Culture as Your Key to Sustainable Success with Abel Gilbert | Ep 029

Mindset and culture as words and as concepts. They've been watered down a bit in popular culture and especially in business culture and some personality types. Perhaps yours don't hear or receive these words and ideas very well. They seem a little bit soft or something like that. But I'm here to tell you that Abel Gilbert is here to demonstrate for you that mindset and culture as realities are absolutely fundamental to your sustainable success. Whether you're a real estate agent, a staff member, an operator, a team leader, or a broker owner.

A business, in my opinion, has five departments. It has sales operations, it has finance, it has marketing, and it has culture.

Abel is the broker owner of One Path Realty in Miami, Florida and this has been his lived experience over the past couple of decades in the business as he has led and guided clients and then agents and then a company.

About 100 agents, 50 producing team agents do about 600 transactions a year. And super happy that since we started in 2017 and we've sold almost $2 billion in sales and helped almost 4,000 families.

He shares with you a number of practical tips in this conversation which we recorded together in person at the Pendry in San Diego, including the key to finding the right agent count for you and your business. His agent count used to be double what it is today. He shares the two key leading indicators that his team always pays attention to. He shares the five departments that are key to a successful real estate team. 1. One of those departments, by the way, is culture. He has the role of culture manager and shares the importance of that role, how it arrived in his organization and where you can find the right culture manager for your team. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Abel Gilbert.

No matter where your business is today or where you want to take it, you'll get there faster and more profitably with an operating system. Welcome to teamos, your guide to starting growing and optimizing real estate team. Here's your host, Ethan Butte.

Abel, thank you so much for sitting down with me. I'm so glad we could do this in person.

Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation. I'm excited to have this conversation with you.

Cool. We're going to start where we always start these conversations, which is high level and it's what is a must have characteristic of a high performing team.

Well, you know, over the years I think that the main thing that helps with a high level team is, is having a growth mindset and it really, it has to start with leadership. You know, it has to start with the leader, not just saying it but, but also practicing it because it has to really like come down to staff and then the agents. Because ultimately the reason or the way in which a team will become more productive and optimized is if the agents are producing at a higher level and because of the industry that we're in, that is so fast paced, you know, and it just. So much innovation happens all the time. If you don't operate with a mindset of, you know, what, what I, what I am today might have to get better tomorrow, then you'll just get stuck really good.

I feel like some folks watching or listening might be thinking like, oh, mindset, you know, but it really is a thing. The key difference between having a mindset and having it be meaningfully impactful on your business and your personal life is what you said, which is modeling, right? So it's just like, I'm not just saying it, I'm not just thinking it, I'm saying it. And I'm not just saying it, I'm also doing it. Is it really that simple? And how do you describe the mindset that you try to embody in a way that other people can watch and learn from and be inspired by? Because. Because you're exactly right. I'm thinking about parenting now. Like, yeah, you can say one thing, but it's the way that you behave around your children that they're going to find them more likely to behave like.

Yeah, you know, I think the reason why most people get turned off when they hear oh mindset is because most people are looking for, you know, what's that idea or strategy that will happen quickly without too much effort, without actually like doing an honest self assessment. Right. Versus like, oh, how. What can I learn from you that can make me money right away? And the reality, in my opinion, is that the reason why mindset is the foundation of everything is because it's not about getting there quickly and for it not lasting, but it's how do I get there and how do I stay there. Right? So it's the bottom line. You got to start there. And if you avoid it, it's really just a matter of time before you have to somehow, some. Some reason going back to, okay, yeah, I gotta, I gotta do something about myself and. And then the way you do it, just like you mentioned parenting, we have to lead our kids by example. And I kind of feel the same way with our agents. I have to lead them by example. If I am not practicing what I preach across the board, not just in what they see when I'm in the Office, but my lifestyle, how I am with my family, the way that my kids and my wife look at me, not because I'm forcing it, but because it's authentic. That's the way, in my opinion, that you can inspire others to do and follow that.

