Broker "BS" Filter (Part 2)

Hello everyone, this is Steve Zaras with RE/MAX Alliance Group. I'm one of the managing brokers and I have with me Shadd Boucher. He's another managing broker with RE/MAX Alliance Group. And of course, Becky Dewey, again with RE/MAX Alliance Group, another managing broker. So you have 3 managing brokers here, and we are going to do part 2 of our series, uh, for, uh, the Broker BS Filter. Uh, this is information they don't tell you when you get licensed. But before I do that, I want to make sure you understand, uh, this is raw and real. What I mean by that is Becky and Shadd do not know what these questions are, correct?

No.

They don't know anything about what I'm going to ask them, so you're getting true responses from them. So this is Brokers Uncensored, Real Estate Reality. So we're going to get started now, but please subscribe, like, and follow us. We're going to have lots of content, not only for people in our industry but also for consumers, and you'll be able to see what the title of the episode is to see if there's something that you would be interested in. In watching. So we're going to continue from last week. And, you know, our very first question today, and let's start with Becky, we'll do ladies first. Know your contracts. You know, I think a lot of folks in this business don't realize that they are liable for that contract. And if you don't know that contract, you've got problems. And I had a realtor once send me a contract that was initialed and signed. It wasn't filled out, and they asked me to fill it out. And And I said no, because I'm not going to be liable for their buyer. So Becky, could you cover that for a few moments?

Sure. I think it's very important that the agents are very familiar with their contracts and kind of the advice that I give is, and one of the cool things about the Florida contracts are, is I feel like they say what they mean and they mean what they say. So as long as you read it, I don't expect you to know it word by word and be able to direct exactly to the paragraph as to where something may be at. I always recommend to the agents is go to one of your Board of Realtors, wherever you're a member of, and take a class because usually they have the board attorney giving the legal jargon and, you know, breakdown of the contract. Then I recommend that they come back to me and I give them what I call the street version and give them opportunity, you know, examples of easy ways to explain it and break down paragraphs and what certain things mean and what's most important that they need to like kind of take note of, and, you know, especially timelines and that kind of thing. So contracts are obviously the lifeline of our business, um, and they're kind of the guide to every transaction. So they need to know what is going on and all the moving parts that are included in the contract.

Absolutely. Shad, you want to add anything?

Yeah, I think, um, agents need to understand that reading is a bona fide superpower. Um, most agents that we deal with on, on a daily basis have zero idea what the contract says. They don't understand things that like Four Corner Doctrine, meaning that the contract literally says what's in the 4 corners of this document. It doesn't have feelings. It's not what we meant to. No, the contract says what the contract says, and you have to perform to that document. And I think most people don't understand that at all. And I mean, even experienced agents, 25, 30 years, can't tell me where the financing contingency is, don't understand what the effective date is. And Honestly, the person that understands and knows the contract best wins. That's just how this business works. And, and to protect your customer, you should know it in and out. Not necessarily like an attorney, but, you know, you should at least know exactly what's in there and what it says and what it allows you to do.

And that customer needs to realize that you are a resource and you've got their back and you know what you're talking about because you want to explain that contract, not simply say sign here and initial here.

Correct.

All right, uh, next question. This is a fun one. Other agents may not be cooperative. Shad, you want to start with that one?

Yeah, um, I think in our business, agent-on-agent violence is a thing. Um, you know, I, I think that, that unfortunately a lot of agents, again, don't treat this like a business. They respond emotionally, um, and they get backed into a corner. Kind of going back to our first question, is they get backed into a corner because they don't understand the contract. So they get defensive and they, they get ugly about things and they fight for it as if it's life and death when it's just business. And I think that's one of the things that, that agents don't understand about this is the contracts are there to keep everything civil. The— all the documents, the process of real estate is there to keep everything civil. It doesn't need to get Ugly, but 9 times out of 10 it does. And I'm going to throw something out there that I think both of you will laugh about is we've all done this long enough that we know that as soon as you hear a conversation start with, well, I've been in the business in a certain number of years here, that this is about to get ugly and go left.

Yes.

