discovered after joining exp, that the culture was second to none. You know, everyone like Keller Williams, like culture, culture, culture. And I thought by joining the EXP I was actually going to be losing culture, to be honest. But for the all the other benefits, I was like, okay, I'm willing to lose that temporarily and help recreate that. And what I discovered, it was like, this is next level culture because we're so aligned financially. We'll talk about that a little bit More later. But do you guys have anything you want to add to the culture piece of why an agent should be evaluating that when looking at the broker they're currently with?

Yeah. And you know what the funny thing is, you know, as agents are looking at their brokerage now because things are super uncertain. That probably is still the biggest. As an insider two and a half years in and comparing it to anything else I had been a part of, it's like 10x culture. And it's still the hardest thing as an outsider. Like, how could you possibly have culture when you guys don't have a physical office in my market? When I said, but, but the world that you'll enter into, it's like, it's not the 50 agents in your office and you're like the number five agent in your office. Like, who's really, like, what is culture? Is it collaboration? Are they teaching you their best stuff? Is it open book? Is it, you know, like, they really want you to win? They don't really want you to win. Right. Because if you're winning in their market, they're losing. And I found every brand that I've been with has sort of had that scarcity mindset when it came to culture, even the company. And I was in the top 100, the best agents with, you know, one of the larger franchises, Keller Williams. And there wasn't really like this, like, here, here, here, just take it all. Like, here's my best stuff. Right? It was like, it was more, you know, look at what I'm, I'm doing. And it wasn't like, this is really hard, guys. Avoid this. Maybe one or two or three of those top team leaders that ever shared that any of it was hard and the truth about it and, like, try this instead. So when I think of culture, it's the hardest thing to explain. You know, being in this world and knowing that it's 10x more impactful, like, really it will change your life. Sort of collaboration and support and people really caring about you, not just in your little real estate office, but all around the country. You know, you'll get to know folks that are just playing the game of real estate in life at levels that you couldn't really imagine. And so it's. And it still frustrates me because that still is the number one thing that people will point out and says, there's no way you can have culture. Because I don't have my. I'm actually in the process of bringing over an independent, like 20 or 25 agents. And she's Struggling with this piece now. And they're like talking to Caldwell Banker and Keller Williams in her market because there, there's no way there could be culture. And, and it's really in, in short, I mean, we've got like a quick timeline. I said, don't worry about it. I said, you know, we will get those, maintain those relationships and they will come over. Right. So, so don't worry about it. Right now. They can't see it. So I'm interested to see what you guys have to say about, even just practically, how do you communicate the culture of EXP and Game Changers and what, what we built, you know, to someone that thinks culture is like water cooler talk, you know, with the agents not selling any homes.

Yeah, I, I actually like to start out by asking them what it, what is it to them? Like, what is, what does culture mean to you? And, and what culture do you currently feel like you're getting where you are? You know, I was explaining, I just brought over an independent this morning, you know, a company of 15 agents. And, you know, we were talking about this culture idea and I said, you guys are an independent, right? So, like imagine this. Imagine we're, we're in our market and we have the top 10 agents in our market and we get together and, and we compare business plans and we open up our laptops and we share everything. Our listing presentation, our agent agreements, our profit and loss statement. I said, what is the reality of that happening in your current market? The reality is zero. Like, that's never going to happen in your market. But at exp, we have top agents throughout the country and that's exactly what we do. You know, we can get on. Some of our top agents and team leaders at exp are selling north of 1500 homes per year. They'll give you the business plan, the listing presentation. They'll show you their profit and loss. Like, all of that, like, that's true collaboration. And I think that's what leads to true culture right now. People say culture because it's a buzzword, but I think what people are really looking for is they're looking for safety and security and they feel safe and secure in the arms of people that they know and they can see and feel. And, you know, I just tell people, like, we're here for you. You know, Lars, I know what you do for your organization, A.J. i know you've done for us and, and continue to do for your organization. Like, we're there for you. We've been there before in many cases, so we know how to put our arms around you and help you move forward. So, you know, if you want an.

