This week we welcome a guest to the studio to tell us all about owning a real estate school! Brent Lancaster is broker/owner of his own real estate company and President/CEO of one of the nation’s oldest real estate schools, Bob Brooks School of Real Estate. How did he get into teaching agents? What does it cost to get your license? How long do most people take to complete the pre-licensing education? We get answers to all of our nuts and bolts real estate school questions plus Brent tells us what previous careers can indicate future success as an agent. Can you guess what they are? You might be surprised! Tune in to find out what relic Katy digs up to share with Brent and what his reaction is. We also learn Brent’s goals for his students and talk about his love for helping people who tend to show up to his classes in a vulnerable place in their lives.

More about Brent:
Brent Lancaster, ABR, GRI, SRS, e-PRO, combines his love of the business of real estate with his passion for education. He believes in delivering tools agents can use immediately to improve the quality and efficiency of their business. Brent lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his wife of 20 years, Laura, and his two children Leyton (11), and Nate (9) and Lilly the office dog. You can find Brent teaching live all over the country as well as online at BobBrooks.com, LancasterInstitute.com, and BPL@BobBrooks.com.

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.
0:02
2021 was definitely the year a lot of my past clients decided to be realtors and we were really struggling and bad at this. There may not be so many people out there getting their license

0:19
you have to deal with people like you right and

0:23
Bombay Hi, y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alisa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market. We

0:34
work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition.

0:39
The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths.

0:46
Hi, Alyssa. Hi, Katie. We have a guest in our little studio today. And it’s episode 196. Okay, so close to 200.

0:56
So, for the 200 Is it gonna be a big shindig?

0:59
I don’t know. Do you have a plan? No, no, we have nothing.

1:02
party hats. No muscles?

1:04
No, we have nothing.

1:05
We’ll see what we can get to town?

1:07
I don’t know. Well, we’ll come back to it. Okay, so today we have Brent Lancaster. Oh, I didn’t tell Brent, that we have smiley faces now on our camera. So we remember,

1:17
like you have to look at it. Sometimes

1:20
we record to a third camera getting the full shot. But today we’re trying just the split screen. Because normally when we do a guest, I’m giving the listeners that behind the scenes. But normally when we have a guest they’re not here, right? So it’s a split screen, Zoom style, right? And he’s like, maybe we could just do that same style, even though we’re together. So we’re having togetherness, I love it. But they’re seeing us like two screens. Better. Okay, now, Brent, you can introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

1:51
Well, first of all, thanks for inviting me. This is super awesome. It’s great to be here. My name is Brent Lancaster, and I own a real estate and insurance school. My wife and I own a real estate and she’s like,

2:01
You better give me in there.

2:06
So you help people when they are getting licensed? Like what would you say? I know, it’s insurance also. But what is the biggest area?

2:13
So we do we do focus on real estate, we have a real estate school and insurance school, but we sort of look at it in several different markets. Number one are different ways. I guess. Number one, we help people getting licensed. So from a pre licensing standpoint, those that are interested in getting the real estate, and then we have a continuing education business where, as you know, y’all need to see ours. Yeah. You see stuff as well. So

2:37
something you said, because I just took one of your CDs that I found was very interesting, just pertaining to how the market is right now, is that even as things have slowed down, you have seen such a slowdown in people getting licensed. We follow

2:53
the market pretty close. You close. Yeah. And just from from that standpoint, you know, the last three years, the markets been interesting, right? We when the markets good, you have an increase in in enrollment. And then when the market slows down, you have a decrease in

3:09
Now I read an article that there was like a two year lag with that almost because obviously if the markets great and people decide to get their license, that takes time, right. And then they show up as you know, agents with a license that are working or when the market gets bad. I guess people wait a little bit and then it starts to filter out. But you know, immediately because of the enrollment.

3:29
Hmm. Because they buy before they get licensed. Exactly. So I like the buyer portion. Yeah, he helps you with the license portion. But the bad portion is what you need is sort of where where we are. What’s your businesses? That’s right.

3:41
So you’ve been doing that part of it for how many years? 20 years. So over the last 20 years, you feel like you have seen that cycle be pretty predictable?

3:51
Very much. So well. Yeah.

3:53
So interesting. Was the I’m totally gonna put you on the spot on the lowest year of enrollment 1008 2008. Yeah. And then it just kind of went

4:02
2008 We were so at the time we were doing live class, it was a two week thing. And we were kind of in and out. And so in 2008, we went from classes of 50 to 62 classes of 10. Five, wow, three.

4:18
Wow. Three.

4:20
Holy smokes. Okay, what year was the highest enrollment?

4:26
Do you probably before me, but since we’ve been there, I mean classroom of oh, 40506 were good. These past few years. Were

4:36
pretty good, I would think right? Yeah. I mean, the number of Realtors in the United States has increased drastically. Okay.

4:43
Interest, there’s always attrition, but I would say from an enrollment standpoint. Yeah, I 21 was was was good. I’d say probably 21 more so then. I’m probably missing some some in the middle. But

4:56
2021 was definitely the year a lot of my past Lance decided to be realtor’s. Like, that looks like a good idea. Yeah, I think I’ll do that now that I’m not going into work anymore.

5:07
Oh, yeah. Okay, I want you to back up though. And tell me how in the world does one come to own a real estate school? Like, what was the actual path to that? Because that’s a strange one.