And I think that's one of the things that's really bad. And I had an agent when I first got into the business explain it to me. That there is a big difference between an agent with 27 years of experience and a first-year agent for the 27th time. And most agents, unfortunately, are the second.

Yes.

Okay.

I like that analogy. All right, Becky, you want to add anything? Yeah.

Kind of my smartassery comment to that sometimes that I get it. It's like, well, then you should know better.

Exactly.

Amen to that.

You know this. We shouldn't be having this conversation. But yeah, I will agree. I think there's a lot of emotion in it. And I mean, there's a handful of— and I think we can probably We probably all admit that there's probably a handful of agents in our market area that we can name by a first name that they tend to make transactions a little bit more difficult than they actually need to be.

Okay. All right, here's another good one. You need systems and follow-up plans. And I remember when I was a mortgage consultant and as a Realtor, people commented on how I returned their phone calls in a timely manner. Everybody's had People that didn't return their phone calls promptly, especially if somebody was working a full-time job. But Becky, would you cover that? You know, talk about follow-up and having systems in place.

I think they are the key to your business. Even if you don't have an answer or anything new to report, just notifying that customer going, hey, just wanted to check in, nothing new to report, everything seems to be moving smoothly. Just hearing from you is huge. The kind of the perception is, is, you know, if they don't hear from you, that means you're not doing anything and you're not taking— making attention to their transaction or whatever the case may be. So I think just follow Following up again and just saying, you know, I don't have any answers for you yet, but I'm still working on it, or anything like that. It's just staying in constant communication with them and let them know that they're a priority and you're taking care of their situation.

Yes. Chad, you want to add anything?

I agree with everything Becky's saying. This is a process business. This is a checklist-based business. If you are doing anything repetitive, if you're writing an email to a title company and you're doing it new every single time, you're wasting time. A lot of those things should be templated and canned, and you should have all this stuff basically lined out. You should have a checklist for how you take a customer from first meeting all the way to closing. You should follow that process. And I think what a lot of agents don't understand is we, we've talked about on this, on this podcast about relationship, relationship, relationship. And when you don't have a process or you don't have— and you're doing— you're winging it every time, then when someone refers you a customer, okay, that person referred you that customer by saying, oh, Shad does this, or Becky does this. And if you don't do that thing, they're not going to come to you and say, well, hey, wait a minute, so-and-so said you do this. What they're going to do is go back to their friend and go, well, you said they do this. And they go, well, they did for me. And then you end up losing both human beings by not having A checklist. I like to tell all agents that you should have the process of McDonald's and the customer service of Starbucks. And without the process of McDonald's, you cannot have the customer service of Starbucks. It just doesn't exist.

True, true. And, uh, my next question here, we kind of touched on this last week, and that is that you're always on. There's, you know, we don't want you to get burnt out. But you're always on, and it's not a bad thing if you have support from home. My wife is very good about it. She knows when I accept the business call, she lets me, you know, deal with that phone call uninterrupted. So, Becky, why don't you cover that?

Again, like you mentioned, having the family support— we talked a little bit about this last week too— is having your family support, your spousal support, and that kind of thing. And sometimes those phone calls do come in at odd hours and weekends, and You know, in the middle of your family's birthday and that kind of thing. So I think, you know, just having some boundaries and just, you know, knowing when you need to be answering that phone and and tending to certain things. I mean, obviously there's certain situations where maybe it's not a good idea. Yeah. Um, but obviously having the support of your family, of course, is most important. I think in those situations.

Yeah, absolutely. Chad.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna back up and I'm gonna say that that if you don't have structure in your business and your life, it's because you haven't set expectations with. your consumers. And that should be something you should be doing at first meeting when you guys are going to go into business together and you're going to help them find that house or list that home. They should understand that after 7 o'clock, it's text or email. It's not phone call. All those things that if you want to set boundaries for your business, you absolutely can, but you have to communicate those. You can't let them be unspoken expectations that, why are they calling me on the weekend? They know I'm busy. No, they don't. No, they don't. So you have to be able to set those boundaries, and if you do, then you have every right to have the life that you want and the business you want. But, you know, at some point you also have to realize that, you know, there, there are things that do need to be taken care of, as emergencies. You know, one of the jokes that I, I give all the agents that, that work with me, and, and the ones that have been here for a while and the ones that are new kind of get this differently, but the new ones, when I answer the phone on a weekend or a late night, I jokingly say, who's dead or what's on fire? And when they can't actually answer that, then I say, okay, great. Well, let me handle your question real quick, but understand why I answered the phone like that, because I like to take these phone calls. I'm here to support you. I'm here to, you know, help you with your business. But if it doesn't arise to the level of someone's dead or something's on fire, probably can wait till the next day.

