How Life Transitions Fuel Real Estate Success

I'm Leigh Thomas Brown. This is Crazy Shit in Real Estate. And today we're going to talk to a woman who literally made me drop my jaw from lots of reasons, frankly. So Tanya Bugbee is with us today. You're going to really enjoy this conversation. And for all of you who are feeling a little bit unsettled by what's changing in real estate, this is your conversation. I'll see you on the other side. So if you're in real estate and you're listening to this podcast or watching it and thinking, man, I need some more Leigh Thomas Brown answers in my life, well, guess what? Friends, I have a new program that is launching right now called Answers.RealEstate, where I will give you every bit of insight I have to help you grow your real estate business, help you better respond to consumers to provide a more excellent real estate experience so that the next time you land on crazy shit in real estate, you'll have a better solution to whatever you ran into. Answers.RealEstate. There are monthly plans available. You will love it. Get your coaching. Sign up with me today. We're talking about having grandbabies in your life. Are you going to be a grandma, a glamor granny, Mimi? What's your preferred name going to be?

It's Grandma because it's so funny because of, you know, divorces and all that. There's so many grandmothers and grandfathers. And when my daughter, my first daughter, who had a baby, everybody was running saying, I want to be Mimi, I want to be, you know, Momo. And I'm like, Grandma's fine. I'll wait till everybody's done claiming their name. I was like, I— and I live close, so I— everybody else you know, lives 3,000 miles away. So they can all be called whatever they want, but I get to hold the baby.

I mean, I think that's pretty fair trade. And everybody knows who Grandma is. Mimi can be a lot of different things. I'm with you, honey. That makes it easier.

Yep. I don't have to pee on my spot.

Oh my gosh. I was speaking of peeing on things, which is totally an unusual— usually we get into shit on this show, but I was reading in the— I'm in a gardening Facebook group and there was a discussion about how to keep— I can't remember which kind of— oh, this lady's got squirrels in her beds. And so I don't have squirrels in my beds, but I was just reading the post and somebody said you keep squirrels out by peeing around the perimeter and marking your territory. And I'm thinking, well, I'm not. And so I asked my husband, I said, you gonna be the one that goes out and marks the garden? And he said, no, our son can. And I was like, I'm not sending our son out to pee in the garden. And wait a minute. What conversation did we just have? But you brought up territory, so really it's on you. So why don't you tell my audience a little bit about you, where you're located, what you've been doing in and around the real estate space. Give us a little bit of the Tanya story.

Okay. The Tanya story. Well, I started real estate way, way back when I was about 30 years old. So we're talking many decades ago. I started real estate and I got into it because I was thinking, well, this is going to be such— I'm, you know, I'm single, I've got two young girls, and this is gonna be a mommy schedule, right?

That's so easy.

Yeah. So easy. Yeah. So it was a rude awakening. However, a phenomenal profession for me for so many years with raising my girls. You know, one's a swimmer, one was a dancer, you know, didn't really change our lifestyle when I became single. And one of my best blessings around real estate was when I hired a coach. So my coach is my hero. She got me through my divorce and, you know, treating real estate as a hobby. It was just discretionary income when I was married and suddenly it wasn't. And learning to be a badass business owner was a journey for me. However, it couldn't take long. I needed to step up right away. It wasn't like, okay, this is a journey and it's okay to fail. I was like, no, not okay to fail. And I, raised my daughters with real estate. Then my daughters went off to college to California. I'm in Houston at the time, and my daughters went off to college in California where we're from and where my family is. And I'm sitting there with my coach and she's like, well, what do you want to do next year? What are your goals? Because you do that every year, right? Set your goals. And, uh, I'm sitting in Houston going, well, I'd love to, you know, go back to California. And she said, well, we'll recruit you in, we'll hire you as a coach. And so So I did. I, you know, was very strategic with leaving my database with a really great realtor who, you know, gave me referral fees for many, many years with my database. And we, my girls tease me that I followed them to college and I sort of did. And then I just started coaching for a real estate coaching company in California and giving back that way.