5:19
It is a weird one. It you know, like, like most things, nothing comes really natural. Or organic, I guess. So I was very much like most real estate people. You’re sort of at a crossroads in life and you’re not sure what you want to do and are screwed. The first question I get sometimes is why are you Brent and your school in Louisiana? Is Bob brick school. Right? That work? Well, there is a bob Brooks. He’s a he’s a human being. Sure. So the one question is, is he is a human being? Yes, yeah. He’s a real people that figment of your imagination. For most people that know him. The next question is, Is he alive? Yes, he’s still living. So but it’s a fit. He’s a family friend. So my grandfather was his high school principal and commander in the Navy. So wow, long time ago. Okay. So back when he was Bobby Brooks, when anytime somebody calls him Bobby Brooks, I’ve known that they’ve known him a long time. 50 Plus, but and so my grandfather died in the in the mid 80s. And then so when we moved to Baton Rouge, this is a long story about we’re ready. We’re here for you. We love we move to Baton Rouge. And in the early 80s, we moved from North Louisiana here. I was young. And he’s like the only person that we knew here. So I have these memories as a kid of going into his house and fishing on his pier and doing all these types of things. So fast forward to 2003. I was just married. Three weeks later, I didn’t have a job. That’s not good for the marriage. Yeah. And so I was driving, I was living on a in a townhouse, my wife and I, and I drove to the end of the street. And there was a for sale sign with Bob Brooks on it. And I was like, I just need to go talk to Bob and like, get his advice. It was literal. Yes. Correct. A literal sign. And so I call him and he said, Yeah, come on, in. So we just got to talk. And I was like, Look, I’m at this crossroads. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I was in my mid 20s. You know, you kind of had this arc,

7:21
where are you doing?

7:22
I was in the political world. And so I was gonna change the world. And turns out,

7:26
you’re changing the world. It wasn’t

7:28
my it wasn’t my jam. I thought it was my jam, but it was not. So we had we had a candidate and he and I disagreed. And so we disagreed. Okay, fine. Ultimately, we parted ways. And it’s best for him best for me. Okay. And so I go sit down with Bob. And of course, he’s like, You need to get your real estate license. And I was like, okay, that’s fine. And then as we started talking, he was like, well, there’s this thing called the internet. I said, I’m aware. Now this is Oh, three, by the way. So it is newer and newer. And he, he had the vision, then he said, I know that my courses need to get on the internet. That’s where it’s going. He’s like, I just don’t know how to do that.

8:05
Holy smokes. He was like a visionary and

8:06
a wise man. And so

8:08
he said, Do you think you could help me with that? And of course, I had no idea how to do that. But I wasn’t gonna tell him that. So I said, Of course, I can’t No problem.

8:16
Yeah, he was like, you’re young, you know how the Internet work. So

8:19
that’s how we started, I ended up getting my real estate license and kind of doing the real estate thing, but but also, we built his whole school and tried to put it on on the internet. We started with the insurance piece, and then we moved to the real estate piece. And so that’s how you got that’s how we

8:38
started. Were there other schools getting online?

8:41
There were? I mean, everybody eventually, obviously, they were eventually there. But everybody was kind of slowing it down right out. Like we didn’t really,

8:48
really see all we’re just doing it one video at a time.

8:52
At the time. It was there was no video. It was just I mean, we didn’t have the bandwidth. You couldn’t, you could.

8:59
Okay, this was just like a PowerPoint Online just

9:04
started with text and questions. Okay. And then we revolutionized the whole thing when we did an audio PowerPoint that blue that was that was probably Oh, a I mean, we we’ve been through several iterations. But it right it was text on a screen for a long time and the PowerPoint, I’d probably say Oh, eight is when that was when we moved to video

9:27
when it started as text on the screen where people also coming in person was it like an added part of that it wasn’t the only way to get your life. It was

9:36
not we were we were running both. We still had you know, in this year, we learned a lot. So he was we were running non. He had nine locations across the state. I was trying to get the online portion done. And then we were still teaching day classes, night classes. And so there was a whole big operation. Okay, going back to 2008 that sort of what I was gonna say it did us a favor. It was It wasn’t the greatest year in the world. But ultimately when you have a class of three, we’re like, guess what? We’re done with the classroom stuff.

10:09
So y’all got rid of the classroom in 2008. And you had to

10:13
do it online.

10:15
We went strictly online. There’s some there’s other people that teach classroom but we we basically just, that’s when you it was it was the model that we chose at the time so around Oh, 809 ish. Sorry.

10:29
That’s longer ago than I would have thought. I would have thought online only would have been more recent. Did you do you did mine online?

10:37
Would you do? No, no, no. Shall I? Do you want me to break out my place? Is this visual aid? Oh, my gracious that’s

10:45
it keeps everything that is the book. Everything.

10:49
Wait, do y’all think that’s why it’s so y’all I have my actual real estate licensing examination guide from the Louisiana real estate from the Bob Rock School of real estate and insurance. Love it. I took the night. In 2005. Five, I took a night class and Was he your teachers? No. Nedra and Nan were my teacher. Okay. And she remembers her name. It was well, it’s written in here. I have not noticed that yesterday. But I did probably remember their names. They I went Monday, Tuesday, Thursday nights. I had a full time job. I was retail management. So I just set my hours to where I could go to the class. No one at work knew that I was doing it. And I went to night school and it was I think seven weeks. Right? Yeah, that’s about right. Yeah, I have I have the original contract that I had. When I went to Bob Brooks School of real

11:36
estate still rules we used to have to sign a contract is

11:39
it is the course still $595 What is the no

11:45
shirt we so that’s that was the classroom price. Right? We are now 299 online.