Yeah.

And eventually we get all the agents in the office understanding that this doesn't arise to the level of who's dead, what's on fire. And I think that's one of the things that you just have to be able to set those expectations with people if you want a life. If not, glue your phone to your hand.

And, and if I could piggyback on that, Chad, there's 2 types of phone calls you'll get. One, it might be a panic phone call. Something is blowing up, or, or somebody just wants to talk and they'll go on and on and on. Or there's that phone call, which I like, is when somebody says, look, I hate to bother you. I know it's, you're probably with your family or it's the weekend. I just have a quick question. No problem. What's your question? I answer it. Hey, I hope you're having a great weekend. You know, it's done in 2 minutes. Those are the nice phone calls, right? But yeah, you don't, you don't want to be bothered too much when you're trying to do family time. And somebody might work nights, so you understand, or only be available nights, I should say.

Well, I think it's even teaching the agents to understand what an emergency is and what it isn't because You know, everybody, you know, everybody has a different classification of that. But if you don't, if you don't get somebody to understand what a true emergency is and isn't, you know, like, I'll give you one. You know, as we were recording this last night, I got an email that looked like Santa Claus's list last night about a potential problem. Okay. And I was like, okay, it's 9 o'clock at night. I'm going to handle this first thing in the morning.

Yes.

On the drive down to the office this morning in my car, I got a text message. Oh, the other agent called me. It's all good.

But they were in a panic last night.

Yeah, last night I got an email that literally I call it a 5-thumb email. So on my phone it took 5 scrolls to get the email up. And yeah, and by this morning—

and that's the emotional aspect. We kind of touched on that last week.

It is sometimes not responding right away in those situations. It's benefit. You're like, okay, let me give them, you know, 30 minutes to take a deep breath and think about this. And then usually when you call them in that 30 minutes, they're like, oh, never mind, I already figured it out. Or You know, it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was, or yeah. Right.

All right, next question. Your online presence matters more than you think. So, Shadd, could you talk about that for a few moments?

Yeah, you are being digitally interviewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I tell people all the time that there used to be this thing in sales called know, like, and trust, right? They had to, they had to know who you were and what you do. They had to like you and they had to trust the product that you were representing. And while I still think that exists, I think it's taken a backseat to what I like to call align, connect, affirm. Okay. You're being interviewed digitally 24 hours a day to make sure that you and the services you provide align with the problem that this person has. How are they doing that? Google, your testimonials. They're going all throughout and looking at your digital self, right? That's where they look for alignment. Okay, then they're looking for affirmation. Where do they get affirmation? They think you're the right person to handle this job for them. What's the affirmation piece? Well, that's your testimonials. That's other people saying, oh yeah, Shad solved this problem for me, you know, last year. Shad solved— and then once that happens, they'll connect. So if your digital presence is weak, if your digital presence is, is cookie cutter, you know, everything's in the third person, you know, Shad was a person here, and your bio's garbage and everything else, You're going to struggle because it's the number one place people go to find you now. You're being digitally interviewed all over the place. All over the place.

Yeah. Becky?

Oh, yeah, I agree with Shadd. I mean, I think we're all guilty of it. We're going to a new restaurant or we want to do something. The first thing we do is we go online and we Google it and see the reviews and look at the menus and, and that kind of thing. It's the same thing with agents. They want to see, you know, have they done any business? What kind of business have they done? What are their reviews? You know, so I think there's certainly, you know, a lot of agents have steered away from it for a very long time. I think in the world that we're in now, I think you do need to have a certain level of, you know, internet presence, social media, the Google reviews, and that kind of thing. I think it goes a long way in your business.