Yeah, really good call. I also appreciate the cut down on the essentially magic pill scenario that everyone seems to just want to buy over and over again. I feel like so much of social media is oriented that way because of the speed and the pace and the conciseness of it. We oversell ideas and don't give them enough context. In the way that you're talking about it is like, this is the way I live. And in that way, other people know the types of people that, that are going to succeed here. Give us a little bit of a path into where you are today. Like, give us a little bit of background. How did you get into real estate and how did you wind up starting your own brokerage?

You know, I think I've had multiple starts in my career just to give you quick context. Started as an agent back in 2004, then in 2017, waited 13 years to open my own company or to start it off as leading my own team. And I waited that long not because I didn't feel ready, but because I felt like I needed to really master like all the different areas that really make up. Right. A successful agent, which is to be great at representing buyers, great at representing sellers, and also have the right knowledge and experience with investments. So I waited that long to feel like I had those foundational concepts taken care of before I can teach it to other people, you know, because I felt like once I do open my own team or my own brokerage, I'm going to have to teach others how to do something. And, and again, going back to like the, the core or like your core values and your foundation. If you are going to be teaching others, coming from a place of, of just, you know, teaching it without really have experienced it, then you're kind of full of shit. Right? So I didn't want to be that person. And, and, and that's why I waited that long. Today we are an independent brokerage that operates as a team. We, we are out of Miami, Florida, but 100 agents, 50 producing team agents, we do about 600 transactions a year and super happy that since we started in 2017, we've sold almost $2 billion in sales and helped almost 4,000 families.

Awesome. What were the like between 2017 and today? A lot has happened. Yeah. Go back to 2017. What sparked that decision for you? It sounds like you maybe had the idea in your mind and you had like a kind of a. A set. Like, I want to feel like I've mastered these things so that I'm in a position to do this with confidence and in a real way that's going to be helpful to other people, not just starting a team for any of the variety of reasons some people start teams. Feel free to riff on that if you would like. But go back to 2017. What was the spark for you and kind of like what was the first year or two like specifically in terms of what you expected versus what you experienced?

Yeah, you know, the journey of being a team leader, broker, owner, it's just when you truly embrace it, it's a journey that, where you never stop learning. So at the beginning, for me, I really didn't know what I didn't know. You know, I didn't know any better. I just felt like it was, it was my turn, it was my time, right, to start my own team, to start my own company. But I didn't know what I was getting myself into over time. Very quickly, I had to make the decision to stop selling myself because I realized that a lot of people were starting to trust me to guide them to achieve what I had achieved. And I had to quickly just take things off my plate to be able to deliver my promise right, to other agents of helping them succeed. So going back to that decision, originally it was to make more money. And then over time I realized that I was making less money because I had to stop selling myself. Right. And also I wanted more time. And I realized that I was giving away my own time, right. To be able to. To deliver on the promise to other agents. And that was a promise that I wasn't willing to sacrifice. And that's why I. What I gave up first was production, because I knew that if I didn't get my mind off of that, I wasn't going to be able to truly have the clarity that I needed to properly lead other agents. And once you give up, once I gave up on production, I was able to definitely elevate the. My own level of leadership and guidance. But then, then another part of, of starting a business kicked in, which is now I need to make sure that my company makes enough money for me to last and for everyone else to last. So at that point, I had to then take away some time and clay and focus from leading agents into leading a company. Right. So that's why I say it's a Never ending journey of kind of like sitting here and then tomorrow I'm gonna have to sit somewhere else. But when I do sit somewhere else, you have to, you have to allocate the right people or, or as right as it could get. Right. To replace you in the areas that you're removing yourself from.

Great. You mentioned the promise of helping agents be successful. What was your core value prop like in 2017 and maybe even 2018? You know, I feel like, and we're going to get into this, these are going to be some of the follow on questions of like kind of what layers did you add into as you started thinking about a business or an organization? Not just, you know, my real estate business and my real estate team, you started maturing the whole company as a leader. What was your value prop before? Some of the things you have in place today were in place back then? Was it just, I've been successful and I want to help make you successful. Like, what was the value prop then? Like, what was the promise that you were making to agents who joined you early on?