11:50
Oh my god. So I paid more for my real estate education.

11:54
You did? 2005. Look, you will pass but if

11:59
they give you the flash, are you dying? Are you dying? Y’all give you this little like? No, not anymore, that it says you will pass and you’re supposed to cover up as you go. Are you like, can you even Oh,

12:15
this is fantastic. This is

12:18
when this printing of this copyright of this book was 1989 printed first in 1975. The 12 printing that I got was in 2004.

12:30
Library of Congress that books in the library of congress and everything. I

12:33
mean, I’m just going to tell you, I don’t know why I kept this except for this. Because you still use this. Yes.

12:40
Here he is your spa Brooke dairy is.

12:43
I mean, y’all was

12:44
from 1975. Speaking of like, wow, you’ll joke about the realtor photo.

12:52
I will tell you I learned precious little in this course that serves me today. Except for the math. The math that that math pyramid. I use this still.

13:01
It’s fantastic. All right. So that’s love it. That is the blue card got me the book. I see a good card. That was And yeah, that was something. Paper.

13:16
I’ll take your picture with it later. Brennan.

13:18
I don’t have any of that. I did mine in three weeks over Crystal Perry. If that.

13:24
I know y’all. Y’all can Laugh all you want, but it brought the moment. I love it. You did yours? Oh, mine in three weeks in 2011?

13:33
No, it was 2010 over Christmas break. Okay. And then I started in 2011.

13:39
Okay, so you just pay the 299 to get your online course now. Are there? In you have no in person? Class? We don’t? Is there a local school that still does an in person class? Is that more than 299? Do you I

13:55
would imagine.

13:56
All right. Yeah. And so we had to make you know, it’s one of those business decisions, right, is we had to make all right, do I want to spend two weeks in class? And I made the personal decision? No. Yeah. Well, that would mean I would need to hire somebody right at the time. And probably still today. I’m not they’re not I don’t want to. Because I still have flashbacks going back to the nine locations is right about now. You’d get a call from an instructor in Monroe that says, Hey, I can’t make the night class. Yeah. Dr. Monroe to teach a three hour night class. Oh, those are things that you’re designing. I don’t It’s a terrible lifestyle. And so I don’t really wanted to I didn’t really want to hire anybody in order to do that. And so we kind of got rid of that. So what we tried to do at the time was okay, we’re gonna miss some classroom people which are very hard to give up. Yeah. But ultimately, we tried to create a course that was very much like the classroom. Right. So what do you miss about a classroom right?

14:57
Because now we’re getting videos of you teaching that it still feels like a classroom. It’s just on a computer screen.

15:04
The two things that we tried to overcome were the live aspect of it. That’s where we brought in the video. So we got rid of our classroom. And y’all been there. I’ve turned it into a studios. Yeah, the whole studio thing. And then the second thing is access. Yeah. So first thing that I do is give you my email address, you have our phone number. That’s what I did this morning, people.

15:25
So an email questions that come up during the course of that lesson? A lot. How much time do you spend answering? Yeah, I used

15:34
to spend a lot. I used to spend a ton of questions. Good FAQ, but very much like, Y’all have a flow, right? You’ll have a system and a process. That’s that’s your theme. Right? But ultimately, if you’re going to ask if I get two questions from a student, okay, well, that’s something that a, I need to make another video, we need to make sure that that’s addressed in the course. So you, I can anticipate some of those questions. But every once in a while, somebody just gets to a part where they just get stuck. And so, I mean, I had, I guess I think I answered two or three emails this morning. It’s not it’s not overwhelming. But at the same time, that’s not too bad. There are there are some people that just need to know that somebody’s out there. That’s

16:18
the other man, that’s great. Yeah, everyone learns a little different. So that’s,

16:23
that’s what we’ve hopefully that’s what we’ve been able to do. And

16:26
okay, how often are changes made to the course, as you’re making these notes or whatever, or as the law changes, or something has to be changed? How often do you change it?

16:37
It’s a continual process. But pretty much when I change it, or if I were to do like a complete rerecord of the whole thing, I’d finish it and go, I want to do that again. So there’s I’m trying to get in there and update the state licensing stuff changes a lot more

16:56
than that. It does. Okay. Interesting.

16:58
The National contracts are contracts, right? Ownership is ownership financing is financing. General financing, but But you know, for the for what needs to be on the test, has the test gotten harder?

17:11
In the years that you have been like the national and the state test? Do you find it the pass rate has changed? Is it more difficult? Is it easier?

17:20
That’s a hard question, mainly because there used to be for testing providers. Now there’s two, so they sort of gobbling each other up. Okay. And so a lot of states nowadays are changing test prep testing providers, so they’re going from PSI to Pearson vue, so naturally, my if we so we were a psi state for years and years and years, and I had the general concepts, I got it down, you know, I feel pretty comfortable. And then October, I guess about 2020, or 2021, they changed to Pearson VUE will immediately when you change the style a question and you change the testing your teaching method, you will you just have there’s things that are on that test that we’re not used to focusing on on another test. And so we just kind of had to get a handle on that. And then And then

18:08
do you feel like you’re teaching the test, or you’re teaching people to be real real estate agent?