Office, have an office.

If whatever you're doing right now for culture, do that at exp. But you'll get so many more layers of help and support that you. You really never experienced anything like it until you're here.

Yeah, Culture is an interesting piece that you need to be so purposeful to create a winning, fun culture. It just doesn't happen. And, you know, my goal by moderating this call was to try to be as unbiased as possible. And we bring up EXP a lot, obviously, because that's the brokerage we're all with right now. So if you're watching this and you're like, you know, I don't really care about exp, that's fine. These categories you should still be evaluating for yourself and for other brokerages. But I think EXP did such a good job with the culture piece. And people like us who have joined the company. Company and took ownership over the company because we truly are agent partners, we have equity in the company and all that. We're like, we're going to be purposeful on this culture piece because we don't have offices. So what does it look like to have this culture that agents would want to be a part of? And it was a purposeful decision that was made and is made every day at EXP by top leaders in the company like us, establishing Game Changers Nation inside of EXP to provide additional support and training. And there's other groups that have done that. So the culture has just been unbelievable. Um, starts to be thinking, you know, like, what. What culture are you part of? Are. Are you loving it? Or do you feel like you could grow more somewhere else? Uh, so that's the culture piece. The next one is training. Training is going to be and is and has always been a key pillar to any successful brokerage. What I personally discovered when I was at Keller Williams is the training. And the training was good to get me started. And I would show up to all the classes they had, and it was like eating from a buffet of all these different topics and DEGE strategies. And I would try each one and never really go deep on any of them and never really got, I guess, momentum going, because I was always just trying these different things, stopping and starting. And I. I think of it like an actual buffet of food. You know, it's like, you go to this buffet and there's all these things available for Easter. I was actually at the buffet at the Ritz Carlton here where I live. And like, they had king crab legs and like, unbelievable things that I've, like, never even, like, seen like, that were made. And I tried, like, I tried to eat as much as I could, but I left, like, unfulfilled in that meal because it was just like, too much, you know, I would have been happier just eating the foods that I really loved. And I feel that way about lead generation. You leave those training classes at your local brokerage not fulfilled in your business, and oftentimes failing like I was. And then I hired outside coaching. And for me, that was like going to the Ruth Chris. That was like getting exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed. And my business took off, went from only selling six homes my first year to 36 my second year, all because of that. So I, I share all that. To say that no matter what brokerage you're at, I believe you'll get better service training. Support accountability by hiring an outside coach because they're the experts. They're a coaching company. They're not a brokerage that is trying to coach agents. So. So that's been my experience with the training. And so if you don't have the money, then of course you gotta be looking at what training is my current brokerage providing. And at exp, I'll just say we have over 60 hours a week of live training taught by some of the biggest coaches, biggest influencers and biggest producers in the nation. So the training is really good. But hiring an outside coach to me is always the best solution. I'll let you go again, Lars, and then John follow up.