Absolutely. And the other issue is, let's talk about the past. Somebody's past with what they posted on social media, risqué photos, parties. There's things that people have done And they're so free about putting it on social media, that could come back to haunt you because the internet is forever. It never, never goes away.

Well, even, even the smallest thing in the world. I was, I was dealing with an agent the other day who asked me to give them a call because they're talking about possibly wanting to join our brokerage, right? And I said, oh great, not a problem. I said, text me over your email address. And now this is an active agent, okay? Their email address was sparkleunicorn63.

Okay.

And I was like, oh, well, that must be their personal one. So I went to the MLS real quick and looked them up and no, it's not. It's not, you know, a risqué topic. Yeah, that's just someone that want— you want to sell their million-dollar house and you tell them to email you at Sparkle Unicorn.

Like, I think there's a— you have to be very, very careful, you know. Um, you know, I've kind of gotten into the TikTok thing. That's kind of like my pastime at night when I'm just kind of winding down scrolling through it. And I come across realtors in our market and some of the stuff that they're posting, and it's not necessarily because they're relating to their business and they're relating to marketing. If you're just not talking about what kind of business you do or what your profession is or everything, then that's your business and that's entirely up to you. But when you're kind of mixing the two together and some of the language and the, you know, F-bombs flying and all of that stuff, and I, I just think it's a bad, bad look. And so I think you really have to be very careful of mixing. The two together.

Yeah, I agree. I think that's, I think that's a, that's a, that's a thing that's real. Well, and, and you guys tell me, how many agents do you call on the phone and their voicemail doesn't even say their name? It doesn't say they're in real estate. It doesn't say anything. It's that generic voice. You have called 813-55— really?

Right.

Like, really?

And if, and if you're being filmed or you're filming something that is, uh, kind of, uh, I don't want to say taboo, but something— let's say, just thinking out of the box here, let's say you're at a DUI stop and somebody's filming you, and then you start arguing with the cop, and then they put that on social media. I mean, it just starts to snowball, and you think it's okay, but it really isn't.

No, no, no. Well, and I think I told you guys, I don't think we had it on film the other day, but I think I told you guys My dog got bitten by a cottonmouth in my yard, so I you know dog's okay, everything's fine. But the next time I found a cottonmouth, he didn't make it out of the yard, and I then let my neighbors know on Facebook on our neighborhood page that I found a cottonmouth beware, and said cottonmouth is dead, and I literally got canceled because they oh my gosh it's nature and you shouldn't. I'm like. You know, as far as I was concerned, he made his choice. He came into my yard and tried to kill my dog. But you never know how people are going to react. So, you know, I think, you know, if you look at it, I tell agents all the time, and sometimes I guess I have to take my own advice, but your social media and your process online should, should follow the acronym of FORD. Okay? Family, occupation, recreation, dreams.

Yeah.

That's it. No politics, no religion, no sports. Okay, none of that. Just family, occupation, recreation, dreams, because none of that stuff is going to actually upset anyone, right?

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, next topic. You'll wear many hats, and this is something that everybody getting into this industry needs to understand. It's not just showing houses and filling out a contract. Becky, you want to start with that one?

Oh, this one's my favorite because sometimes you're a financial advisor, you're an attorney. Well, we don't want you to be an attorney, but sometimes you kind of—

Or a tax advisor. Yes.

Yeah. A tax advisor, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, maybe a doctor, you know? So, yeah, I mean, you— there are— every transaction is different and there's so many different scenarios that are involved and there's a lot of different moving parts. to it. So I mean, you, you gotta lean, you know, be able to shift your sails to whatever comes, gets thrown at you. And, you know, and just be, you know, genuine with the, with the customer and help them however you can. And sometimes, like I said, you're, sometimes you're the voice of reason and they come to you for advice that maybe in areas that you're not necessarily an expert in. But, you know, that, that's certainly, you're, you're gonna get your, your work cut out for you for sure.

Okay, Shad.

I completely agree with Becky. I mean, you're a psychologist, you're a parent, you're— I mean, you're all kinds of things. And I think one of the things that agents need to do is because there's all these areas where we're not qualified, you know, like you said, being a tax attorney and being other things, you need to build out that roster of experts that you can lean on, that you can advise them to go to, who can handle those things and build that book of referral you know, providers that you can actually send to them because you're going to need them. You're going to absolutely need them. And, you know, if you become the source, oh, you know, my brother used to be a tax attorney and he said X, yeah, you're about to get sued. You're about to get sued real bad.