18:14
I hesitate to say teaching the test, but like you’re

18:17
teaching them?

18:18
I’ll say that’s what’s required. Yes, that that’s what we had to the big talk.

18:23
That’s the hard part about pre licensing education is is from where you’re sitting your license, you’re already licensed. And you want people to get to know how to operate business the second day become licensed. Yeah. The flip side to that is when someone wants to get licensed. They just want to pass the test. Right. Well, that’s so depth on the prop. You know, you’ve got you just had your episode on brokerages. Right? And one of the first things that a broker is going to do is are you licensed right? To pass your test? I can’t. Right, right. So even if we and we’ve tried, we tried to incorporate some things that are in there. But ultimately, it’s tell me what I need to pass the test.

19:11
Well, you’re not a broker. Yeah, no. And there’s a lot of information you have to know to pass the test. But there’s only so much one person can absorb, right? It would be hard to teach it all at the same time.

19:22
And so that’s the rub is at what point do they start to learn the regular business of real estate outside? You can’t do that? Well, it

19:30
also depends on where they choose to go. Yeah, right. Because they’re you can’t teach your way because they’re going to find the brokerage that best fits them and their personality, and how that broker does things right is different.

19:44
Okay, so how do students choose your school? Like what is the draw what makes it different than others? Is it different than others? What would you say?

19:54
I would say yes. You know, for me, it’s it’s quality of life. occasion. So we give our first six lessons for free. So just go in, take it, see if it’s for you. Internet’s not for everybody. Yeah. And so when you hear online course, you know, the, the good news is it’s very flexible, right? And you can kind of come in and come out and do it as you need. And, you know, what we’ve tried to do is overcome some of those obstacles. So the, the biggest thing that we’ve done is, hey, I’ll give you I’ll give you the first portion, kind of that state portion at no charge, I don’t get your credit card, just log in and see what happens. And ultimately, you know, you’ll see where if you have a question, you get my email, if you send me an email, I’m gonna answer it, right, if we’re gonna get the video to determine if that’s kind of your learning style. So we have no problems, just, you know, taking the lid off of our course. I like that. And then and then see, so but yeah, I mean, we’ve got our team is just awesome. You know, we’ve got good quality content, we’ve got the content updated, and we help you pass the test. That’s kind of where I

21:00
feel like when I think of your school, I think of like more of a efficient, high tech, but simple, correct, you know, like it’s not overcomplicated. I mean, I think that’s kind of what you’re known for is that it’s got a lot of hands on whistles. Right? Right. Well, we

21:18
need no nonsense,

21:19
we we prefer to keep things pretty simple, very simple. Yeah. Okay. But you’re not just

21:23
teaching in Louisiana anymore. Tell us the states that your school covers. So

21:29
we, with we. The other thing that makes our course our school different is live video stream. So we do a lot of live video stream education, we’ve been doing it 10 years. So

21:41
obviously, the class is happening in real time. Okay,

21:44
so we’ve and we were not a little zoom box, we, you know, have, like I said, our studio, we’ve got a green screen. So we kind of teach those courses to where it’s not, you’re not sitting at a desk and zoom, but you’re ultimately writing some I call it a multimedia experience, it sounds much more fancy than it is. Yeah. But ultimately, you know, I’ve got some production switchers and some things that we do. So with that, we were sort of fortunate, when the pandemic hit, we were we were there, we were set up. So when all the classrooms went away, we had the infrastructure, we had the cameras, we had everything. And so everybody that needed CEE, we were able to kind of give it to him there. And so it just made sense, hey, let’s see if we can take it if I’m gonna teach a class on, you know, I don’t know, market statistics or some fair housing or code of ethics. I can go into a bunch of different states. So we just decided to open a school and as many states as we can, so we work with real estate associations. Do you pick

22:47
by states that are operate the most similar to Louisiana? Are there some states that are just so different that you’d have to change a lot?

22:56
We started with geography. So we did Texas, Mississippi, Alabama. And then we now we work with associations. So for instance, we’ve got a couple of associations in Arizona, that wanted to work with us. So we’ve got Arizona, we’ve got South Dakota, we’ve got South Carolina, New York, Florida. So we’re kind of WoW, as the association say, hey, we want to we want to work with you and kind of provide

23:25
okay. Is it the post licensing? Is that the pre license? Just see? Just see, yes. Okay. So you only do pre licensing post licensing in Louisiana?

23:35
And Mississippi. Okay, got it. Got

23:37
it. Got it. Is that a lot different? Just from Louisiana and Mississippi? Generally?

23:43
We use the same words.

23:46
Yeah, I mean, for the most part, and as I travel, everybody’s state laws are a little bit different, but pretty much the same. Yeah. Everybody likes to think that they’re different, which they are, to some degree, but ultimately, I mean, when you think about if you had to start from scratch sheet of paper or write license law, you wouldn’t do it. So what I have found is somebody wrote the original one, and everybody else just sort of ripped off of it. Yeah, changed a couple of things.