Yeah, so I certainly agree with that statement, you know, being. Being one of those outside coaches. But I will say inside game changers. So I almost sometimes forget to talk about EXP University when I look back on my journey. A small independent, you know, that I started my career at there. There was no training, literally none. You know, he. I met him as my broker when I was buying investment properties and I spent, you know, he got me into real estate. So that was the blessing there. Then I went to a ReMax for three years. I did 100 days to greatness. I'm like, I'm never gonna do a Popeye in a million years. You will never have me pop by your house. Do not worry about it if you're one. So I'm like, okay, that's not, that's not great. And I didn't plug into any of their, their systems for, for training. So. And then I bought a ReMax just because I was, I was essentially pushed out of that REMAX because I was building a business too big and the broker pushed me out. Right. So how, how crazy is that? And just so I wouldn't have to change my yard signs, I went and paid $25,000 for ReMax brokerage and another 400,000 over five years to, to not plug into anything. And then KW I would say certainly they, they are probably the biggest cheerleaders of training but it's, it's, it's not stuff that you can, you know, you can tactically grab and you're still, they still want to sell you into their captive coaching program, right. So that is a massive business, you know, maps coaching and they've got great coaches, right. But then when I look at, you know, what we built in Game Changers, this exp university where our top agents have to teach on their best stuff because it's a culture requirement for them to earn a chunk of the Icon award, right. So again our interests are aligned. They're getting a chunk of their sixteen thousand dollar cap back in exp stock to train on their best stuff. Here's my best stuff. I'm good at social media, I'm good at AI. I'm good at, here's my listing presentation. So that's really cool. And then in Game Changers we every Tuesday we do a training specific on a topic. So it's a little bit like a buffet, you know, spread. So you need to pick and choose what you're going to do. But we had a guy come on took 21 listings in 74 days. Over a thousand listings in 10 years. Solo agent work less than 30 hours a week. We had someone come on who took, just recently took 30 day, 30 listings in 90 days doing Facebook lives. We had a guy today just teach us how to do like three AI tools that will help you grow your real estate business. We just every, it's just more and more of, of the best people giving away their best stuff. So yes, for sure. I think everyone needs a coach if you want to develop in that area. But at the same time there's good stuff. Like someone in my organization, one of my direct partners trained us on open houses. We had like dozen people say that's the best open house training I've ever seen. She turns a single open house into three commission checks like clockwork. And it's just like, you know, and I, I wasn't an open house, you know, guru but we have people that, that know the thing that you can use in your business. So anyway, a little bit of a commercial for what we're doing, but training is really, really important.

Yeah. I mean, EXP has the largest training buffet I've ever seen.

Right.

And then I think what we do in Game Changers is we curate that with people that we know are excelling in their business and offer a great training product to our people that's more focused on, you know, somebody who's actually doing the thing that they're training on in our group that we know. We know them personally. I think brokers in general right now are struggling with the training piece because they feel the heaviness on their shoulders of like, what am I going to talk about this week? And they think that because the market's down and their agents are being less effective or productive, that they're going to train their way out of it. I actually don't agree with that. I think there's so much training out there and there's so many great trainings at a lot of brokerages. But it's not the training, it's the focus and it's the accountability that's going to get them beyond where they are right now. And once we have the focus and the accountability, then we can hone in on the training that we need to meet those needs of the direction that we're going. It's like, if I walk into a college university, they got a ton of great courses and classes, but if I just start taking a class here and a class there and a class here and a class there, what am I going to come out with? Am I going to get a degree? Probably not. I'm just going to get a lot of great classes. And I think we approach real estate the same way, is like, hey, let's, let's be a mentor to these people and let's focus on what is AJ trying to accomplish, where is he at in his career right now? What's going to be the best moves for him to make? And that's where this thing with EXP comes full circle. Because we are mentors and guides to these people that we shepherd and we get to work with and we get to lock arms and collaborate with and we offer, you know, a foundation and infrastructure that has so much. Whereas, like, maybe you're at a brokerage right now, maybe you are the broker and you're a one person point of contact for all of your agents, and your agents have one person point of contract and you're trying to, like, help all of those people who are in different areas of their business. Get to their next step, their next level. And it can be overwhelming and daunting in a market like this where everything feels like the brakes were put on. But at exp, we're able to offer these classes like we do in Game Changers. We're able to give people direction and then we're able to come beside them like a broker would, but they're not paying us a broker split. And we're able to be their mentor and help them to get to their next level. And that's what I find to be the most fulfilling and rewarding thing about this whole experience is, you know, our hands aren't tied anymore.

Yeah, yeah, you nailed it. It's like tra training in this day and age with YouTube and podcasts, it really to a large extent has become a commodity and there's so much of it. And what you need is a strong, competent mentor that can help you navigate the forest so you can actually get down to what your goals are. And that's what's cool about EXP too because you actually have a sponsor in the company and a mentor. If you're a newer agent that can help you do that. I think that's crucial. So for the sake of time, we still have four more categories, so the next two are pretty self explanatory. So let's go through those ones really fast so we can spend the most time on the last two which are the ones that I'm most passionate, passionate about that can help agents get financial freedom, time freedom and eventually location freedom if they so desire. So tech. So again I feel the same way about tech as I do training. To a large extent the tech that your brokerage is going to provide you, especially if they developed it. I won't mention any companies who recently developed their own tech, but to a large extent they have been complete failures. So I always used CRM systems that the tech outside of the brokerage, what they were offering and you know, they're tech companies, they're, they're CRM companies. They're not a brokerage trying to be a tech company. So I always approach it that way. Lars John, 30 seconds or less.