That's right. And, you know, it's interesting because we talk about continuing education. There's required continuing education. Then there's taking other courses for your designations and going to other classes and just building your field of knowledge. And I think that That, that is very important. On the personal aspect, my wife has heard, you know, me talk to people sometimes because they call me up and they've got other issues unrelated to the business and they just want somebody to talk to, you know. And, you know, believe me, if I had an Old Fashioned in my hand right now, I could tell you all kinds of stories. However, we're going to keep it good right here. But there's those issues too. And like you said, psychiatrist earlier, Becky, it's very true because some people just need somebody to talk to, especially in Florida here, we have a 55+ community everywhere, and some folks are just lonely.

Yeah.

So, okay, this one, uh, is important, especially the, the folks that want to work a large area, a geographic area, and some folks want to work small areas, but it— you'll need to learn local knowledge. Shad, you want to start with that?

Yep. So I'm gonna go with this: don't. Don't work a large area. Be careful with that because there are different things with different counties and different ways of handling stuff that if you're not going to dive in and understand what it is, refer the business out. You're better off giving it to another expert. You do not need to be a jack of all trades. There's enough business in the county where you're in or 2 counties you work. Um, but yeah, be super careful because You don't think that the property appraiser website for Hernando is different than Pasco, but it absolutely is. Doesn't have the same information on it. Doesn't, doesn't give you the same availability. I mean, in Hillsborough County, I can look up a permit in 3 seconds. In Pasco, maybe a minute. In Hernando, act of God to find one. So, you know, you need to understand this stuff because it's incredibly important to your customer, to you. To your business. So yeah, I think if my advice would be start small, start small and refer out. That's what I would do.

Okay. I think starting in your local area, maybe the word in the city that you actually live in. So you're familiar with hospitals and schools and parks and, you know, recreation kind of things. But right now, I mean, I think we're really lucky than we were years ago. There's so many tools to help you find out that information and familiarize yourself with it for sure.

Absolutely. And when I would teach the new member orientation class at the association, I would challenge everybody in that class to get involved in something, whether it be volunteer or some organization, because you want to— in other words, I mean, I really feel strongly that we should give back to our community, number one. Number two, you need to meet a lot of people and network. And like the Women's Council of Realtors, I was very strong. I still am in that. I was the first president Uh, the Women's Council of Realtors of Manatee County, and everybody makes fun of me, but it's a conversation piece, you know.

I'm not, I'm not making fun of you, but I will— I do not understand.

I did not have to wear a dress. No, there was just—

I'm just saying, I do not understand. That might be one of those old-fashioned moments we have to have a chit-chat to find out exactly why that happened. But okay.

That's right. But, but now Women's Council of Realtors led me to Toastmasters, and then it led me to being involved in other organizations. So it's like, all right, if you get involved in You know, Organization A, then you're going to wind up going to B and C and D. And what happens on that journey is you're going to meet a lot of people and you'll wind up networking. And I'll tell you, it's much easier to negotiate when you know the person on the other side of the transaction. So, it's very, very important. Masterminds, those are great. Shadd, you were having masterminds for a while.

I was.

I came up there for the masterminds. I thought it was great. Got to meet some of your agents. And when you're on vacation, a few of them have called me up for some help, and it worked out great. So yes, you may feel lonely in this industry as a, you know, the Lone Ranger realtor out there doing your thing, thinking that you don't need to get involved, but you really do. It's, it's important. And the associate— the, uh, what do we call it— the, the happy hours through, uh, the associations, they're always great. You get to meet people. Everybody's got their, their guard down, and it's nice. Very nice. You want to add to that, either one of you, before I move on to the next one?

Yeah, I, I'll just add one thing. Your network is your net worth, period, end of case.

And you can make it big if you want.

Yep, 100%. And it, and it is your net worth at the end of the day.

Okay, uh, here's one. This one really hits home with me because I am blessed, uh, to be with RE/MAX because of the amount of training and support. It is— most brokerages don't train you. They just want bodies. Becky, you want to start with that?