24:11
They made me learn I can dig the book back out. Yeah. In my book, all these words that are the Louisiana word versus the rest of the United States word,

24:21
we do have a civil law system. So our words are a little different, right concepts are the same words.

24:26
Got it? Okay. Make sense?

24:28
Like parishes? Correct.

24:31
We have parents if anybody ever gives you any grief about you tell them that we’re more in line with the rest of the world. So that’s the other 49 states are really the weird ones. We’re just completely in line with the rest of the world right. Go

24:42
with that. I’m gonna go with that. That’s,

24:44
that’s what I stick to. Yeah.

24:45
Is it hard to get accredited as a real estate school? Like? There aren’t a lot of them?

24:51
Yes, I did not think it would be difficult. So when 2020 hit I mean, my teams scattered about Oh, all over the place. And I was like, let’s just open a school in all 50 states, how hard could it be? Wow, that was you were like, Haha, just Oh, it is years ago it was three years ago and we’re in 10 states 11 states. So it’s that every state is different.

25:14
What is like the quick version of the process? It depends

25:18
on the state, some states where you call and your your setup and five seconds. And then there’s some states where they’re like, Well, you’ve got to go to the Department of Commerce, and they wanted to make sure you’re a real business. And then you have to go to some other department. And then you go to the Department of Real Estate, and then some of them, I had to go go to state police and get fingerprinted. nailed my fingerprints. Oh, yeah. So they wanted to know, I had to go to state police. That’s good. Some of them make you go fly to their state and take a course specific to them. In July, I’m going to another state where I basically have to present in front of some committee to make sure that I can teach Oh, so there’s every state is different. And it’s just it’s, it’s that is different. I thought it would be easy. It is not it’s not

26:11
easy. Hey, Alyssa, Hey, Katie, what do we mention almost every episode, email template, you’re right, we sure do. And after every time, we mentioned an email template, do you know what we get

26:25
emails asking if they can have copies of the email template, send me

26:29
a copy of that template? I never had would like that. That sounds great. And you know what the good news is, you can get all of our email templates from our course, email templates, one on one, tell the people about it,

26:41
our course has all of the email templates you would need to send to your buyers and your sellers and your clients that are buying and selling at the same time. Exactly. To get through every step of the transaction and giving them information that they need for where they are in the transaction. It’s great, because you never forget to tell them something. Yeah. So we’ve already done all the work for you. Yeah, we wrote them. And you can personalize them. Yes. And just feel organized, knowing that you have all the information where it needs to be. And

27:09
if you purchase email templates, 101, you do get lifetime access. So occasionally, we like to go in and make updates based on the market or if we find a new best practice. So we put that right into the template and you get that updated straightaway.

27:23
It just goes straight to your core. Yes.

27:26
It’s already hair. She’s already on there. You don’t have to worry about it. We’ll

27:30
email it will say updated. That’s great. Where can they find these email templates? You can find

27:34
the email templates at email templates with an S one Oh, one.com email templates. One? Oh, one.com. Yes. Head over for reviews and all of the specifics. Wonderful. Okay, enjoy.

27:50
Well, just in our market, there’s not a plethora of schools. No, it doesn’t seem like everybody’s business idea. Not everybody’s jumping to open a real estate, there

28:01
isn’t one big name that. Is there. One that there? Isn’t that?

28:07
I mean, there’s there’s four or five of us. And I think, you know, it’s very much like real estate we all get along. We’re competitors. But yeah, ultimately, you know, I think that there’s a limited number. There are some national schools, but again, they’re kind of gobbling each other up. So there used to be six or seven. Now there’s like two or three. So. And those are much bigger operations than I am.

28:31
Are they the ones that small? You like this? Yeah. Are there? Are those the ones who like to send me the postcard in the mail? To remind me about my, but I’ve never, it’s never enticed me. So I wonder, whatever. Yeah, it’s working for somebody, it’s worked for somebody. Okay, let’s get back to your students. Okay, and the actual pre licensing, what is the length of time that the class takes? And how much time do they have to complete it? And kind of like, what is the average?

28:59
Two different questions? So what’s it from that standpoint? Alyssa took you three weeks. Right? So that’d be about right. I would say and I, these are very rudimentary numbers. I haven’t read them in a long time, I probably should have, but I would say 30 days, about half of our students can finish it in 30 days or less, okay, if they’re really focused, and the other half either are never going to finish it, or it takes them substantially longer.

29:33
How long do they have? Is there a time when

29:35
they allow 90 days or are subscriptions a 90 day subscription? And so we used to just have a nine what we used to not have a subscription at all. And then we changed it to and this is going way back. So ultimately, what we landed on probably 15 years ago when we started this thing was we would have a 90 day subscription, and if it ran out it was 25 dollars to renew. Okay, I don’t want you to have to pay the whole thing. Right. But ultimately, gotta have a deadline. Right? Yeah. And that $25 gives you another 30 day renewal.

30:11
And you think that $25 is enough instead of to actually get them to finish?

30:15
I think, well, we’ll be kind because we wanted to make it. We wanted to put some carrot out there. Yeah. But I didn’t want again, I didn’t want to overburden.