So nobody moves to California and that's kind of a crazy thing. Everybody now is the big exodus is going on. Yeah. Which is a, that's a different rabbit hole to go down. But I want to look at your, that piece of the journey that you were, you would say dabbling in real estate. It wasn't your priority until the world changed for you and it had to be your priority. And I'm very fascinated in our business by the fact that the bulk of realtors are women and a lot of them are single women who figure out how to make it work by the skin of their teeth. And you mentioned you didn't have an option for failure. I'm curious to know what it was that you found worked when you went from, I don't have to make this work, to, oh, oh, I have no option now. What was the single most important thing you did in that transition?

The single most important thing that I did was to put blinders on and focus on what I chose to work on, right? So if it was digging deep with my database, growing a database, it, it was open houses, it was networking. I was like, okay, those are the 3 things I'm focusing on. 'Cause there's so many things, as you know, Leigh, right? It's like, okay, I'm gonna go to Zillow. Okay, I'm gonna go do some farming. And, and the single most important thing I did was, okay, pick Pick and stay.

And I think that's more important in this era than in any other. And of course, we're recording this in May of 2024 when a lot of agents are trying to figure out, A, if they're going to stay in real estate, but B, what's it going to look like if they do stay in? So C, what am I supposed to do? And I love that advice to pick and stay. Now, a lot of my audience is earlier in their real estate career than you and I are, and they're seeking good counsel. They're seeking good direction. Let's talk a little bit about digging deep on your database, because that's— of course, you hear a lot of coaches talk about FORD and they talk about 3 Deep and they talk about the whole mining piece. And I think that's a turnoff to most realtors because they're just not salesy by nature. They don't want to feel fake. They don't want to feel gross. So how do you approach the people that you know without feeling like a used car salesmen.

Yep.

And that's a long way. Right. Yep.

That was my issue when I started. And with all my clients that come to me, that's the first thing they say is, if you're going to make me go out there and do a Popeye, I'm quitting. Right.

I love Popeyes. Like, that's the easy part. I'm taking a present to somebody. Presents are good.

I know. And some people love them. And a lot of my coaches and clients do that. And so I don't want anybody being salesy. However, we also have to get real that we are in sales. Crazy. We are in sales. However, I'm okay with— let's— so I'll give you an example. I have a brand new client I onboarded yesterday. And again, first thing, I don't want to sound salesy. I don't want to be pushy. I don't want to impose. All those words I hear over and over again. I'm saying, well, what are you willing to do? And, you know, sometimes it's an I don't know. So I'll say, well, how about this? Are you willing to text a client and just check in and say, hey, you know, Summer's almost here. You know, what can I do to help you prepare your home? Are you planning on any upgrades? I have some great contractors. What can I do to help you with your home? Oh, I can do that. I'm like, great. So we start getting the toe in the water with, okay, what are we willing to do? Here's some ideas. And then, okay, now how many clients are you going to contact this week? One? Probably not enough.

Well, they don't have clients to contact. So we also have to remember with a lot of real estate agents, we're actually not talking about you contacting a client. It's It's a—

okay, people. Yes. People that you know and love.

And the sooner you stop thinking about your people as money and as a database, the easier it is to talk to people in real estate. And I think that's especially true as we figure out how to reshape our businesses in a professional way with all the settlements and all the new rules that are coming down. You cannot look at your people as easy money or any money at all. And you got to figure out what the service piece looks like. So let's get you out of your coaching space for a minute because I coach too, and that's not the purpose of the podcast. This podcast is about the crazy life around real estate. So let's go back to you making that transition. You personally. Yeah. What was the hardest thing for you to do? Two girls depending on you, obviously managing the logistics of You got to button up your former life and start a new life. And actually, let me ask you an oddball question, because at the— when you're medium age, you have a lot of friends who are going through changes in their relationship status. How'd you get back into the dating pool? Because it's actually always a correlation to real estate. But how did you manage that?

I didn't. I set a boundary that I wasn't going to date until my kids went to college. Oh, okay.