We call that the masses of asses, I think.

Yeah, we were talking about that.

Yeah. And I think as things have evolved over the years and we're getting a lot of 100% companies, there's no brick and mortar, that kind of thing, you know, that they don't— these companies don't have a way to sustain any training or even have— I was talking to an agent. I was at a, like, a little social yesterday for one of my agents down in Marco. And I was talking to an agent from another company, and my agent's like, oh, you need to come to Remax. You need to come to Remax. What do you offer there? What are your splits? That kind of thing. So I was getting a little bit of dirt on their, you know, their pay scales and that kind of thing. And she's like, yeah. She goes, well, if I have a broker question, I have to like call somebody like out in the ozone is basically what she said, you know. So, so therefore she's, she's not getting any training either, you know. I mean, they don't— they're going to call a number and I don't know exactly how the round robin works or for if they have like brokers on duty or that kind of thing, but It kind of goes back to the same thing with training. These, these companies with the high splits, yes, it sounds good on the front end of things, but, you know, you get what you pay for. And, you know, we have it. If we don't have it, then it probably doesn't exist, I feel. And it's really up to the agents to take the initiative to dive in and do the training that is available to them or interests them or that will complement their business.

Yeah. Okay, Shadd.

I completely agree with everything that Becky's saying is most people don't understand how to develop an agent to build a business that will support their life and support themselves. And most aren't interested in doing so because they have been pushed and pushed and pushed by agents wanting more and more of a split. To the fact that to make money— okay, let's, let's all agree here. You guys can shake your head no or yes with me, but most agents don't realize that the word broke is at the very front of brokerage. Okay, it's right there. And, and I think that that's— most brokers now have gone to these, these online models or these 100% commission models, which reality, if the agents actually looked at what they are paying, is probably paying more than paying a traditional split in a lot of, in a lot of ways. Um, but they don't have— they can't afford to have admins and people like the 3 of us and in-house legal counsel and marketing teams and, and all of those things because there's just no money to do that. The This works when there's a symbiotic relationship between the brokerage and the agent. Um, you know, I don't, I don't necessarily disagree with the fact that the agent can have the lion's share, but, you know, there needs to be at least enough left over if you expect services. Yes, of course. And if you don't expect services, then good luck. Um, I hope you make it. Um, but most likely that's not the case. And I think all 3 of us have seen We've all seen agents that have left RE/MAX, you know, over the years to go to those 100% houses and, and all of those things. And unfortunately, I don't know of any of them that's ever done any better.

Okay.

And in fact, I usually, when they leave for that brokerage, I see them change within 6 months to another one and 6 months to another one. And they're constantly looking for the magic bullet when they don't understand that it's about development and systems and, and hard work. And that's what it is. It's— there's no magic bullet. So, you know, and I think, you know, the other thing too is when I look at all these quote unquote modern brokerages that have showed up, you know, we all know them. We're not going to get in trouble on this podcast that most of them start with 3 letters. Take your pick. There's dozens. All of them are not real estate companies. They're not. They're recruiting companies. Yeah. That's what they are.

Some of them are multi-level.

Yeah, yeah, it's all, it's all, it's all multi-level stuff. In fact, one of the things that I thought was interesting, and I'd love to talk to both of you about this more, is it used to be when I was, when I was a producing agent that all the coaches were talking about getting you productive, right? I've seen now all the coaches, they vibe shift over to helping you make more downline.

Yeah. Yes.

So, you know, Follow the money, right? If the coaches are saying, "Oh, we'll help you build this downliner." Oh, we helped Steve build a 34-person downliner. You know, they don't want to actually help because now they're trying to go after all these agents that that are there trying to do this thing, which I'm sorry, they're not real estate companies. They're not. They they say they are, but they're just not.

Right.

Well, I know a lot of folks that agents.

You know, they're, they're viewing it as when they go to one of those companies that, oh, I can make this extra income by, you know, by bringing agents underneath of me. Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to sell real estate or do you want to recruit agents? You know, because both can really be a full-time job. And then, you know, if you're recruiting, let's be honest, recruiting a non-producing agent is very simple. You know, if we, we could probably have 5,000 agents under us if that was, if that was our goal. Um, and that's what we were looking for.

