Kodi Riddle grew her GCI from $300k to nearly $2m and cut her hours by 50% in the process!

So prior to finding Lars Hedinburg and Real Estate B School, I was just a producing realtor. I knew how to sell homes, no question. So I sold a lot of homes and I sold a lot of homes every year. And it was always, you know, I had to set my goal for the kind of lifestyle I wanted to have every single year. And, and I would hit that. But I, My freedom piece and my family piece, they get just. That was my biggest frustration because I was, I was a producer for 15, 16 years before finding Real Estate B School. And it was. I, I don't know. I would rather pound my head against the wall than keep doing that. I'll just put it that way. It was, it was not a place I wanted to stay and I didn't know where to go. I didn't know where. What was next, though. What did that look like? I had no clue. But that's where I was. And it was not fun. Yeah, I did not, I did not try and build a team. It was a mindset for me. Like, it just. I don't know. I, I'm. I thought I was a leader. I felt like I was a leader, but I think I would have stayed in perpetual learning mode, like, oh, now I should learn how to do expireds at a higher level or I should learn my, my listing. Appointment listing capabilities should be just at a higher level, constantly improving myself. But just the idea of, you know, inspiring another realtor to come in was zero priority. It was, it was just about me and building me and selling more homes for me. That was the mindset until Real Estate B School. And it. I wasn't. I went into Real Estate B School because I was inspired by the conversation that I had heard Lars have with another realtor that could have been me in that, in those shoes. And they just wanted, they wanted the exact same things I wanted. And that was more freedom, more time for myself, but still have that kind of lifestyle. So. Because I thought I would have to trade it, right? So that was. No, I didn't have a team prior to Real Estate B school. Wasn't even a thought in my brain. So when I first joined Real Estate B School, I found myself in a room, a virtual room full of amazing people that my initial feeling was like, holy moly. These. It's a little intimidating, but really, really exciting. And I. Those relationships, I developed very quickly inside of a virtual platform. So those people were enormous. But even the, the very first thing that I was guided and suggested to do was to stop having, stop having an email that said, codytherealtormail.com it was like, are you kidding me? Like, how unprofessional and silly is that? So we, you know, creating a domain and codytheriddlegroup.com now and just those small, tiny beginning steps changed me from your realtor to. To a business owner. And I came across. I just know my mindset shifted into a more professional business owner by that small, tiny beginning step of just starting to create systems. So life. Having joined LARS and Real Estate B School, I remember there was an intensive that was one in which we learned about our worth. No, that's not the right word. It not our worth in our human worth, our actual amount of money that we had. Like to just see, like, what does your wealth look like? What does your personal wealth look like? And oh, my gosh, like, it was embarrassing and. And it was awful. And I was of an age that it was like I needed to have a bigger nut, a bigger wealth, having built, having been in the business for 16, 17 years as a Realtor, and I just didn't have that. And the people again in the room and the advice that came from Lars and what to do were massive decisions that I made in my world to change where I am today. Where I am today is 100 times different than where I was sitting in that room that day. And what we have and what we can do for our family and what we can do for our Realtors on our team is exceptional. Now that I couldn't do those then, and I didn't even have the mind and the brain and the ability to think I could. And each little step that I took over these years were tiny little steps that gave me everything, everything that I have today. It is amazing. And now I do see a retirement and I do see an exit plan. Things that, my gosh, I had no clue. No clue. And so super, super proud to be able to say that, but not even that for myself, but that too inspire others and really motivate others. Agents on my team and people that I'm in business with to do the same. Because I am a living, breathing human that went through these steps and all the hardships that come with it to get where I am today. And now I can have those conversations with other agents, too. So a part of my journey and why I chose to build a team came from being crushed during the Great Recession. I remember so clearly in 2005, prior to that, the rug being pulled out from under my feet. We made $300,000 GCI. And I thought I made It I was like, I have made it. And then it, if any of you were around at that time, you know what happened. And I went, I sold, I think it was seven homes in 2009 and then 10 homes in 2010. That isn't even half of what I was used to selling. So my whole world was crushed. I had burned through every penny of my savings. We had lost our home. It was awful. And I vowed it would never happen again. So my rebound effect during that time was very, very slow. I didn't know how to pay pivot. I had just no clue. But I went back to what I knew to do and that was to sell homes. And I gradually, from 2010, which was the worst year, gradually built that up slowly but surely to the point where, where I was back to selling what I was prior to the Great Recession. But through that process, that was when I had no time, no freedom. And my kids were like at the time where you wanted to be there as a mother. So I built it back up to 300,000 GCI, right? But I had no life, no nothing. Fast forward. What we have built through real estate B school is now I've got time. Now my focus is I've gone already on two vacations this year. I've got two more planned. These are week long times I'm away and I can do that. We hit 1.9 million GCI last year in 2000, 2021. The, the difference is monumental that it did for me and it is something I'll be forever grateful for. So now the, the 23 years that I have to, to contribute right to others. Because when you start out, you're just working like a crazy person, trying to figure things out and learn. But then you as you build a team and you're doing the work of 10 and then you focus and you build and you build. And then now all of my stuff, I've trained people to do the things that A need to get done and B, I don't have to do them anymore. So my time, I am no longer in production. I'm not representing buyers and sellers directly. I've multiplied myself through 20 other agents directly on my team that now can serve Instead of serving 40 people a year, we could now serve 400 people a year. So I've made that commitment to serving more families that way. And now the other part that I get to do is when I get to help these agents. And now it doesn't even matter if you are a local agent that is close to me or you are across the country. We can help you. And that part is what excites me now more than ever, is bringing those people in and changing your world, like mine has been changed to help you not make the same mistakes that I made, which I made plenty. I have 23 years of mistakes that you don't have to make now, because we can have conversations and I can get you there so much faster. So that's where my passion lies currently, and how I just want to touch, move, and inspire other realtors to do what I've done. Or better yet, do what you want to do at the highest level. You want to do it. So reach out to me. I'm going to give myself a shameless plug here. Reach out to me on either TikTok or Instagram, Cody Riddle and I will be there for you. You have my word.