Yeah, early on my value proposition was let me help you build what I've built. Let me help you be the person that I am today. And then from here on, let's keep growing together. Right. Like that was my original value proposition. And then over time I realized that that wasn't enough. Right. That I had to be able to provide more benefits. And that's when I started focusing on how do I provide agents with opportunities? Because what I had learned from my own experience by then was that, you know, just waiting on, on doing real estate transactions from referrals or past clients was always going to give me very deep valleys or peaks. Right. Deep peaks and valleys. So during those days, what I, what I wanted to do was build just a model where agents can have not all peaks, but just consistent growth. Right. Without very deep valleys. So that was the very next thing that I focused on. And that's why I chose to, for myself and for our company and our team to become really, really good at online lead conversion. Because that's how we were able to just have another segment of, of, of generating business that it wasn't, wasn't dependent just on, you know, will opportunities come? Because the opportunities always come. Now it's dependent on systems, not on chance. Right. And, and, and that's the next piece of like what I focus on as far as the value that we offered our agents. And then once you provide all these opportunities, how do you help them maximize those opportunities? That's when the systems came in. But once, once the systems come in, then you have to be able to train them on those systems. Right. Once you train on systems, you have to be able to guide them through the systems and remind them. And the only way you can do that so that it can sustain itself is by. By providing and building an environment, you know, an environment that isn't just there to give you all of these benefits, but is also there to support you in the process and. Right. Not just through my leadership, but through the leadership of other leaders that have built in the company.

Yeah, really good, A lot of really good stuff in there, by the way, for folks watching and listening. That's why you have a back button in your player. Whether that's a YouTube player or an audio podcast player, you have a back button for that. I would also extend on to that, of course, inspection of what's actually happening now that you've guided people into the systems inspection and then some level of accountability. Really broad question. Um, and you can take it any direction you want to, but like, as you're thinking about the support layer that you were building into the business. Right, like we need systems, right. So we need systems in order to help these agents manage the peaks and valleys, level it out a little bit. We can all grow together, et cetera. Is there a key person or role or is there a key system or process or is there a key piece of technology, tool or tech that was critical either early stage or even more recently? If you think about the journey, just something practical that someone watching or listening can take away, like. Oh, yeah, I've actually been thinking about that too. Key person or a key process or key piece of tech? Any. Anything come to mind on that? I'm sure there are tons of things that come to mind.

But yeah, I mean, as you're, as you're asking me this question, I'm just thinking about different. Different times. Right. During the beginning.

Yeah, please stage it up a little bit.

And then like where we are today. And the answer is yes, there' always something key, but that changes, that evolves the systems and the people. Right. Because the people that, for example, helped me at the beginning, some of them are no longer with me. Some of them, their, you know, their abilities just didn't evolve with, with the way that the company and the industry and just like how we evolved across the board, though the one of the one systems that has remained, and this is not because we're here today, is follow a boss is having a solid enough technology to help maintain your database. And maintain your own sales processes right in one place. So as far as key system or platforms, definitely Follow a Boss has been one that has been with me since day one and, and you know, I've been lucky enough to have only used one CRM ever and it happened to be follow up oz, so I chose right. And then as far as people, you know, a business in my opinion has five departments. It has sales, it has operations, it has finance, it has marketing, and it has culture. Right now, inside sales, you also have recruitment, right? So you can either submit, you can have a sub department or you can have a sixth department. But if we focus just on the conversation around sales, you got to have the right system to organize your database, to organize, you know, your, your, your productivity efforts. You also need a system for mainly leadership to, to track and be able to have the visibility at not just your lagging indicators, but also your, your productivity indicators, the ones that are going to dictate the future. Right? So, and that's one of the great things about Follow a Boss and the other systems that we use is that because they integrate, we can pretty much predict, you know, where we're going to be in the next 60 to 90 days based on the efforts that we see today. And if we see that the efforts are lacking today, then we can make decisions and we can then lead our agents and just our company in general on what changes do we need to do to, to improve our results.