Yes.

That's kind of not what we do.

So, and if you look at the amount that we offer our agents, you're paying us nothing. If you had to pay for those items, you're basically ahead of the game. And this is a business. This is not a job. This is a business that you are operating. You're 1099. You have deductions. You make of it what you will. And I know a lot of folks that work for some of these other companies, and I don't want to talk Poorly about them at all. They're great people, and they may be watching this podcast at some point, and I, I hope they are. However, uh, look at what a brokerage is giving you, uh, and yes, you, you have, you have to pay them something. You don't want to pay them more than you have to, just like taxes. I love paying taxes. I don't want to pay more than I have to. And for the record, I'd love to pay about $500,000 in one year to taxes. That means I hit the lotto or something, but you know, that ain't gonna happen. So.

Well, it's just about the value that's being delivered.

Exactly.

The value that's being delivered is consummate to what they're asking you for it. You know, that's great. If it's not, then it's not of value and you shouldn't be there. So, and, and I've always believed personally that free is expensive. It really is.

Yes.

Oh yeah.

Yes.

Okay. All right. Last topic.

Uh-oh.

Success takes time. We just had one of our owners go by making faces at me.

So, hi, Ron.

Success makes— takes time. Chad, you want to start with that?

1,000%. You have to be patient. This is, this is not a, this is not— everybody talks about the elevator and the stairs, right? In a lot of cases, this isn't even the stairs. It's a ladder. I mean, you've got to basically become consistently productive. In other words, you're doing the things that you're doing every day that you need to be doing. Then you become— I mean, there's ways that it moves up. But if you're not getting out of bed every day following a list, doing what you need to be doing, and then I agree with you completely, Steve. I think the magic moment is 5 years.

Yes.

5 years, generally speaking, you start really receiving referral business because you've done enough outgoing that you have enough coming back. You know, incoming. So yeah, it's going to take five years. You're you're gonna you're gonna go through a ton in the first five years. And don't get me wrong, we have an agent that's been with us for six, eight, and is one of our most productive agents in the company. That's not normal. So I think you just have to be patient and get up every day and not be focused on the results. Be focused on the activity. Be focused on doing the exact same thing that I need to be doing and the results will show up.

Yeah, I use a fun analogy when people say they're on a diet. I gained so much weight, 20 pounds. I want to lose it overnight. Well, you didn't gain it in a day. You're not going to lose it in a day. I think so. It kind of goes the same way with your business. I mean, it's about consistency and persistence and just, you know, staying the course and just putting your head down and working hard.

And remember last week we said you're unemployed every day when you wake up. So what are you going to do today to build your business? And yes, the 5-year mark, uh, look, if somebody's getting in this business and they're expecting, uh, to make a lot of money up front, uh, that's, that's going to be tough. There is, there's always an exception to the rule. I understand that. However, for the average person, it's a process you have to go through, and there's a lot of education, mentoring, uh, paying your dues, uh, paying the price. It's not currency, but you got to pay the price with your efforts and And everything. So, so yeah, I agree. This, this takes a while.

Well, let's back up and kind of tie some of the things we've talked about together is when you look at it, right, systems and processes, you shouldn't be waking up every day wondering what to do. You should just be waking up every day starting what to do. In other words, you should already know what you need to be doing today. I need to call these people. I need to do this and that. You shouldn't be sitting around for an hour going, okay, what do I do now? That's a role of your brokerage. That's the support of an actual brokerage that has mentors and has managing brokers that can help you build that structure and that system. So if you're waking up every day wondering what to do, you don't have a business. You're just winging it. You're, you know, you know, today we're going to, you know, today we're going to go left. Well, tomorrow we're going to go right. Like, you know, yeah, eventually you might. do something, but it's not going to be consistent, which is what most agents suffer from, is they don't have repeatable, replicatable business.

You know, I have been told that my memory is not great. I won't tell you who has said that because I forget. Anyway, I'm just kidding. I am to the point in my life where I like to make lists.

Yep.

