How Much Work Does It Take To Be Successful in the Land Business

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with the favorite niche real estate website, thelandgeek.com and on this week's Round Table podcast, Kirk Peart. Kirk, no fair. What is our topic? Why should the listeners stay on and listen today's podcast?

Well, I. I think, you know, today, what's great about this is, like, we've got people on. We've got, you know, Jeff on and Landon, and, you know, we got Tate. And you yourself, Mark, you've been doing this business for a really long time. And the thing that, that we all have in common, that you all have, when I look at you guys, that you all have in common, is that that persistence, that putting in the reps to doing this. You're making your sales. You're, you know, going through all the process of buying and marketing and selling land over and over and over again, like reps. And we talk about putting in the reps so often, right? But reps is not like, oh, I did one bench press and I'm now muscular, like, like Landon. No, it's like. It's like a lifetime. It's a lot. 5 is not reps, 10 is not doing the reps. It's hundreds and hundreds and thousands. And in between doing all of those reps in the land business, you're going to also have dips. Right? Times when you're doing the work and you're not getting the result that you're looking for, but you still keep doing the work, and doing that work builds this resistance and this resilience for you to continue, and that's how you get to success, and that's how you get to mastery.

Yeah. So today's podcast is about getting your reps and. And mastery and just that. That reminder of, look, you are going to get road rash. You're going to have the dip, and really, you're going to benefit from coming out of it. So we've got Landon, AI Harris, we've got Jeff, Mr. President on the podcast. Kirk, no fair hair. And I love it when you call me Big Papa. Tate Litchfield, rounding out today's podcast. So, Landon, what is. What are your thoughts when. When Kirk is talking about getting your reps? I mean, you know, you're coming from a. A sports background, you know, teaching and coaching at the highest level. The kids who want to go to the Olympics for swimming, I imagine that when those parents were putting those kids in the pool, they didn't say, swim one lap. You got it. Practice is done. Thanks, coach.

Yeah, no, I mean, it does bring me back to thinking a lot about just how we had to kind of go through just the steps. I think one of the things that just comes up is the resilience. That word just right now, it's ringing in my head. I think with so many people, you. You lose this will wanting to this, want this, you know, in this business, you know, it's the desire to have a better life. And better life could mean so many different things to so many different people. But I think having a better life, you know, for your family, more time, you know, to spend with them, and more money to be able to do the things that you want to do, when you want to do it, how you want to do it, with who you want to do it. So, I mean, there's so many different things that go into that, and it's more of just reminding yourself one about those things, but then two, you know, I think about it. Yeah, like you said, you know, with. With the swimmers I coached, like, it wasn't just the guys that showed up one time. It wasn't the ones that showed up a couple times a week. The ones that got really good were the ones that just kept coming and just doing it over and over. And I promise you, like. Like the land business, you almost sometimes have more dips and more fails than you have successes. But it's those successes that are so sweet. It just made. It kind of makes it more attractive to just keep going back and it makes it more of a encouraging. It just makes you want to get that high again of make having that success. So I think about that a lot and I think about just how we had to go through this business. I remember the first few years, it was one pretty. We went through some. Some tough times, you know, struggling through just making that sale and picking up properties. But, you know, I think having that, this. That mindset of we want to be at a certain place, not quitting, just kind of get through. We're going to just keep doing it over and over and over until it works, because we've seen it work with so many people. And that's the thing. If you can see it work for so many people, it's got to work for you if you just keep doing the. Getting the reps in and just keep repeating the process. So that's kind of my two cents on that. But I think, yeah, it's definitely something that we all just have to just keep going through the process over and over and over. Good or bad, you just keep going through that process.

Yeah, yeah. No, 100%. And I have a feeling that it's going to be controversial for. For Mr. President, Jeff Detmer, because when he does anything, he's just great at it. From day one, right? Like, he just starts and he's like, I'm an expert. So let's get Jeff's take on this.