30:26
Right, right, because it’s clearly in TradeStation. My school

30:29
is the cheapest part of this. I mean, you know, all of the fees that it takes to to get licensed, we’re the first fee, but we’re not the biggest. So I just don’t want to, I didn’t want to keep dipping back into the cookie jar. So what we have found is that’s kind of the sweet spot. But ultimately, you’d be surprised how many people resume every Wow.

30:52
All the subscription students

30:54
I was going to ask, but you may not know since it’s not in person, like when you get new students, can you tell they’re going to be good?

31:03
In class? I could, I could. Well, I take that back. Yes. And no, I each person is different. Right? Some people come in and, you know, some like, people with property management background. That’s a whole different personality commercials, the same thing. So my, to some degree, yes. You can tell people that sort of have a knack for it. Yeah. But ultimately. And you’ll do a very good job of communicating this. It’s hard work. Ya know, you get a lot of students that I like, I like to look at houses. And I, I love I love the flexibility. Right? Yeah. I love the flexibility. And and that, yes, I can understand the appearance of that. But ultimately, it’s not. That’s not what’s going to be successful. And I mean, y’all worked real hard to get you’ll make it look easy. But y’all worked real hard to get where you are. Yeah,

32:01
that’s my her clients keep getting their real estate. Correct? Correct. It’s so easy. Yeah, sure. It’s so many clients get their real estate license. I guess, ultimately, the getting your license part is the easiest part. It’s not the business building part.

32:15
And I appreciate that doesn’t you don’t know how much I appreciate your clients getting their real estate license, right.

32:20
That’s how your business works. Right. So you’re welcome. Yeah, she’s making it look

32:26
really struggling and bad at this. There may not be so many videos out there getting their license.

32:32
Okay, what is the pass rate though? Now, once they finished the class

32:36
that’s passed? Publish the pass rates, Louisiana keeps that internal? So I don’t know. ever tell you, I we so we have a system, right. And so when you order our courses, we kind of have a series of emails that goes out that kind of help. And then when you pass the course, when you get your certificate, we have another series of emails, and I would encourage communication. So if you don’t pass, I want to know, yeah, so they would

33:09
tell you can’t make yours better. They don’t tell you I

33:12
need to know why you’re not passing. Was there something on there that I didn’t cover? You know, that sort of thing. And so

33:20
do some people try to take the test without finishing the class where you can can’t like it makes you go through the whole thing.

33:28
But that’s the great news about the online course is I have logs of every time that you’ve logged in. So they met their

33:35
hours.

33:36
I feel like the pass rate, since so many people have started going online, because it is easy to zone out or do something else. Like people are not passing the first time because they weren’t focused. They weren’t focused, you know, maybe they were just doing whatever else right?

33:53
I would love to hear the difference between a pass rate online student rights as a pass rate person, because I like the online live. I like that you’re live streaming. And that is an option where I could raise my hand and be like, well answer this question right now. But you could still be looking at your kid or doing something else.

34:11
So we tried this December, we tried to do a half and half where I was going to come in for like three hours a day for five days and do like okay, you got the online portion. And now I’ll be here to answer questions. Right?

34:23
Okay. Yeah.

34:24
Did anyone come for people? Well, at least

34:28
December and January I was like, let’s give it a shot and see you know, wants to do so it was really, really odd.

34:35
But also affirmation that what you’re doing is the right path for you. Yeah, like it’s good. You wonder am I missing out? Should we have it back but then you offer it and it’s just not something that people are lining up for.

34:48
But I’ll say this about the pass rate in this is the Bob Brooks talking. I mean, if you do what I tell you to do, you should I feel very I can’t guarantee that you’re going to pass but I feel very confident you can put me up I will show the system so I’ve got Yeah, so Monday I get a call from and from a lot of times it’s parents trying to get their kid to do something. And of course, I get a call, nothing was on the test that you taught me this is this. I get it all the time.

35:18
These are adults, no hair haul,

35:21
like it’s a broker with they’re trying to get their kid licensed or something. It’s, it’s, that’s very common. So the first thing that I’m going to do is I’m gonna say, Okay, let’s get on speakerphone. Right, let’s make sure we get on speakerphone. And so just so you know, I’m about to log into your account and tell you the truth. I will tell you exactly what’s going on. Right. And so you log in and we’ll speakerphone. Yes, we are. And I was like okay, well, you haven’t logged in and 28 days. And the two tests that say exam five Exam simulation state Exam simulation. There’s two of them. You didn’t take them?

35:57
Wow, what does the parents say?

35:59
Their silence. Right. So the fact that you only missed by five points is actually good. All right, you did I Yeah. So there is a lot of I’m going to do it my way. And so ultimately, when when I get the call, that’s what I want to do is look up somebody’s logs. And I’m I can I’m pretty good. i Some people will reach out and say Hey, can you look at my scores? I’m I’m really nervous about taking the test. And then we I can log in and say you’re fun. Because that’s the other part of it, too. When you talk about pre licensing is not everybody’s like Alyssa that was used to the school thing. And then just took a test. Yeah, in school. Most of the time, it was a second career. Most of the time, they haven’t looked at a at a course at a test in 30 years. Right. So test anxiety is a thing. Sure. So part of our course, is getting used to taking a test. Maybe you should bring your ass car, we should I need to do some digital version of that.

36:56
I had all my note cards that I had question and answers. And I just wrote on my note cards, and I had a big stack and I just went through them all. And

37:03
I because you’re you’re in that student. I was a student and I had a

37:07
deadline. I didn’t want it to take my whole break. Right. I wanted to get this done. Yeah. Okay.