Love it. When you're getting together as a leadership team, what are a couple of the leading indicators that you really focus on?

So if we're talking about sales, to me, appointments met. Appointments met is, is one of the most important leading indicators because, you know, appointment set is obviously important, but it's really about did you get to meet that customer, right? And then the next, the next very important one is showing homes, you know, because yeah, you can meet with the person, but did you continue a relationship with that person? And that's a very important stage of the process because it exposes, right, it exposes whether or not the agent is able to, to sustain relationships because ultimately that is the highest and best use of a real estate agent building and sustaining a relationship. And let's say they're not building and sustaining the relationship the way they should. Well, then you can coach, then you can coach them on how to improve that. So appointment met and showing homes to me are the two key leading indicators.

I love the way you layered in there. The idea of when we see, let's just say a leading indicator Kind of failing or sagging or not being met, then we know what to coach the person on to do. I think that's critical because it all does work together. I do not want to miss the fact that you mentioned culture on equal footing with all those other departments. I think that's something that probably a lot of folks overlook. I think some people give lip service to culture, some people have one on culture, whether or not they consciously know it. I think a lot of people, the culture inside their organization is just kind of happening by default. The idea that you've elevated it here, I have to know more about a. When did this occur? What does culture mean to you?

Yeah.

When did it occur to you that it's a fundamental aspect of a business to be on equal footing with those other functions? And what does that look like day to day for you?

So to me, culture is the human experience. Right. That the agents are having in, with you in your environment, in your company, and that the clients are having with your agents. You know, I think that the word culture is like the word mindset, right? One of those things that's ah, culture. Yeah. But it's, it's as important as sales, as marketing, as operations because again, it's about what, what takes care of the human experience. And there's different levels to it. And that's why we, we, we consider it a department on its own. Because it's hard for a leader. And I get it, right. When you first start a company, first of all, you don't know where you're going. You're just going and, and you're doing the best you can to, to your own abilities, but also to your own energy, right? To your own, to, to the level of energy you have throughout each day. So if you, if you're not allocating the right time and effort and then eventually people into each of those areas, it's only a matter of time before something gets watered down and then, oh, it no longer feels the same, right? So thinking back to my own experience, when I felt like I wasn't putting enough effort to the human experience. Right. Of my business, that's when I realized this can happen. Because that's what got us here, right? So if I let that go, then we're not the same. We're not the ones, we're not the company who we say we are. So in the, in the process of culture for us is, is how do we check the pulse of our agents, right? Like how are they doing? Who are they? What do they need from us right now? And then not only the individual effort with each agent, but also the effort with our environment as a whole. Right? Like what, what are we doing? Are we listening to them? Are we listening to their feedback? Not just the positive, because usually that's what everybody has. Everybody has something positive to say, but not many are willing to share the negative. Right. So we do anonymous surveys with our agents, you know, simply because we want to know. And there's times where it's like, even though it's anonymous, they're not giving us enough negative stuff. And then I'm just like, let's take, let's dig, let's find out, let's figure out. Because look, when it comes to a human experience, it's always everyone is going to have a different opinion. And it's the reality with life too. It's impossible to make everyone happy and it's okay. But it is possible to be better. And the only way you become better is by listening to other people's feedback, even if you don't agree with it. But what matters is, is. Is really exploring, like, maybe there's something there. Can we do something to improve that? So that's why culture, to me is. Is key not just to. To enjoying the today, but also to the longevity of the business.

It's so interesting how even when you go out for feedback, you don't get sometimes the negative, which is very often the honest feedback. But that's the feedback that we need. I love pushing back on that. What else? Like you have a head of culture or similar. I forget the title.

Yeah.

Share what that is as a, as a role. And really, even before it was a role, I'm sure it was an idea. Was that your idea? Where did it emerge? Was it someone within the team that happened to have a natural affinity in this direction? That. And you said, okay, I want you spending a lot more time. And then eventually I want you spending all your time on this to do things like feedback, to collect surveys, to understand and to characterize the human experience, et cetera. Talk about the. What that role is, how it's tasked and where it came from.