Mark, that is so not true. That is so not true. But I have the perseverance, I have the grit, the determination that once I decide that I'm going to do something, I just keep going and I don't stop until I've done it. And really, that's what it is. I mean, I learned about this business model from you guys, and I said, yeah, I get it. This will work. And you say all the time, it's a really simple model. It's not necessarily easy to build a land business, but it's really a simple model, and it's true. And there's so many hurdles to jump over along the way. And whether we're talking about jumping over hurdles or going down in a dip, it's all about showing up and doing the work, and that's what it takes. And I think that this is hard for some people that have never had their own business before or don't have experience with that if they've only ever had a job working for someone else, where someone else is telling them what to do. Especially if they haven't been in a, you know, leadership or managerial type role. It's a different mindset to be in a leadership or managerial role or to have your own business. And I think that's one thing that makes this hard for some people, whether it's this business or any other business you might start of your own. It takes a lot of work. And when you. When you run into those obstacles, you just gotta keep going. Kind of like what Kirk said and Landon said. And, you know, there's a couple of good books that have been brought up on this podcast before that I think really speak to this topic. One of them is the Dip by Seth Godin. I think it's a great book. It's a really thin book, so it's an easy read. But I remember early on in my land career, Tate was my coach, and I don't remember what the dip that I was in, but I was in a dip. And he said, get that book. And I had heard about it, but I'd never owned it. And I bought that book and I read that book on the plane on the way to a boot camp, and it was exactly the medicine that I needed at that time for my mind, for the business. Another one is Grit by Angela Duckworth. And I learned about this book on this podcast a couple years back, and it's just fantastic. It's about the power of perseverance, and that's really what you need in this business. You just have to keep going. I can talk all day, but you don't want me to.

But it's so true, though. I mean, if I'm gonna throw in a third book is Mastery by Robert Greene. But ultimately, I mean, you know, I almost feel like this is the, the, the. The problem with adulthood, right, is that at some point, adults just feel like it shouldn't be this hard. So let's go to somebody who's got, you know, a lot of kids under 7. I love it when you call me Big Papa. Tate, Litchfield T. I mean, I imagine, you know, you and Allison when you're watching the kids grow up, and I don't know when they all started walking, but I have a feeling, like, if they weren't walking by, like, 11 or 12, 13 months, you guys don't look at each other like, well, I guess they're never going to walk. Oh, well, just walking's not for these kids.

Oh, definitely not. I mean, first kid, you're like, oh, man, something's wrong. By the time the third hits, you're like, he'll figure it out at some point. That's just biology. He'll get it. But, you know, this is an interesting topic, and it's something that, you know, brings me back to this idea of the rule of a of 10,000 hours, which basically states you have to do something for 10,000 hours to master it, right? Whether that's walking or running or mailing or pricing or marketing or sales conversations. And it doesn't even have to be sales conversation. It could be sales thought or think or the energy or the research that goes into it, but you're not going to be good or an expert at anything after five sales. And that's what kind of makes me laugh. As I look around, I see all these people claiming to be gurus or experts. And, you know, we're. I, I would never say that we're the best out there, but we are. And the reason we are is because we have all spent tens of thousands of hours in this line of work. And that's something that not a lot of people can say, right? And I look at this mastery. To master anything, you have to spend all of your time focused on one specific Thing. And for me, that's been land. Nothing else, no other distractions, is just learning how to be good at land. And fortunately, we've had advancements in the land space like LG Pass and like Geek Pay. These tools are going to take that mastery period and shorten it, because you've now got the ability to lean on other people and their experience and their wisdom indirectly to benefit from that. So, you know, the key to success in the land business really comes down to that idea of time. I guarantee that if anyone goes through, you know, the toolkit or flight school or coaching, and you stay with it for 10,000 hours, you're going to have a successful land business. It won't be where it should be. The reality is nobody's business is where. Where it should be or where you want it to be. Not even mine. I want it to be bigger. I want it to sell faster. I want to do more. But that doesn't mean it's not good, doesn't mean that it's not performing. It just means it needs to be tuned, right? My business is in the tuning phase right now. We are constantly working out those little hiccups that happen every so often. We're figuring out, why did this happen? We had one this morning, and we're working through it. We're looking at it. We're going, what happened with the zap? What happened with the banking? Why did this occur? And we're going to fix it. And that's what really allows us to continue to grow and scale. But just remember, 10,000 hours, that's what it takes. Now, fortunately, you got good people out there to help you, and they can help you get success faster, but you got to put in the work. I'm not licking anyone's envelopes for them.