I can see.

I did not get back into the dating pool until they went to college. And then yes, but no, I didn't. And they were about 10 and 12. It was the 3 of us together in one home. So no, I did not get back into the dating pool.

And as somebody who believes in having strong guardrails around children, period, and every one of us should agree on that, that's not political. That is, we should protect children. Yes. What a smart move to keep them out of additional turmoil when they're managing it too. So then as they went off to college. How did you get back in? Did you have to go into this app world? Because I got one girlfriend, she's newly on the market and she's horrified by what she finds in the apps.

Yes, it is. It's scary. And so, yes, I did, you know, Match.com, you know, those apps, they were early too. Oh no, it's, it's terrible, you know. So I made it. I made a, I drew a line in the sand, Leigh, that I was not— I was only going to date by referral. After I went through the dating.

I love that. Did you start a little—

I need to start a business dating by referral.

I'm just thinking you're missing a chance here. And oh my gosh, I've forgotten the referral guy's name. Joe. Joe Stumpf. He was business by referral. So if you don't jump on this, he might be— I don't know how old Joe is now. He's probably in his 80s. He'll probably jump on this. I think that's brilliant. But the reason I wanted to ask you that question is, first of all, In real estate, the average realtor is a female in her 50s. Yes. So you're in the sweet spot for where a lot of real estate people are. And frankly, that's a space that's full of emotion and details and questions, and it can feel like all things at the same time you're dealing with your real estate business. But I think this goes back to picking and staying because You figured out what does and doesn't matter to you on the relationship side, just like a good real estate agent does. You have to figure out, all right, well, who are the people in here? What do I say to them? Because you don't say the same thing to all people, but you also don't want every client or every dating prospect that comes down the pipeline. So how do you say no if you're dating by referral and somebody that you love sends you a name and you're like, mm-mm, mm-mm, this ain't cool? How do you say no? Because I think that's hard in referral world.

You're really hard to say no, especially people.

Please, jerk.

Well, first of all, it's knowing what my boundaries are, right? So being clear on the B word, the boundaries. And how do I say no?

No.

I'm very pragmatic.

Hey, hang on a minute. Say that again. How do you say no? No, Tanya. I'm saying in Southern way. How do you say no, Tanya?

No.

How do you tell somebody who says, I charge X dollars and the consumer says, but I want you to charge Y dollars? How do you answer that?

No.

Y'all, you remember the big kerfuffle going on right now that makes me the angriest about what's happening in this settlement? You still get to charge whatever you want to charge, right? And then the consumer can ask you whatever they want to ask you. And sometimes you'll negotiate and sometimes you won't. And you who are watching watching this and listening to this, you get to pick. And if the consumer doesn't want to pay it, that's okay, they can go away. And if you want to change to, to catch their business, you can, and that's okay. One of the problems I have with this world we're in right now is there's this— it really feels like price fixing is going on, and I don't like price fixing. One thing I love about real estate is the freedom to set your business model and your business plan just like in the dating world, you should get to set your own boundaries and your own priorities. And sometimes you say yes, and sometimes you just make it very simple and you say no.

Oh no. And, and, and knowing your worth and being, you know, it's a muscle I had to grow. So grew. I had to grow a muscle around knowing my worth and knowing my value and growing confidence as a real estate agent. So the first time I did a listing presentation, I don't know that I would have said no, right? I probably would have taken it because I needed it, right?

I would have a sign in the yard. Oh my gosh, they want me, they want me, they want me.

So I don't want anybody to think that it was just so easy for me to say no. It was a muscle. And then with growing my confidence and, you know, working with my broker and practicing, it was like, yeah, not everyone's going to be a good fit. Some people are going to want the discount agent and go to the discount stores and shop, and that's fine, but that's not my model.

So how do you get that confidence that I think you have? You just landed on something that I know a lot of my viewers and listeners struggle with, even though they'll never admit it. And if they're brave, they'll put it in the comments. But if you keep it to yourself, no judgment. A lot of real estate agents, if they had any confidence, Tanya, it's gone now after the headlines and the articles that are relentless in the mainstream media. We have an executive branch of our government that is openly hostile to real estate agents and says commissions are junk fees. I still cannot believe the press secretary of the president said that our commissions are junk fees.