Yeah, I would say a little bit of everything that you just mentioned. You know, when you work in a team environment, it's hard for one person to take all the credit. Right. And it's also hard to point out, like, oh, who was it? Was it this person or that person? I can't really remember if it was 100% my idea, but I would just credit it to. It was a team decision, but it was Based on making sure that the experience continues to be optimal, continues to be memorable, right? For all of us. Because, you know, one philosophy I've had since even before opening one path realty has been that making money is important, but it's as important to enjoy who you're making money with. And, and that's why to me, culture was just one of my core values, right? Which is to make sure that we are all enjoying working with each other. And if you're not attending it consciously and intentionally, it's really only a matter of time before, before you, you realize like, what happened. So we do have a culture manager and you know, basically her responsibilities are a combination of, like I mentioned, you know, checking the pulse of the agent, knowing how they're doing, knowing how can we assist them, what else can we do to help them succeed. Making sure that our events, making sure that our trainings, making sure that any, any experience that we have as a company, as a team happens consistently. And that's the other thing about culture, right? If you don't have someone who is specifically focused on that, then, then you lose consistency, right? Because look, the reality is, is that as a team leader and for agents, we got a bunch of other things to be worried about, right. That are more related to money, right. That are more related towards selling more houses. So it's important to have someone who is, who is focused, like laser focused on, on. On those topics so that you maintain the consistency and in regards to like selecting that person, right. One thing I've learned in my business is that many times the answers are already inside, right? It's tricky. It can get tricky when you give, let's say an agent a hybrid position between staying as an agent and giving them a role. Right? Like part of your staff. It's also tricky when you've found someone who is ideal, whose only staff, but who you're trying to evolve into something else. And where I'm going with this is that it's never perfect. What matters is, is, is figuring it out, right? And, and it may work, it may not, but you just have to try it, right? So what I would say is like try to find the answers inside first versus like going out to the world looking for a complete stranger. Because many times that person that you need is already inside. And when it comes to culture, it is key that for that person to truly be an ambassador of your brand, right? Of, of what you've built. Because if they're not, then how are they supposed to extend that, right. Extend that emotion to other Agents, not just the ones that are already in your company, but the new ones that are coming in.

Yeah. Especially for a culture manager. I feel like hiring from inside is the key because who else is better to sustain the best aspects of it, et cetera. Let's spend just a minute. I didn't expect to go here, but let's just spend a minute in. I have an agent who has this other passion or skill or strength. It's something that we need in our organization. So we're gonna find. We're gonna find a way to split their time a little bit. They're kind of excited about it. There's obviously compensation considerations, especially coming out of a sales role. I think it's hard to compensate any role besides the sales role as well as the sales role itself. Maybe share another example or an idea. The one that I've heard very often sitting in this chair on this show is, you know, a mentoring type of role. Right. Like, now I'm prepared. Maybe I'm not going to go start my team on my own or even within your team. I'm going to start maybe mentoring a couple of agents with your guidance. Able. As someone who knows that we have a few agents that need mentoring. I've seen what you've done. Again, I'm talking as you. I've seen what you've done. I like the way that you operate. You represent the culture well. You do all of the right things about the right way. So I'd like you to mentor these folks. Like, is that a situation you've done or give a couple more examples of? You know, we're splitting time a little bit between agent and this other thing that organization and the team and the culture needs. How did you manage that? How did you identify and how did you manage that? It sounds like some stuck and some didn't.