And even at nighttime, if something comes to my mind, it's like, oh, I got to do this tomorrow. I'll go to my phone, I'll put it on as a calendar item. This way I make sure that I do that. Every now and then I will overlook something that needs to be done if I if I depend on memory alone.

Yep.

I'm a total list girl. I like scratching it off.

Oh, that's the best part.

Is scratching off because let's be real. I mean, we kind of get pulled in multiple different directions too. So we come in with a plan, and if we don't have that list, we can get sidetracked really quick and forget what we were supposed to be doing.

Yes, 100%. I I think that's exactly right. I mean, we get We get pulled into everyone else's emergency, and even as an agent, you're going to get pulled into everyone else's emergency. And if you don't have a plan that you can go back to and go, okay, where was I? Step three, step six. Like where was I today? Yes. Go back. It's just going to get not done. And then yeah, a few days of that and your business goes sideways.

Yeah.

Where you wake up at two a.m. and go, oh no, I forgot to do this.

Yep.

Yes. Yeah. All right. Any final comments, Becky? You go first. Anything? You want to add to what we've talked about today?

No, I like it. I think it, uh, we covered a lot of ground. And, you know, with the system and processes, I think these are all important tasks, and the training and the services that your brokerage, you know, offers you, and that kind of thing. And just embracing it and, and, and doing what fits you and what your business is and your business goals. And, and I think it's— I mean, that's kind of the bottom line.

Okay, Chad.

Um, okay, so let, let me cap this off. We did what, 20 questions over part 1 and part 2?

Yes.

We could probably do 100 of these.

Oh, no doubt.

So you need to find a mentor. You need to find somebody that has walked the ground you're trying to walk on and who's willing to put the time in to actually guide you, knowing that in the short term, there's very little they're going to gain from that. And once you find that person, the last thing as an agent that you should give A flying flip about is what the split is. If the value that this agency is providing you is there, the money will come.

That's right.

If you are all focused on split when you show up, then you're a mercenary and that's when you're going to be chasing that dragon forever because you're not going to have a business, period.

And the person that joins that, that's very independent in the sense that they're going to do it their way and not pay attention. Those are the folks that wind up applying for jobs at Bank XYZ down the street. So Yeah. It's important. One topic, if I could use or address as a final thought, is we didn't mention time blocking, I don't think. And I think that's important for folks to make sure they designate time to do certain tasks. I don't care what that looks like in your world, but it's important that you make sure you put time aside to do certain things, just like you would at home, for an example. You know, I know I put a lot of emphasis on my honey-do list, and I don't know where it went, but It's important to time block.

It's important to have a structure for your day of some type, for sure.

Yeah.

Especially right out of the gate. If that's the— if you say, I'm gonna do it, I think doing it first thing in the morning is the best thing. Before you open your emails, before you start making phone calls, before you do anything, you do your tasks that you need to do, whether it's marketing your business, you know, whatever that case, whatever that looks like. But you could say, it's good, I'm gonna do between 12 and 1. Well, I mean, things could go totally sideways by that time. And then it's now it's 5:00 and you haven't accomplished anything. So I think for me, and I think my best advice is, is right out of the gate in the morning, whether it's an hour, whether it's 2 hours, you grab your cup of coffee, you go sit at your desk, put your head down, and you don't do anything else but those money-making activities.

Absolutely.

Yep.

Triage, understanding what has to get done, absolutely has to get done, and making sure those things happen.

Prioritize. Yes.

Yeah.

Prioritizing and triaging your activities and understanding, you know, what needs to get done, what, you know, I'd like to get done, what, what it'd be nice to get done, but understanding where those are and those need to get done. Those are non-negotiable. They need to happen.

Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. All right. I want to thank Shadd and Becky for doing this. This is a lot of fun for us, especially when we talk before we do this. I'm really excited about the future, where this is going to go. Again, like and subscribe. Our contact information will be next. And we encourage you to follow us. Look at our podcast, our videos as we make them. We'll be doing this weekly and sometimes it may be on location. And I thank you for listening and have an awesome week. Again, this is Brokers Uncensored. We're just dealing with this raw, or actually we're giving it to you raw and real. This is just conversation. It's coming out. As we're picking the topics, have a great day, great week, and we'll see you soon.