Yeah.

So when they're told from the highest levels of government and they're told by the mainstream media, the New York Times, the Gray Lady, the most reputable journalism on planet Earth, every one of those sources has said you're not worth it, you shouldn't be paid, you should go away. So how do you tell people in real estate? Well, frankly, what do you tell yourself? About how valuable you actually are? Because I don't know that all good real estate agents can, can self-start when they're being beat on by every angle. What's your advice? What's your approach?

It's hard. And I'm aware of what's happening between my ears, right? So I can hear, you know, my voice saying, oh gosh, Tanya, you're too old to do this. And do you really want to do this? And then it's first self-correcting what I'm saying to myself, right? Because I'm not too old and I'm really good at what I do. And so we do need to— I call it my Wonder Woman pose. We need to embrace the Wonder Woman pose and feel our strength. Like, oh, hell yes.

I want the bracelets of truth, the bracelets that could defend her. But she had the lasso of truth.

That's on my arm.

Yes. What's on your arm? Show me your ink. What is that?

It's the— it's Wonder Woman's lasso, her sword, and the W.

OMG, you have the Lasso of Truth on your arm. That's so amazing.

I know, but it's like, it's for me to remember, like, we're going to get through this. Yes, there's a— I'll watch my language. There's a lot of crap out there right now and a lot of negativity around, you know, that we shouldn't be here doing what we're doing. And I don't believe that for a second. And then it's for the newer agents. It's going to be some practice in getting some testimonials, because when you get a client that says, oh my gosh, I couldn't have done this without you. That's what you go read and get out of your funk.

I love that. So print those out, y'all, and put them on your little corkboard because that is— that's absolutely the best advice ever, is to get it and center on it instead of centering on the negative. Because as humans, especially if you're a woman, we can't help it. I think we're so emotionally driven as a gender that you hear one negative thing out of 1,000 positive things.— and man, your eye is sitting on that negative. I know that I'm like that and I feel pretty confident in myself a lot of times. But when the low moments hit, buddy, they are— and it doesn't help when the attacks are so big. But I also got to remind you of something. The only reason the media attacks in this world and the only reason they would get in line with an executive branch and attack all in the same vein at the same time is probably because you're the good guy here.

Right.

The system doesn't go up against people that are in favor with the system. The system goes up against things they want to take over. And why would they want to take over real estate? Because you guys bring actual value. You help people get from point A to point B. And I think that's where the confidence has to come from too, is that testimonial. Those best testimonials never come from the super duper fancy schmanky luxury people. It comes from the single mom who's coming out of a divorce and she scratched up her down payment. She's like, dadgummit, I'm starting a new chapter. And I mean, how many realtors do you think remember that transaction more than anything else? Right?

That single mom or the aging, you know, 80-year-old, you know, female that's going on to assisted living. And you were there through all the craziness and, oh, how do I leave my memories? And it's real. I did that with my grandmother. Right? And it's just like, they can't do that by themselves.

You had to sell your grandma's house. I couldn't have done that.

I'd have died. No, I didn't. And actually, my mom, who is— she's gonna die when I say this, but my mother is 83. She's still selling homes in Northern California. She loves it, right? However, she, again, she sounds like, you know, just like, this is craziness what's going on. She knows her value. She knows how many people she's helped, as I do and you do. And You know, the people that you, the realtors you hang out with and help.

We need to lean in. Okay, so you gotta tell me about your mom. So hang on a minute. We got, we gotta stop here. Mom's 83 and still active in real estate because she's got to be my second favorite. The, uh, my favorite right now is this lady named Bobbi I met in New Jersey last week who's 84 and still active. Yeah. I got sent a picture on Facebook of her doing her daily 10 personal notes because she does pick and stay. We'll just, that's just gonna be apparently the Tanya phrase is she picks and stays. 10 personal notes and her little painted fingernails and she's getting them out. Tell me about mom.