No 100%. Kirk, what are your final thoughts on this?

Yeah, if I could throw in a fourth book, there's Relentless by Tim Grover, right? Another book that talks about, you just got to. You keep going. And the ones who the champions are the ones that just keep, keep going. And, you know, truthfully, you know, Mark, I use you as my barometer, right? So, you know, you've got 6,000 plus sales transactions, and I'm at, you know, 100 between 150, 200. So I'm like this, like, if I want to be as good as Mark, if I want to be as good as Tate, My number is 6,000, period. And between now where I am today and 6,000, which is somewhere in my future, there's a lot of bumps in that road. But I don't get to 6,000 without going through all those bumps and all of those hard times. And really just like, continuing to put my head down and do the work. And I think you said it too, Tate. Like, one of the things is your focus is defined not by what you do, but your focus is defined by what you say no to. So, you know, I'm not doing multifamily.

Right.

I'm not playing in the stock market. You know, I'm not doing insurance. I am doing land, and I'm doing land to the number of 6,000. And if that's 20 more years, well, you know, Mark, you've been doing this for long.

How long?

25 years?

24 years.

24 years. All right, so I got a ways to go.

Yeah.

So that, for me, is my barometer. That's my path. That's my focus.

No, 100%. And I was just saying before the podcast, there's that. That great Bruce Lee quote. He's like, I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who's practiced one kick 10,000 times. And so when you break down the land business, you know, not necessarily that you have to do 10,000 sales or 2,000, 10,000, you know, times of doing due diligence, but your team, you should be the type of leader, the type of CEO, where your team is getting in those reps and you're supporting them in that. But when you first start, you have to get in enough reps to be able to. To teach it. So you're delegating, you're not abdicating. Because the last thing I want anyone to do is build themselves another job, right? And we want to build a business. And a business really comprises of a team, essentially. And now when Steve Jobs died, Apple did just fine. If anything, it thrived, right? Because he built a true business that is something bigger than yourself. And so that's really ultimately what we want to do. But you have to get enough reps in, in the beginning to have that faith and that courage that, like, okay, I want to go ahead and build this, grow this, and scale this, because ultimately, you have to be able to make that investment. And it's an investment, and in the beginning, it's an investment in yourself, and then it's an investment in properties, investment team, and so on and so forth. But, you know, that could be a whole other podcast is dealing with the emotional angst of money and making an investment versus an expense. But I think ultimately, when you start building your, your muscles and your resilience and your grit and your perseverance. It, that ripples out and it affects literally every part of your life where you know, someone like Landon, I know you know, he's, it doesn't matter what it is, he's just not going to quit because he's got enough reps in, in enough things that he's like, okay, this is interesting to me. I might suck at it first, but I'm not going to quit. Right. And same thing with all the other successful land investors. I just know like every area of their life, they have that muscle and it's, it's really, really valuable. And so hopefully, dear listener, you are building your grit and your resilience muscles as well. Because it's not just about the land business. It's about how you really approach everything in your life. All right, well, before we go to Jeff, Mr. President Detmer for his tip of the week, I do have to give a shout out to our sponsor this week, which is a light school. Learn. The next 16 weeks can transform your life. Go up that mountain of land investing quickly, safely and efficiently. And I know you're thinking, oh, what about that investment? It ain't going to cost you nothing. Guaranteed you're going to make it back 180 days or less. Just show us you did the work. Learn more. Go to thelandgeek.com training schedule a call with one of our land investing experts and see if this model resonates with you. All right, Mr. President, what is your tip of the week?