Yeah, absolutely. And you have to be okay with that reality, by the way, you know, for. For anyone listening that is in that position, right, where you either have an agent that wants to grow, right. Because ultimately, one reality that most of us have in common. Right. Most of us, I mean, those who have entered real estate is because we want more in life. We want to be able to provide a better life for ourselves and our families. So you have to really accept the reality that you're going to have agents sooner or later that are going to want more. And if they truly enjoy working with you and being inside your environment, hopefully they'll give you the opportunity, right, to, hey, I want to grow and I want to do it with you versus just leaving. Right? So you have to be ready. You have to be ready to be able to help other people grow. It's never perfect, you know, it's never perfect. I do think that as a leader, you do have to help people ask themselves the right questions, right? Because whenever you want to change something, it's because there's, there's a reason for that change. Either because it's something that you truly, that the person truly feels necessary, or sometimes they're just, you know, looking around them and they're not really trying to change because it's their time, but because it's, it's, it's the, the exterior motives. Right. Which happens with social media and also mainly our industry. So you have to be able to identify the true reasons why someone wants to grow because growth requires commitment. And, and if the person that wants to grow isn't willing to give that commitment right there, right Then at that time, then it may not be the right time for them. Right. And you have to, as a leader, be able to help them see that. Because if you don't help them see that, then when things don't work out, they're going to blame you for it. Right. Directly or indirectly, but ultimately you are going to be the, the one to blame. So it definitely starts with like the why, why are you wanting to grow from being an agent to leading other agents? And I believe that when someone wants to lead others, you truly have to start with a process of doing an honest self assessment. Where am I right now? Who am I and why do I want to do this? Am I willing to put them before myself? Because going back to parenting, my kids come before me. They eat before me. And I see agents the same way. They have to eat before me. And if the agent isn't prepared to see it that way, they may not be ready right now, maybe they'll be ready later. But that's one of the truths that you have to be okay with. And, and then they will evolve from that. Right? Because that's just one stepping stone. And, and at some point they'll want to evolve into another stepping stone. And that may or may not be with you. Right. And you also have to be okay with that.

Yeah. Okay. I've recognized just in our time together so far, and again, thank you for doing this with me, a potential tension that I've recognized in others and even in myself. And you've spoken to both sides of it. One of them is kind of this bias toward action. We need to try it. We need to See, we need to be comfortable with the idea that trying something may not work out, but it also may. It may be exactly what we need against this idea of timing. And I feel like someone who's a relatively conservative decision maker, like myself, might pay too much attention to the timing, waiting for conditions to be perfect or right. Which again, is in contrast to this kind of bias toward action. Let's just try out and see. I feel like you found some kind of a middle path between these two things because you're speaking to both in a healthy manner. A. Do you recognize the dynamic that I'm describing? And how did you arrive at a place that recognizes the benefits and challenges of both finding the right timing for something, but then also knowing that we're never going to know unless we try it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I believe timing is key. However, there is no perfect time for anything, right? There's no perfect time to have kids. There's no perfect time to get married. No perfect time to start a business. And I think in retrospect, if you were to look back, right, and I'm sure for those of you watching, if you look back at your own personal experiences at the time that you made those decisions, it didn't feel like the perfect timing. But now when you look back, you're like, wow, I made it work. I see it the same way with making changes in your business, right? But I do think the key thing to protect when, when considering changes is how will it affect your focus, right? Because to me, that is one of the most valuable things I have is focus. Am I focused enough in what matters right now? Because when you try new things, you're going to have to take from somewhere, right? You're going to have to take focus from somewhere. And, and that's, that's one of the main components to measure whether you're willing to, to. To sacrifice, right, to start something new. But as you evolve, right, and as you are able to delegate responsibilities to other people, you're. It's easier to, to. To sacrifice a little bit of focus, right? Not necessarily just from you, but from those of you that are working with you.

Really good, high level, again, pulling all the way back on the journey to 100 agents from starting your own brokerage, would you chop that up into kind of sections? Like, were there clear stages? Like in hindsight, was it like, oh, yeah, 10 to 50 was really important and really challenging. Like, were there stages that you would identify in hindsight that might be helpful for someone who is at one of those stages wondering whether to go to the next one.

Yeah, that's an interesting question. And you know, as I was listening to you, I just realized that, you know, like how I said earlier, there's been different segments, right. There's been different starting points. For me, we are at about 100 agents right now, but we've been up to 250 agents.

Interesting.