I'll give a quick one in this. So I, I was in the room when one of those companies launched tech that they're not tech companies, it's just, it's a legacy, you know, broker trying to put something in place to make you more sticky to the company. And there's the latest version of this is another company where the sexiest tech ever. But it's less than a 5% adoption rate in the company. So having in the different verticals of technology, transaction processing, communicating within the brokerage, your CRM just make sure to me make sure you're on third party tech that is, is the best in those in the technology that you need. And you know at our brokerage it's 85amonth for all of the technology, all of the training and so yeah, really quick conversation on tech. But you don't want to put your business in, in your brokerage tech. I think it's just a bad idea. I've always coached that way for 10 years real estate B school. It's just a really bad idea.

Yeah. 30 seconds or less on tech. I would just say that tech is a tool. Learn how to swing the hammer and move on. Like we spend way too much time talking about tech because we're always being sold tech and too little time talking about taking action. So like find the tech you're going to use. I don't care which one it is as long as it's decent and move on and focus on the actions that are going to lead to the results.

Yeah. And if your email is currently your name at kw.com@remax.com change that immediately. If you ever leave you definitely need your own email where your clients are emailing you. Quick tip there.

I literally, I literally have someone right now in that situation that she's like I can't leave because my email is my company's email. Like 50 homes a year.

Yeah. I use my company email as like my email that I give out when I want like a free newsletter or something that they might sell my email to somebody else type of deal. So it's like if that goes away, I'm okay. Like I got AJ oh I'm not going to say my email I don't want but people are probably going to figure it out now. But that's all right. So anyways the next one we're going to go to to splits. So splits are certainly important and one of the things that, that I learned and really helped me as I was building my traditional real estate team when I was still at Keller Williams and then at EXP was just this concept that Lars taught me through Real Estate B school. Value based commission splits. I think a lot of agents have this concept of man, you know, I want to pay as little as possible. Like that's, that's all they can see is I just need to pay as little as possible. But they're not getting any value. It's like you need sometimes to pay a little bit more than the values, even outsized to what you're paying. So splits. Always be thinking value based, like is what I'm paying getting me the value that I, that I need or expect in return and then getting it 30 seconds or less.

Yeah, I can cover real quick. So at my first broker, my first 10 months, that, that ended quickly because I sold 27 homes in 10 months. I don't think maybe one or two deals, you know, came from my broker and I was on like a 60, 40 split. I'm like, I don't know how this can continue. Right. Because I'm, I'm taking all the expenses and I did 250 top line, and he got like 100 grand or something. And I'm like, I, I don't, I don't think we can, we can keep doing this. Just, just make sure the brokerage you're at, I mean, just know your numbers. We talk to agents all the time. We're like, would it be helpful to just do a side by side comparison of the platform you're on now and how much it costs you to run your business on that platform versus what it would look like at exp? And we've had agents, top agents, selling 50, 60 homes that would save like 12 to $15,000 a month coming over, and they're still worried about, well, this brokerage is mean. The name means something. I'm like, oh my gosh, what are we talking about? $12,000 a month. So, yeah, so just make sure to AJ's point that what you're investing, you're getting, you know, a multiple of value out of it.

Yeah. And right now, I mean, I think agents are seeking security, so I think it's a less, less about the split conversation. But you have to make that, that evaluation of like, this is what it's costing me to be where I am. What would it cost me to be at exp? $16,000 a year cap. And what could I do with the difference? What I can do with the difference is where your opportunity is, because that's where you can generate a return. And you know, in my case, I was an independent, so I wasn't paying anybody anything and I moved my whole independent over to exp. So now I go from paying nothing to paying something. Now why would I do that? That doesn't seem financially smart. Well, when you understand what the return on investment can be with all the additional pillars of income, it was a no brainer for me.