So sort of in keeping with what we're talking about today, you really have to have like a long term perspective in this business. And you know, you're always looking for Kaizen continuous improvement. Right, right. So I learned something. So what I'm going to talk about here is a pricing strategy that I learned from Eric Peterson. Like I don't even know how long ago, six, seven years ago. And guess what? I just implemented it in the past year. So there's always opportunities to improve. This is something that's been rolling around that I just haven't implemented. And I implemented it and it's been pretty good. So I wanted to share it. And that's this to have three tiers of terms pricing. So it's kind of like there's a lot of different psychology to pricing models. You know, you know, good, better, best kind of thing. Well, in our business, you know, you might be able to have seller financing for say 48 months, 60 months, 72 months, and you have a different monthly payment for each one. Well, you can advertise the 72 month payment, which would be the lowest payment. But when they come to your website or your landing page, they look at the three options and they see that they have options. So first of all, then it's not a yes or no, it's a which one. And different pricing options are going to appeal to different people because some people are going to want to get it paid off sooner. And I think this strategy works especially well for folks who are a bit timid on the phone in their sales conversations because, you know, we've all learned that it's good to ask questions to find out how big of a down payment might someone want to make or how much might they be able to afford each month. But some people struggle with asking those questions. Well, this is kind of a way to have your website or your landing page sort of ask that question for you. And if that gets you an extra $20 a month because they went to a shorter term or an extra $70 a month, well, then that's good. And you don't even have to do anything to make it happen. So it's just about thinking about pricing differently. There isn't just one right price.

I love that. And it's so funny. I just read a study about Coke and Pepsi and how they increased sales by having their machines next to each other. And it kind of goes back to your Eric's philosophy of having options. But what's interesting is that it's not the option. Am I going to get a Coke or not? Now it's, I'm thirsty, I'm going to get a drink. And so they know they've got the sale. Right. And you just got more options. Do I want a Coke or a Pepsi? But either one, they've got the sale when you go to the two machines. As opposed to, you know, Tate, who's a total Coke snob. I don't even know if he goes to a restaurant. Oh, you don't sell Coke products? Yeah, I'm, I'm not, I'm not, you know, you know, drinking here, like, you know, kind of thing. But I thought that was super interesting.

Not okay. When I go to the restaurant and they say, is Pepsi okay?

No, it's not.

No, it's not okay. But if they had Coke and Pepsi, you're getting a drink. Yeah. Where, you know, is everyone? You know, most people know I won't order a drink at a restaurant, but, you know, that's, that's A deep psychological disorder that I don't need to talk about. But anyways, ultimately, Jeff dmer, thank you. That's a great tip of the week because now that they have options, it's not am I going to get the sale, it's which option am I going to choose? And we love options, so.

And I found that when I started doing this, I found that I got more sales at higher per month rates than before. And that's really what I'm looking for. And so that's why I thought it would be a good thing to bring up. And I think that to just take a little bit more time and think about your pricing strategy and sort of the psychology behind pricing, there's lots of tools and resources to research this online that you need to really put thought into it rather than just, here's the price, here's the number. You can do better for your company by putting more thought into it.

I love it. I love it. Well, I want to thank the listeners and remind you that if you're getting value, the only way we're going to get Jeff Detman to come back and give us more tips of the week is if you do three little favors. Follow rate, review the podcast, send a screenshot of that review to support thelandgeek.com and I'm going to send you a signed copy of Dirt Rich. And if you have Dirt Rich, you can get Dirt rich too. Now, we haven't officially launched the book, but little birdies have been getting it. There's, there's a way to get it, but wait for the official watch. For sure. So, Landon, are we good?

You're good, Kirk?

Yeah, man, we're good.

Jeff.

Very good.

Tate. Yes, sir.

All good.

All right, well, let's just do this. 1, 2, 3. Let's let freedom, freedom. You know, when ch's not on the podcast and it's just like all male dominated just doesn't have the same energy. There's no kids. Where is Terea?

She's on a call. Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, unfortunately, yeah.

Tell her Mark's gonna podcast shame you.

I will. She loves those.

I know. Who, who wouldn't, who wouldn't want that? For sure, for sure. So, you know, we're, we're at the dog days of summer. It's over actually now, you know. Well, Tate and I are still in summer. We get, we really have two seasons in Kirk. We get spring and summer. We're still in summer. But if, you know, has anybody read a book this summer that really stood out, you're like, okay. I'd recommend that book. Landon.