That sounds like my mother. They must be sisters because, yep, she's got her notes lined up. I go to visit and there's her notes lined up on her desk. Yes.

Because it works.

It works.

Not expensive rocket science. It's—

No, she loves her people. Yeah. And again, you know, it's her real estate family. They know to call.

Were you raised in real estate or did your mom get in because you got in?

No, I got in because she— well, I got in because she was in. No, she was actually— when I was growing up, she ran a— she owned her own ballet studio. So I grew up in the ballet world. And no, she— after I left— and I left— I— the day I graduated high school, I, with my boyfriend, hopped on a sailboat and sailed around for 8 years. That's my story.

8 years? Where did you go? Did you go around the world, literally?

We started in Australia, and his brother had a 65-foot sailboat. And then we came back to the United States. Bought our own boat. And this is my first, um, experience in real estate is we bought a 24-foot boat. And when we went down below, I had to bend my knees to be able to cook in the galley cuz my head was like touching. And we fixed it up and sold it, bought a bigger boat. So our next boat was 32-foot. Again, fixed it up and sold it. Then our next one was 62 feet. And then we called that one home. So that, I started that when I was 18 and did that for 8 years. That's where I started.

You were a boat flipper and—

I was a boat flipper.

Yes. Hang on, did you marry that guy or was he just— Yes, we did.

And then we're no longer married. Yes.

But you got the kids, right? Yes. Okay, so it's worth it. All right. So, okay, you were a boat flipper.

Yes.

Grew up in the ballet world. Did your mom have you dance? Yes. So did you have to have your hair skinned back into the buns? A piece of hair was screaming for a release. Okay, then I have to ask you, My favorite tacky book of all time, and I can't believe I'm going to admit this out loud, is the V.C. Andrews series Flowers in the Attic. Did you read all of her Flowers in the Attic books?

Got it.

Whenever I think ballet, that's where my head goes, because those are the— and if you watch the movie, y'all, it doesn't count. The books are V.C. Andrews.

Yeah.

OMG. Okay, so did your mom read those?

I don't think so.

No, I don't think she did. I bet they were under the mattress.

Now, now you're going to have to have me text her when we hang up, when we stop this.

She's going to say, I won't admit it. And you'll know she was hiding that because it was smut. It's direct smut. If my pastor watches this, I am in so much trouble. But it was years ago, David. Years ago. All right.

Years ago.

Yes. Okay. So your story is so fun. So what did you do for a real job after flipping boats? When you married the boyfriend from around the world, did you work while you were having kids or were you able to stay home with them for a while?

No, we opened up. We just— again, you can't make this stuff up. We— he's a pilot, so we were in Maine at the time, and so he want— and you have to fly off and to stay current, you know, it's not something you just do on occasion. So I didn't feel like going up with him that day, so I stayed below, stayed down on the ground as he went and flew. And the manager at the airport Quit. And the owner was yelling and screaming and the manager quit. He's like, how am I going to find somebody to run this airport? And I raised my hand.

What? You ran an airport?

Yep. So I got my pilot's license and I got my commercial pilot's license. Of course, all this just takes time. And now I'm running a flight school and my ex is running the maintenance department. And so then I ran a flight school. So that was my business was running a successful flight school and teaching people how to fly airplanes.

Well, no wonder you asked your coaching people what was available. No wonder you coach. You have been finding opportunities where they didn't exist your whole entire life. Yes.

Yes. And supporting myself doing it. Yes. And yes. And if I can do it, anybody can do it. There's not a special gene hiding somewhere that says, you know, Tonya can run a business.

And I mean, I don't know, there might be, but if you're the person who's watching and listening, you think, I don't have that gene. Yeah, you could find somebody who does. Yes. Because sometimes one of the keys to real estate is that you figure out you don't have to be the one-man band and you can partner up, whether it's with an administrative pro or a fellow agent. Maybe you're good with sellers and they're good with buyers. There's all these opportunities for those of y'all that feel like she's doing things you can't imagine, because I'm sitting here thinking, I'm a slacker because I haven't done the variation of things that you've done, because we, we so easily fall into comparison with each other because that's how— no, no, no, no, no.