37:13
That’s a good point.

37:14
I did kind of panic at the end, though. Like, I don’t think I paid enough attention. And they were like, take the practice exam. And I was like, I did. You’ll be okay. Right.

37:29
Right. Okay, what would you say they were right. All right, everything is fine. What is the biggest misconception that would be agents have about real estate school? Like, what did they show up? And they think is going to happen? That doesn’t happen? Or they? Do they just assume they take the course. And they pass? What is a misconception they have?

37:51
Hmm, I would say probably the fact that once you pass, you’re immediately going to have business money is going to fall from the heavens, you’re gonna make money. So I think that’s probably the biggest. And so, you know, you try and prepare, like part of the math is you go over the commission, calculating the commission. And that’s kind of the reality of oh, by the way, this is how, where your money worked. And so we saw a funny story to show you how to update the course, as we did that one time, I started getting questions go in, I don’t want to be a salesperson, I want to be a broker. I was like, well, that’s not the way it works. And I was like, why are you? And of course two or three calls? I’m like, Why in the world? Am I getting this? And come to find out in the real estate calculations. They saw the broker was getting a piece and they were like, well, I don’t want to do the salesperson stuff I want to this broker stuff. And so we had to go in and rerecord it and say, you don’t get to be a broker unless you’re a salesperson for a certain amount of time. What are the rules to

38:49
become a broker in Louisiana? Four years, four years have your regular sales license for four years active sales last? But do you have to sell anything?

38:58
No. Just a habit, which is that’s a that’ll never change. Some of your some of your regulators or commissioners want it to change. But because real estate is so different. Yeah. Business models are so different. That’s probably the better way to say it. Right? I don’t think it’ll ever interesting. It’ll ever change. That sounds odd?

39:21
Well, it’s kind of like, we’ve always said people when they ask us, so when are you going to open your own company? And I’m like, I think the public sometimes thinks that’s the natural progression. But I’m like, if I was going to open my own company, I’d probably have to stop selling as much real estate. Because you’re looking at your I’m changing careers. I’m becoming more of a manager.

39:44
That’s it I have a lot is one of the things again in the past three years, we’ve seen a lot of salespeople become brokers and I have a lot of conversations with salespeople they’re thinking and that’s exactly what I would tell them is yeah, just different is are you going to produce or are you not and And when you become a broker to some point, if you are a really good salesperson, that doesn’t make you a really good broker, no, because then you have to deal with, you have to deal with people like you. Right? And

40:12
rather than deal with you, like my clients are difficult enough at times. So I don’t want to also deal with other agents and their clients. Like,

40:20
it’s just a whole nother ball of agents that don’t have the clients. I mean, you’re not just dealing with the top producers, you’re dealing with everybody along the line. So there are a lot of visions by salespeople that just say, Hey, I’m just going to become a broker. And, you know, some of those questions is, that’s fine, as long as it’s going to be just you but the more you grow, the more you move out of sales mentality, and intimate and some people are tailor made for their terrible agents. Yeah, awesome. Have that. Because they have that because they have that. So it’s a it’s an interesting,

40:54
just depends on your personality. And there’s been a lot of

40:57
people that get their broker’s license, open their own company, and we’re like, this is a terrible idea and go back, just go back to be in production.

41:04
Yeah. Do you ever wonder the opposite. We talk a lot about like these, like teams that are under a big brokerage that the team really operate operates like its own tiny brokerage? Do you ever wonder why those people don’t become brokers? I mean, they are basically running a small office,

41:21
if you’re a team, you could just be yourself.

41:26
There’s, there’s thoughts liabilities, one, you always have somebody else that you can go to right. Some of its business model, I mean, it everything’s negotiable. So if I’ve got an enormous team, and I’m thinking about leaving a maybe, maybe the brokers makes it financially agreeable to keep you some sometimes and again, I’m just, I’m just making these up. Yeah. But ultimately, you know, in some cases, if I have admin or support staff, maybe the brokerage pays for those to keep my team

41:59
so they don’t pay for it. You gave them a percentage of the money you made. So I don’t really think that’s a valid argument, maybe. Because at the end of the day, that’s still a business trying to make money over you. running your business trying to make money. Like,

42:13
that’s how it works a lot of funnels. Right. It’s

42:15
a big, it’s a lot of funnels, Everybody takes their their cut, right? It’s I would agree the liability part makes sense to me. Like maybe you just don’t want to shoulder the burden. Maybe you don’t want to pay attention to your paperwork. Maybe

42:25
you don’t like a big brand name, a big brand name.

42:28
Maybe you want the name recognition. All of that does make sense to me. I’m just it’s an it’s a curious thing. I’ve noticed that as teams have become more and more, don’t you think teams have become more and more popular?

42:40
Or are dangerously close to promoting them? They’re making? They’re basically looking like their brokerage.

42:46
Right. We have that issue here. Is that everywhere? For the most part?

42:51
I mean, they have their separate offices, they have their separate logos they have and I’m not I think teams are fun. Yeah, you’re a new agent.

42:58
That’s a great, right.