I took this summer off. I didn't read much at all, unfortunately. I know it sounds.

You were in. You were in Alaska.

You were in all over the place.

You're in the Bahamas playing golf.

Yeah, yeah, Bahamas. And then since San Jose last week, I just was all over the map, so I don't have any good books.

No, no, no worries. You know, but of all the places you visited, which would you go back to?

Alaska.

Alaska.

It's really cool up there. Yeah, yeah. The weather's beautiful right now, too, so. Okay, that was. That was a seller. And the fish. Oh, God. So good.

So good. Yeah.

Yes. It's on my bucket list right there.

Don't say fish, because Tate's gonna be like, oh, you want to see Fish.

Knows fish.

I'll tell you about fish worries, you guys. Yeah.

Let's keep this podcast going. I want this.

You are what? I want this.

I want my fishing stories, you know, memorialized on this podcast forever.

That's right. That's right. Christmas Island. Yep. Yeah, That's a crazy story.

That's a good one.

All right, Kirk, how about. How about best book you've read this summer?

You know, I've been nerding out this summer on everything. Marketing.

Okay.

Like, I. I just have, like, realized that this is, like, a science that's, like, crazy. And, of course, you know, it's beneficial for business. I've, like. Like Gary Ve's day trading Attention. I've been devouring that. Alex Hero's $100 million leads. I've been devouring that. What was the other one?

There's another one.

Oh.

Russell Brunson's Expert Secrets. So totally nerding out on marketing. You know, I was an engineer. Not really, like, a. Not definitely not a business marketing guy, but I realized that there's a lot of science behind marketing that's just so cool. And understanding how human beings work one on one and in mass has sort of opened up my eyes to a lot of cool possibilities.

Very cool. Very cool. So if you had to pick one of those, if I was a newbie, which one would you recommend?

I think Expert Secrets.

Experts.

Russell Brunson's Expert Secrets. There's a lot there that I just didn't realize that, like, oh, I fell for that. Oh, yeah, that worked on me. Oh, that's what he's doing.

I'm like, okay, nice, Nice. Awesome. Jeff, how about you?

So I got a book that I haven't finished yet. I got going on it, and Then, I don't know, life intervened and I got sidetracked. But the part that I started, I'm probably about a third of the way through it. It's called Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter.

Is that the comfort crisis guy?

Fix your craving mindset and rewrite. Rewire your habits to thr enough. And so, like, it's kind of like, it really kind of makes you think, but it's. It's sort of like, you know, if. If whatever it is, if it's never enough money or enough whatever, like, this is sort of dealing with that and getting you to be more. Helping you to. To. To be more satisfied with what you have and not always looking for more and pushing for more. Like I said, I haven't finished it yet.

Is this guy an American?

I don't know.

Sounds very anti American.

This is un American.

It's, It's a good. It's a good head. Head book. It really kind of makes you think. And I don't know, I. I found it really. I found it really useful. And I know Tate had to jump, but one of the things in here is talking about some study done in Las Vegas about gambling habits. And that's one of the things that they talk about in here about, like, how the brain works. And anyway, it's. That's good. I like it.

I. You know, that kind of book is right up my alley, actually. You know, I'm joking, but, you know, when you. When you travel a lot, you know, I just got back from Bali, and, you know, this is a very, very happy people, the Balinese, but they're poor, but they're super happy and they're super grateful. Incredibly grateful and incredibly spiritual with their. In their Hinduism and, you know, living for something bigger than themselves. The belief is very strong there and the sense of community. They're all helping each other. Where in the States, it's, you know, it's sort of gone the other way. We're very individualistic. Right. Which my, My parents keep reminding me of. Like, hey, you're taking care of us. Right? But, yeah, but, you know, I mean, and that's the thing is, like, in other parts of the world, that wouldn't even be a question. It's just, it's. It's, you know, of course this is what we do. It's just part of the culture. And so there's. There's upsides, there's downsides to it, but I, I think it's. It is really important to get to that point where you can strive and yet Be super happy with what you've got and be really grateful for what you have and yet strive and be unattached to. In the striving. Right. And it's really hard to do. Yeah. And so I think books like that are really helpful in, In. In knowing, you know, for yourself personally, what is enough and to, you know, help you focus on your biggest priorities in life. And if you are going to move the goalpost, you've set your. You hit your goal now, like, it's like, okay, that's not enough. I'm moving it further. At least be aware of it, that you're doing that and that you're. You're willing to suffer again because that half life of accomplishment or is so short now. I mean, I was reading an article about the Boston Celtics. It's a grueling season, winning the championship. They had like, four days to really enjoy it, and then more problems occurred, Right. And it's just like, yeah, that's the way it is. And I think that just being in that arena alone could be enough.