Okay, good. And, and I chose to, to change our model. Right. Because again, it really comes down to having the clarity of, of the reason why you're doing what you're doing. If at some point of time you don't love it anymore, you really, you, you have to, you have to embrace that. You have to, you have to make sure you're putting in intentional effort towards seeking. Right. Seeking the happiness that you want. So yes, I've been in different, in different segments of agent count. Right now we are at about 100. Because I'm in a, I'm in a place of experimenting different things right before we go up again. But when we came down from 250 agents, it was because I had, because I realized that, that, because I didn't know what I didn't know. Right. I had made agreements and deals that wasn't, weren't the best for the company. Right. For it to have longevity. And, and when that happens and when you allow it to continue, it really affects not just the business, but also even your own relationships with those people that you made a bad deal with. Right. So yeah, when we came down to where we are today, it was really about repairing, right, repairing the decisions that had been made in order to continue towards a brighter future. And I don't think that there's a perfect agent count. Right. It depends on so many variables. It really depends on obviously you as a leader, but mostly the support that you have around you. Because if you have 10 agents and you can handle the 10 agents, great. But if you grow to 20 and you simply don't have the time to answer questions, hold hands with the agents, I need holding hands. Again, it dilutes the reason why they chose you in the first place. And then it takes you from a place of, you know, happiness, you know, being able to make money to a place of just people are not happy with you and then you're not happy with yourself. So I think the key components to agent count is, you know, being able to, as a leader, be clear about your responsibilities at that time and then make sure that you have the right support to delegate the responsibilities that you cannot handle at the time and never lose focus of the reason why you started in the first place. Right. Which again, in my case and in the case of many, many agents that have helped grow, it's typically themselves and their families. Right. So when you think about growth, also think about, don't forget the reason why you started, which is typically your loved.

Ones really, really good. And it centralizes it and it provides some clarity, probably an important time. Like I can't imagine the decision making process of contracting the business in order to what is essentially at some level it's like pruning and it's not person by person, but you know, if we want to have a healthy garden, several things need to be pruned in order for them to grow differently and better into their next best version of themselves. So, yeah, a lot there. And I feel like too, especially in this space where we like to talk about agent count and sales, production and all of this, there's a lot of like ego that gets wrapped up in that. And so we wind up creating these large, unhealthy organizations because it has some kind of a superficial benefit to us in the meantime. So anyway, I appreciate you sharing all that. I would love for you to give a quick go to the team model in general, kind of a quick past, present, future. Like when did it come onto your radar? And you're like, oh, this team model, this is different than solo agents in a traditional brokerage. Like, was that 20 years ago? Is that 10 years ago? Like when it come onto your radar? Why did you commit to it when you started one path and you know, where do you see it going?

Yeah, it came into my radar pretty much when I became a conscious agent, you know, and I'll tell you a little bit more about that, please. I've been in real estate since 2001 and you know, however many years that is, 23 years. And in my local market, I just didn't have a lot of exposure to greatness. They just, it didn't exist. Or at least the ones that had greatness weren't really willing to share that publicly. Right. Until I went to a Zillow premier agent forum in 2017. And, and that's when I became conscious. And I say it like that because I, that's when I was exposed to systems, that's when I was exposed to agents who were accomplishing numbers that I didn't even think were possible. And, and that's when I, that's when the team model was exposed to me. Right. And then over time, you know, I think what happens with learning something like the timeframe between when you learn something to, to when you actually deploy. Varies, right? It varies on many factors. Mostly the person. It took me, it took me a few years to, to get to a place of like, oh, have my team. Right? It took me two years exactly to, to be able to get to that point. But ultimately I do believe that the future of our industry depends on an operation that has the flexibility, right? An operation that has the flexibility to offer a great human experience to the agent, to offer a direct impact to our customers that comes from, from happy agents, from agents that are successful. Right? Because when you only look at a brokerage or a team or a company based on agent count, then you're really, like you said, you're looking at it from a superficial perspective. It's all about, oh yeah, this is how big I am. But it doesn't really, it doesn't really tell the full story. To me, what tells the full story is how many families do you help? How many people are buying a home through you? How many agents are successful not just through making money, but that have a successful home, right? Because ultimately that is the reason why we do what we do. That is the reason why people buy homes, right? Because they want to be happy. They want to have a happy home. So to me, the future of real estate is how can an independent brokerage operate as a team at a high level, at a level of, of having a great culture and at a level of having an optimized per agent productivity where it's not about having, you know, 20,000 agents, but it's about having maybe 2,000 agents that are highly productive, but that are also ambassadors to your brand, that represent, you know, your core values and the reason why, you know, you've built what you've built so good.