Real quick, make sure. You're on a cap. Right. And, and it's a value based deal. But John and I brought over, it was a 70. Not all the agents came, but it was a 70 agent. I won't name name the brokerage but they were a transaction fee model and they were trained by that owner to, to, to hate the cap model. The cap model is a way that you'd pay him more money. 69 of the 70 agents would pay less into the exp model versus where they were at. And if you were to ask all of them just based on like tell them what the two they 70 out of 70 would have said, they would have paid more at exp versus where they were at. So wherever you're at, this conversation is still appropriate.

Yeah. And that's one, that's one of the things that the three of us do. So if you guys are interested in having like a financial breakdown of your business, like apples. Apples. What does it look like where you're at versus exp. We have a link in the description you can check out to book a call with one of us and we can actually do that breakdown. Like you know, know your numbers, like see it black and white. Not just what you think you're paying because there's brokerages have so many hidden fees and all these things. So this kind of takes us into the next two we mentioned earlier on in the Call that icon agent program. So I, I like to put these two kinds together. And this is your exit strategy. This is your retirement plan. Just recently in one of the big Facebook groups with like a hundred thousand plus agents, it was a great discussion by these two people who posted them. One was like, I've been in real estate for nine years. I've sold a hundred houses. So I'm not a huge producer but you know, better than the average agent has sold 100 houses over the last nine years, have, have done well for themselves. But they're like, I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels year after year, not getting any traction financially with no end in sight. I'm thinking about going back and doing this or starting a new career here. I forget exactly what it was. And there was like 50 comments within like a couple hours. And everyone's like, some people are like, oh, you just got digging harder and you know, okay, whatever. But a lot of people were like I feel the same. Like that's what, that's what I saw. It was like I feel the same. And another person was like a 20 plus year career, same thing. They're Like, I'm burnt out. I'm a top agent, but I just can't do it no more. And again. And of course, they posted anonymous. I love the anonymous post on Facebook groups. You know, it's like when it's a really juicy comment, they put anonymous and it's like, I want to know who you are because I can help you. But anyways, again, so many comments. Like, it was a theme. Like, that's me, that's me, that's me. And it's like, man, that's. That's a bummer. And that's how I felt when I was at my previous brokerage. But we at EXP have two solutions to this, and that's. Well, the fifth one. The fifth category is going to be equity in your company. Like, are you gaining equity in your company? Are you becoming a partner in the company for helping build a company? And this goes back to our split at exp we do have a cap, so the most you can pay is $16,000 in splits to exp and if you're a top producing agent, you actually get your entire cap back in stock, which is unbelievable. I was actually able to sell the stock that I got my first year as an icon agent with exp sold it three years later. It was valued then about $200,000. So the stock went up really, really good. And I purchased my mom a house for cash. So that's like a really big deal, getting equity in your company. It's. It's life changing, really. Versus I. I used to love it at Keller Williams. I'd get a. I'd get a. Just a piece of paper, Like a flimsy piece of paper. Not laminated like this. This is nice, but a flimsy piece of paper, no frame. And I had a black hat, you know, a cap, a black ball cap, and said capper across with my name on it. Like, that was like what I'd get. I was like, you know, that's not very good. Like, if you're a top producer in your company for helping it grow, you should be getting equity so that you have an exit strategy. I'll give you guys again, 30 seconds or less on this because I hog the time a little bit on that one. I want to talk more about the next one.

Yeah, this is really easy. Either you do or you don't. Yeah, that's the whole conversation, you know, and folks will pick on this. And not just specific to our brokerage, but folks that don't have this will pick on this and say, well, how's the stock doing now?

It's like, what are you getting?

Like you're getting nothing. So, like, what are we, what are we talking about? So either you have this or you don't. And if you don't have it, you cannot pick on a company that offers it.