And, you know, I struggled with it for so many years, how my history is so varied. Like, you know, some people, like, I go to college, I get my job, or I have a career, and here's Tanya, you know, writing for Cruising World magazine, and now she's teaching, you know, people how to fly and I'm thinking I struggle with it. I don't struggle with it anymore, but that was a struggle for a while.

When are you going to write your memoir? Because you have like a different chapter for every year of your life, it sounds like.

A lot of people ask me that. I don't know, but I have the feeling the universe is speaking because you're not the only one who has asked.

I mean, you're going to have people that call you Grandma soon and they need to know Grandma's story, which means somebody else's grands may want to hear Grandma's story too.

Story too. Yeah.

Stories from a boat-flipping, flight-school-running, real estate coaching grandma. Yeah. Could be a really fun book.

It could be.

Okay. So anyway, you decided to reach out about the podcast because of the space that we're in in real estate and also because you were listening to my episode with my fellow leadership-y friend and king of all things real estate, Mike McGraw in Florida. So I'm curious to know what's stuck out to you in that conversation about the space that we're in, in real estate, about leadership, about all things. I'm so anxious to hear, because I know Mike is too.

Well, it's your title. It's, you're real and it's, you don't sugarcoat anything and neither does he. It's, this is real. It's, it has challenges. You have bumps, you have bruises, and you can get through it. Don't go hiding under the bed.

Oh, is that the story of your freaking life? Maybe that's your title, sister. Don't Go Hiding Under the Bed. Hmm.

Your message is amazing.

And I would sell in an airport gift shop. That's how I look at book titles now. My airport was really tiny, so you could have like this graphic of a bed and little cartoon lady sticking out from under it. It could be so cute.

It could be cute. You're on to something.

Hmm. Hmm. So anyway, all right. So back to the thing that you're looking at right now, May of 2024, we're looking ahead to how the settlements are going to be implemented, what agents are afraid of. What do you think is the most positive thing about the outcomes of the onslaught of the media and politics and the legal world on top of hardworking realtors? What's the positive outcome that you see?

Well, the positive outcome is that this is even across the board, right? So it's not like you can find an agent who's not supposed to do this, or I don't make you sign this, right? So it is even across the board. So the justice in me is like, you know, it's even across the board. Everyone's doing it, has to do this. And if someone's not, I'm turning them in.

Sorry. No, don't say sorry for that. We just high five.

High five that one. That's the no, right? That's the no.

Seriously, if we've been turning in bad actors all these years, is it possible we'd be facing a different outcome right now? And that's one of my frustrations with the code of ethics. We fail to turn in the bad actors, and so does the public. It's not just in amongst our profession, it's the public too that says, you know what, they sucked, whatever, I'll move on. And we should all have less tolerance for bad behavior, not to be offended over nothing and not to look for problems. But when something is legitimately wrong, right, to let somebody else know. Yeah. What do they say in New York? If you see something, say something. So I think that's a great point there, that it will be a more level expectation for the consumer, no matter whether in California or North Carolina.

Correct. Or, you know, in, you know, when I was a real estate agent, it was optional. I mean, it wasn't optional to have the buyer rep agreement signed. It was optional when we did it. Right. Yeah.

I mean, North Carolina, you don't have to have it signed until the time of contract.

Right.

Operate verbally. But in my office, we don't really operate verbally on things because that's a terrible idea. Go back to your badass business person thinking. Badass business owners don't let things roll around that are not in writing.

Correct. That's right. That's a long sentence, but you're right.

And it seems obvious. I know. Is there a— You have to shorten that up. I'm not good at shortening things up, obviously, because everything I say is in a paragraph, but it's okay.

Yeah, nope, it's okay. Yeah, and you know, not another positive, and again, this is sad for some people, but there will be a lot of the bad apples, agents who aren't serious, however you want to word it, leaving the industry. That was— and then the professionals are left, and I think that's a positive spin.