And I, I'm like, we're gonna button it up here because that was just such a great take. Overall, it brings together so many of the ideas that you shared, including the importance of culture. The word that comes to mind as I was listening to you, there is like pride like this, like authentic pride. Like, I'm proud to be part of this team. I'm proud to be doing the work that I'm doing. I'm proud of the people I'm doing it with. I'm proud of the way that we're doing it. And also, by the way, got a little bit of pride around my results too. So it's so good. Before I let you go, I like to wrap these up with three fun pairs of questions. And the first one for you Abel, is. What is your very favorite team to root for? Or what's the best team you've ever been a member of?

You know, I would say to me, is the. The team I'm a member of, right? And. And that's. That's the best for me, like the team that I'm a part of, right? Which is my team. One path realty, and every single person that's in our team. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't be happier, not just of my team today, but to be honest, also for everyone that has been a part of it along the way. Right? Because thanks to every single person that has been a part of it along the way is that we are where we are today, is that I am who I am today, is that I get to enjoy life the way that I get to enjoy it today. And it also makes me happy to see when other people grow and. And, yeah, so definitely, that's. That's the team that I root for the most.

I really appreciate that. Nod to not just of all the people on the team today, but the people where it was a good fit for you and a good fit for them any window of time, and they learned and grew through it, and then they had to or chose to move on to something else. Second one. What is your most frivolous purchase? Or what's a cheapskate habit you hold on to, even though you probably don't need to?

Frivolous. I don't really purchase many frivolous things. I guess a boat. You know, I love the ocean.

But you're in Miami.

Yeah. So I would say that's probably the most frivolous for me right now. I just love being in the ocean more than that, actually. I love experiencing and. And sharing the ocean with my loved ones. Right. And with family and friends. I believe there's so much beauty out there.

And.

And. And, yeah, I would say that's probably the most frivolous. Awesome.

It doesn't sound too me, but that, you know, you have the qualif start. Okay, last one. What does it look like for you? Like, what are you doing when you are, A, learning, growing and developing, or.

B, resting, relaxing and recharging, Learning, growing and developing. I feel like that never ends for me. It's. It's. It's almost a 247 space.

Right.

Because I feel like, you know, we can learn so much from. From. From everything we do. You know, I feel like as a mentor, as I mentor others, I always come, like, you know, we can learn so much from, from, from everything we do. You know, I feel like as a mentor, as I mentor others, I always come with a mindset of being a mentee. Right. So while I'm teaching, I'm also learning. And, and so I fully, I believe, like I don't. If you can find a space where you're learning no matter what, then you don't have to just allocate one specific area of your life or time in your day to what's learning. We can learn from everything. And then as far as. What was your second question? Relaxing, recharging, resting, Relaxing, recharging. I would say the time I spend with my family. Yeah. I have 11 year old triplets.

Wow.

So there's not a lot of resting.

Yeah.

Right. But however it recharges my soul Right. When I'm with them and, and also I actually love watering my plants. You know, I love to see how when I. It's nothing I've ever done, but I've been able to help them grow and bloom. Right. So that's something that relaxes me. And, and yeah, it's mainly around my family and my home.

Love it. If someone wants to follow up on this, they've spent this all this time together with us and they want to lear about you or about One Path Realty. Where would you send folks who've gotten to this point of the conversation?

Yeah, come to Instagram, go to at One Path Realty and then also to my personal handle which is at Grow with Able.

Cool. Grow With. I'll link both of those up. Wherever you are watching or listening, right down below, there's a description in your podcast app or in YouTube or on the website@realestateteamos.com those things will be linked up. Definitely connect with. Abel, thank you so much for doing this and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Thank you. You too.

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