Yeah. For me, 30 seconds on this was, you know, when I, when I came over to EXP and I was evaluating whether or not this move was for me, I actually looked at the stock and I looked back five years and I said, well, over the past five years, I would have hit the icon agent status every single year. They would have given me $16,000 of stock each and every year. And I looked at that stock, what it would have, you know, traded for then, $16,000 worth and what it would have been worth today. And it was over a million dollars. And I said, by me being an independent, quote unquote, not paying anybody, I left a million dollars on the table over the last five years. And that was a big decision for me moving forward.

Yeah. And now you can also, you also get a dividend as a shareholder with EXP stock, which is pretty cool. Now the last one, and I, I think this is the most important when it becomes, when it comes to an exit strategy, a retirement plan, financial independence, retiring early, whatever your goals are around money, and that is cash flow, that is residual income. That's what you can live on on a monthly basis to, you know, achieve your dream lifestyle, regardless of your age. And at exp, we have revenue share. So. So the sixth category is does your brokerage have a way for you to create a significant or, or any income stream residually, you know, so this is multiple streams of income. And you know, when I first joined exp, I was at Keller Williams. They have 4 profit share. What I discovered is I worked it for a few years and got up to a few hundred dollars a month. And I realized that was not going to help me achieve my financial goals. I was like, ah, 300 bucks a month. That's a couple nice dinners out. But it's not going to change my life. So when I saw the EXP revenue share model, I was like, okay, this is an opportunity to drastically change my life if this works out. And I've been here seven years now, we've proven the model, so it does work. I was just kind of taking a risk back then, but it worked out. So my goal was like, if I can just make $25,000 a month, like, you know, just $25,000 a month residual, it's a lot of money for some people. It still is a lot of money to me. I make much more than that now, but it's a lot of money. So $25,000 a month residual. Within five years after joining exp, I would have been, gosh, I would have been about 35 when that five year plan came to fruition, that I was going to be completely financially free. Like dreams, financial freedom number this was aspirational lifestyle and I was gonna just go live life of my dreams on revenue share. And it happened in just 18 months after joining EXP, which is really awesome. So. So for me it was about financial independence and being able to do what I want at a young age. And you know, depending on your age, you might be in a different position where you're just trying to retire versus work forever. But yeah, I'll pass that to John first on this one, then to Lars, switch it up and we'll wrap up on this point.

Yeah, no, it's, it's totally incredible. I mean, it's changed my life too. I look at the 20 years I put into real estate before exp. A lot of hard work, a lot of success, but nowhere near where I got to in a short period of time with exp. What I love about this is that, you know, people helped you do that, AJ like you came into this model, you took a risk, 18 months later you hit your five year goal of making 25,000amonth and you've never made less than since then. What's cool about that though is when you introduced the company to me and brought me in, you were able to show me the short pat shortcut to that success and the company was growing faster. So what took you 18 months to do, you helped me do in eight months. So, you know, I hit 25,000 in my eighth month with exp. And the cool thing is, is the company's growing even faster and we're bringing people in and helping them experience that kind of growth. So it's super cool, man. Like, I'm excited, I'm grateful. You know, you can make a lot of money in real estate, but if all of your money is transactional, you have to hit the reset button after every transaction and after every year. So, you know, regardless of how great a year you might have, this year, January 1st comes, you got to do it all over again. What we do here is we build each year on top of the last year. And it's an accumulation and a compounding effect that is better than anything I've ever seen.

In this industry.

Yeah. So, so this was the, the part of the model that, that had me the most excited, but only when I looked at it. There was something, A.J. that, that you showed me. It was essentially like, how much, and this is how I was running my real estate business was to throw off cash to, you know, get this pile of money that threw off, you know, whatever invested in it would throw off dividends, you know, so I could live off the cash flow. But it takes a lot of money. Like $25,000 is 300,000 a year. It's like 6,7 million in the bank or whatever investment vehicle you have it in. Right. I was talking to a guy in our organization. He has 2 million invested in, similar to you, A.J. some of those syndicate deals. That throws off about 10,000amonth. And I'm like 2 million. That throws off 10,000amonth. I pay 85amonth. I've only brought over about 45, 50 agents to exp. I took off 22 days. I wasn't physically at my home in March, and I had six figures in.