Right.

And of course, we all want to win. There's, There's. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think, is it. Is it okay to do your best and really be grateful that you're to have that privilege of even being able to. To do it? Right.

I think it ties in with. With comparison as the thief of happiness. You know, people in this community will often look at so and so and, oh, they're having all this great success. And, you know, it. It's about focusing on you. It's about focusing on your wins, about your successes. Sure. Can you grow more? Can you build more? Absolutely. But you need to be, like, happy that where you are is where you're supposed to be and that that's enough. It doesn't mean that you can't try for more, but you can still be satisfied where you're at and still looking for more. Because maybe that more is to do good in the world. Maybe that more allows you to do more good in the world or help other people. I mean, there's so many. There's so many different ways to go about life and to find your success and to find your enough. It's not all just with our own individual, you know, checkbooks.

No. 100%. Yeah. Kirk, I know you got a lot of thoughts on this.

You know, of course, Mark, you know, I do. Like, I've been struggling. I've struggled with this. I've struggled with this my whole life. Like being a striver and Being someone who really wants to achieve, I think in the last year I've been really working on changing my mentality. Instead of looking to win, like, I want to play the games now that are the infinite games, the ones that you can't win, right? Like you can't win health, right? So the goal is not to win health. The goal is to be healthy, right? You can't win success. The goal is to be successful. And so what am I doing to be healthy? What am I doing to be successful? You know, wealth, you can't win wealth, right? You got to earn it. And then when you achieve it, the goal is really to keep it. That's, that's the infinite game, right? So I started looking, I've started looking at a lot of things like that. Like, oh, instead of trying to hit some goal, like the goal is there so that I do the work and sort of work on behaviors, work on myself, improve. But the goal is always going to move because I want to do this forever. I want to be in business forever. I want to be healthy forever. Hell, I would like to be married forever. For once here, probably got more wives than all the other guys here in his past, you know, so it's. So look, is that making sense? Does that like ring a bell? Like, you know, it's like you don't win the girl you like to and you don't win marriage. It's like the goal is to be married forever. You don't win in business. The goal is to be in business forever, in an ever increasing business. And one day, Mark, when I get to 6,000, you'll be at 12. And I'll be like, okay, now I'm going to 12. All right, now I'm going to 12,000.

Yeah. I mean, and again, there's nothing wrong with, with having, you know, ambitious goals. I just think it's that mindset of I'm really happy with what I have, I have enough. But it's great that I'm, I want to get better and how cool would it be if I can, if I can get this and in the end still be satisfied with what, with what you already have. Because when you live in this country, you, you've really won the lottery. You've really won it and you may not even know it, especially if you're listening to this podcast, right? You know, you're really, you're, you're really lucky and there's a. So much to be grateful for. But I feel like we could just do a whole other podcast on this. This is like the bonus content. I thought you guys talked about, you know, grit and determination and reps and like now we're good. Now we're going into, you know, this, this whole other thing. So my book, by the way, is Sebastian Younger in My Time of Dying. Super interesting book and I'll, yeah, I'll be respectful of you guys time, but like this was a near death experience from, from someone who's a hardcore atheist and the science of what he's going through, it's super interesting. So a lot of science, a lot of physics and some woo woo stuff in there as well. So it's, it's, it's really good. But. So that was like my really interesting book for the summer. All right, well thanks guys. This is a fun one. I'll, I'll see you guys later.

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