And the ones that are currently mediocre are now faced with a bright white choice. I can either give up or I can go all in.

Right.

Maybe we'll even see some of the ones that are currently not operating at their peak capacity. Maybe we'll see them dial in. And I do hope that the ones that choose to leave, leave gracefully and without destroying what's behind them in their wake. That's one of my frustrations with the online space right now is how many people want to just burn everything down. I don't really think that's probably the right response to anything in life. Like, I mean, look at your, your divorce, right? If you burned that to the ground, it's not fair to your girls. And so it's not where you need to be, and it's not where he needs to be. But you can absolutely protect and preserve the, the best parts. Yeah, of your integrity.

Your integrity. Yes, yes. And I had a point, and it left— this left my brain, uh, So sorry, it did. I had a point.

Let's see. Well, I can't go backwards. I'm terrible at that too.

Yeah, it's okay. Going forward, yes, agents are going to step up to the bar that we now have. It's out of our control. And so we are going to— we're going to step up to it. And those that don't, that's okay too. I want to make a point, Leigh.

Okay.

In many industries, not just real estate, but in real estate, realtors have a bad reputation or can have a bad rep, right? We work really hard to change that. I want to maintain that integrity and that our reputations, because it's so easy to trash realtors.

But you know what? There are a couple of really good bright spots. There was one comment that came through. Let me find this because this came from a member of the public and I'm used to my comments being from real estate people and this random person from the Public said— well, I was commenting on something Realtor.com said. Well, Instagram changed their format. I can't find anything now. Realtor.com had made a post complaining about what Caitlin Clark is going to make in her WNBA rookie contract. So I might have gotten slightly snarky with Realtor.com, and of course they're not related to the Realtors, they're a separate company. That happened, you know, over 20 years ago, for those of y'all that don't know. It's not the Realtors, it's a separate company owned by Murdoch Group. And I made a comment and said, when are you going to fight for us? The average realtor makes around $50,000 a year. And you've not, you've not gone to bat for us. Like they're going to bat for some random, you know, superstar with millions and millions of dollars in endorsements. And the whole WNBA thing is a fairly different conversation. But where's Realtor.com fighting for us? And then when I commented, some person replied and said, I'm not in real estate, but my agent worked so hard and earned every dollar and worked with us for 2 years. It was this beautiful comment. And I was like, yeah, random member of the public. And if we had more of those step up to defend the ones you mentioned before, the great professional agents, that would go so far in helping the public understand a little bit differently. Just as we need the ones who get the less-than-good agent to speak to the real estate commission in their state, tell the local board of realtors if they were violating ethics. Both can be true at the same time, that the best are great and the worst need to get better or get out. And I think that's the, that's the story of life, right? It's probably why you changed careers a couple of times. It was either time to go next level or change gears. And neither one is wrong. That's an agnostic statement, right? Just is.

It just is.

Yep. Hey, what does your mama think about the settlement? Because my dad is a retired realtor and he keeps saying he's glad to be retired right now because he's not interested in big change things anymore in life. What does your mama think at 83?

I think she's a— she's a little bit on both sides. Like, yes, this is probably time to retire. However, she is so competitive. It's like, you're like, you're telling me I have to do what? And okay, I'm gonna do that and be number one.

She is—

you look at her personality, she's very high competitive.

So you, you got it honest then.

I don't have half of what she has, but I have a lot. But man, she, she has way more competitive in her than anybody I know. So she'll, she'll do fine. She'll be fine. And yeah, it's okay to retire, Mom.

I mean, you're allowed to, but I don't understand why people don't. In real estate, the phone is still going to ring.

Yes.

If you've been competent and knowledgeable and delightful, people still enjoy you no matter what age you are. I think that's the beautiful thing about our business. But also, I love that you lean into her competitive nature. I'm sure that you do the same thing with any agent you talk to, and that might be one of the most important things we should remind people is, well, Who's going to win here? Class action lawyers and the DOJ or us and property rights?