March, not last year.

Yeah, yeah, in a single month.

So.

And granted, I've been. I've been, you know, in the agent helping agents game. So I have a different sort of entry point into this. But when I realized that I hadn't done a good job of like, I have, I've accumulated, you know, and I've made a lot of money in the different businesses, but I didn't have like any sort of like massively leveraged income stream or residual income, you know, and you bring over one agent to EXP. It's the equivalent. It's actually 10 times better than acquiring a rental property. Like, in our market, you'd be lucky to get a rental property for 200,000 that throws off 200amonth. And you need $40,000 cash to buy it. Yeah, need $40,000 cash to Buy that one rental property. It throws off 200amonth. You pay 85amonth into, into our, our model. You bring one agent over that caps, and that's about 250amonth. They bring over a couple agents, and all of a sudden, you know, you're at 6, 7, $800 a month, which doesn't sound like a lot of money, but that's the equivalent of owning three rental property properties that you have to save six figures to. To. To acquire those properties. So when you really wrap your head around that, you know, you can look at this platform differently. And there are too many examples at this point. I've heard what hundred plus examples of like who's that person that, that brought a thousand, you know, into there? And nobody brings in a thousand agents. That's the cool thing. You can look at that person and say, well, you know, I can't bring in a thousand agents. But, but nobody brought in a thousand agents. They brought in 15 or 20 agents that went out and had friends, who had friends, who had friends. And that's the, the thing that you can't really understand. Anyone can come in and create. You know, you've got that example, the $15,000 a month. It's like bringing 10 to 15 agents into exp will grow into, you know, 12 to $15,000 a month, which is like having $3.6 million earning 5, 6% interest. Wrap your head around those numbers. You, you've got to figure it out anyway. So is the brokerage that you're in, are they helping you figure out how to generate cash flow outside of real estate sales? If they've written a book, maybe it's blue or yellow, but is that really actually helping you do it? Right? Like I'm not saying real estate is stupid, but it's, it's, it takes a lot of capital and it doesn't throw off a lot of, a lot of, you know, free cash flow until years 7, 10 plus. Right. And you know, all the repairs and headaches that go along with it. And I tried that path and I got out of it. So anyway, that was longer than 30 seconds. But that's, this is the part of.

It that I think this one you're allowed longer than 30 seconds. It's interesting, you know, with, with what exp has done with the agent equity program and the stock program or in the revenue share program, it's like really the first truly agent centric business. And Grant Sanford, our founder, he always says, you know, we're going to be the most, and we are the most agent centric business in the industry. We're the first company that's really given agents a true exit strategy, a way to get off the transaction treadmill. And it's, it's not, it's not serving the brokerage from a transaction and volume standpoint like every other brokerage. Like everything they do is to help the agent just sell more houses and at face value that sounds good, but it leaves you in a life stuck in the rat race until you die. And, and that's what keeps brokerages growing volume wise, transaction wise. And this model just kind of flipped it on its head. So we're on the hour, guys. We're gonna wrap it up. Any. Any last parting words real quick? We'll be live same time next week, Tuesday. So put. Any last, last parting words for you guys?

I would just say, I mean, like John said initially, you know, just take a little bit of time to just do a side by side of your brokerage, you know, against our brokerage and maybe one other, and just decide like going into this craziness or being in this craziness, do you have the support, collaboration? Are people coming alongside you, giving their best stuff and. And kind of locking arms with you to make sure you. You get through this. And guys, I'm gonna be out of pocket for the next 30 days, so you guys won't see me on these episodes, but these guys are gonna crush it the next few episodes. John, any party thoughts?

No, man, I think we. I think we covered it. You'll have to come back after 30 days on vacation and tell us how much you made and how much your organization grew when you were completely.

Yeah, awesome. We'll see you guys. See ya.