Yeah.

So maybe we need to all remember we should be in Wonder Woman pose, right? I'm ready for it. And I'm not ready for a tattoo because I'm afraid of commitment. But I love the Wonder Woman pose. And I think this is a great message to put out there. So tell my audience where they can find Tonya. If they are looking for— I mean, frankly, they might just want a presale copy of your book when it comes out in 2025. So let's just speak that into existence. But they want to find out more about what you offer, what you're doing, how do they find you?

They can find me. I have— I'm on LinkedIn. That's one of my favorite platforms is LinkedIn.

So hang on, show up yet, because nobody says that. Of all the things people say about social media, nobody says my favorite is LinkedIn. So why is LinkedIn your favorite?

Oh my gosh, the sense of community, it has changed, right? So it's not the suit and tie. LinkedIn is not the suit and tie anymore. It's the sense. And you talk about not having a backup band, right? You said you need to have a, you know, I have such phenomenal contacts on LinkedIn, people that have done pop-up trainings for my clients, you know, livestream training. I've got a gal who, who is a TEDx, 3-time TEDx speaker who's a speaker coach, a speech coach. She's gonna do a training for my client. So the sense of community on LinkedIn is amazing. And believe it or not, there are serious realtors on LinkedIn and we have a great communication and have fun with each other. So yes, LinkedIn, Tonya Bugbee is on LinkedIn and so are a lot of other real estate agents and brokers and team leaders are there. Lenders are there. They post videos. So yes, LinkedIn. I'm also on Facebook. I have a website, tonyabugbee.com. So go to my website, tonyabugbee.com. But man, go come have fun with me on LinkedIn.

I think you should be messaging on LinkedIn because when you say, and I have Facebook, that was kind of hilarious. You're like, I have to. I miss kind of when I look at Facebook.

It used to be my favorite.

It used to be the only one.

Yeah, it's changed.

Yeah. And I like Instagram is apparently my favorite. But now that that stupid Meta AI thing is in my business, I'm really losing my love. But never once— and I'm on LinkedIn, but never once have referred to it as fun. So I guess I should look at what you're doing and your mindset from, you know, I guess it's like who you connect with there.

There's some fun people. There's one gal in your area. Ariel Leigh Thomas Brown Thomas Brown is a financial planner and you two could be sisters. She is so fun on LinkedIn. In fact, she did a financial planning workshop for my people. So yes.

Okay, well, I will have to go there. I will go learn from you. And I guess all the rest of y'all are sitting there thinking, I got to do it too.

I'm crazy.

We'll all go dig in and we'll stalk what Tonya's doing and maybe we'll create some interesting content in that space. But thank you so much for coming on the show and bringing us a thousand different angles. But frankly, I can't wait to use my Wonder Woman pose when I say I just bought a copy of the Tonya Bugbee memoir book, Don't Hide Under the Bed, or whatever we decide to name it.

That's the right way to call it. And use your Wonder Woman pose next time you want to say no.

That's right. We just say no. But you can say yes to saying nice things in the comments. Ask a question. Tell me what was interesting to you, but make sure you mash the bell and come back and visit us because we'll see you next time.

Thank you.

By the way, friends, don't miss my brand new coaching program at Answers.RealEstate where you can have access to Leigh Thomas Brown, submit your questions, have them answered, meet like-minded professionals, have an entire library to help you build your business no matter what happens in the market. Get signed up today. I promise you'll be glad you did. So if you found value in this episode, please like and subscribe to this channel, turn on the bell, and catch another amazing episode by clicking above. Crazy Shit in Real Estate is also available in all of your normal podcast apps. So if that's where you like to hang out, go find me, click subscribe, subscribe, and most importantly, leave me a review that says you think I'm awesome, my guests are awesome, or this content is just exactly what you were looking for. And then by the way, if there's something you need, you want to learn about something, you can comment below anytime. You can also send me a direct message if you need to remain anonymous. No judgment. But anyway, I'll only judge if you forget to subscribe and click. I'll see you next time.