42:59
I would argue that that’s probably one of the better places that you can get the training as being a part of a team. Sure. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m

43:06
no, no, that’s fine. Yeah, you

43:08
also teach the class on however many ways to lose your license. And you see that a lot of violations are that you have to be very careful with how you advertise because the public,

43:19
I think realtors, a lot of times forget that most of these rules are about what we’re doing to the public. It’s not all about you, it’s about the public, if the public can’t understand from your side, who your broker is, and who to call in case of a problem, then you’re breaking a rule, because your team’s name that looks like a brokerage with your team logo and your team sign. And then in very teeny tiny print are no prints at all, it was usually the violation, right? Is your actual broker. That’s why the rule is there. Because the public has to be able to find the person to book right.

43:57
On that note, when people graduate. Do you feel like they asked you for advice on what to do? Or do

44:05
sometimes? Yeah, I mean, some people? Yes. What do I do now? Where do I go? What’s happening? I mean, we don’t what is

44:12
that process? Like once they graduate?

44:19
Yes. Your certificate? I would say the majority of people have something in mind, right? Yeah. But But if somebody comes to me, you know, I’ll give them my two cents and just, you know, for, for me in looking at a and again, every person is different. If somebody was in sales, well, then that’s a skill set that that is tailor made for one where somebody comes out that doesn’t know anything about anything, right? You’re gonna need a little bit more support, education, that sort of thing. So a lot of times I’ll ask what their background is, I’ll ask sort of where you are in life. What’s your life? If stage, you know, what’s your financial situation? And we’ll kind of get a picture and then go, Okay, well, if I’m you, this is these are the questions that I would ask when you walk into a brokerage. Right? And, and, you know, and trying to, because and y’all have talked about this in the past, it’s not all about commission split, right? And I always say, you know, 90% of zero is zero, right? If you’re going to get if you’re going in there for commission split, and it’s not the right fit, and they’re not going to give you the support and training, right. That’s, you know, some people don’t, some people don’t need support. And some people are very self starters. And it really doesn’t matter what company they are. So yeah, that’s gonna be important. But some people, you know, if we’re getting a 6040 split or a 7525 split, and the broker is effectively a coach, right, and that’s, that’s what you need. So, you know, I that’s the conversation that, that I have a lot with, with, with people and just trying to let them know it’s going to be work.

46:02
Right. Right. Yeah. Good for you. Thank you. Yes, we thank you. For that so much. It’s going to be work. This is an important

46:10
thing. You asked the question earlier, I just thought of an answer to it. It cannot tell who’s going to be successful. Yeah. Just

46:16
a few based on the speed of how quick they get through the class. Not necessarily.

46:19
So. Restaurant if you’ve worked in a restaurant, you look, I think that’s a very interesting retail and restaurants are interesting skill sets to have. And that’s what we are they they I guess that is right, you’re dealing with the fact that you dealt with every personality imaginable. With a smile, you are used to irregular hours. And you kind of know what hard work is I mean, you can look at some of the top agents in our area. And a lot of them. I don’t know if I can name names, but a lot of them were in that restaurant. Donna Vilar under restaurant Lauren, Steven Smith on the restaurant, Tim D’Angelo on a restaurant, you kind of look at that. And the other one is, is sales. Some guy some folks come in from a sales background, whether it’s radio sales, or whether it’s some type of skill set. And that one’s just ease because again, in sales, you’re used to a commission structure, right used to setting your own hours, you have the sales goals that you have to meet. So that kind of is a mindset as well. That’s not saying you’re guaranteed to be successful, but ultimately, you’re going to be more set up for it. You’re getting skills. And having said that, I never was in a restaurant business, but my family a lot of real estate. I did. Well, I said I was I tried to do both. And then when Bob and I became partners, so I started a note three, I’d probably say 2010 ish. He and I became partners, okay. And he basically said, you have to choose and I said,

47:55
are you okay with that? Was it a hard decision looks like it

47:59
really, I mean, well, it this, again, is gonna sound very arrogant. I don’t mean it. But I knew I could always go sell real estate. It was something that I that I had built a foundation. And so when you have the opportunity to go, wow, the school things cool, right? That doesn’t work out, I could sell real estate, whereas if I sold real estate, I don’t know that I can always go back to the school. So small. So we made the decision. So I still I still have select clients, there’s some people that that say, Hey, I want to work with you. And only you. I leave that most of it to all of you. So I had to make, he made me make that decision. It was it was smart. Yeah, he because ultimately, two years ago, or three years ago, when I listed my own house, and this will be a shock to you, but not a shock to everyone is when typically when I when I put a sign in the yard, I’ll get a call from an agent or a broker that says, What are you doing? Why are you competing with me? I’ll send all my students to you and I can’t believe that you’re and I was like, that’s my own house, or that’s my grandmother’s house. Right? I listed my grandmother’s house they were like can’t be making though. So it was so there. Yeah. So and Bob had warned me about that. He’s like, they’re gonna think that you’re competing with them. And I was like, I do not see that at all. But it’s a mindset, every, every piece of property that I have listed as one day always has been a family member or my literal best friend, or may whatever. And every time I’ll get a call saying, What are you doing?

49:31
There’s plenty out there. There’s plenty. It says scarcity mindset that, you know, that was one I could have had no doubt your

49:39
friend or your grandma or whoever also knew 10 other realtors. That’s the one who called

49:44
right. And I have to be sensitive about that. Yeah, I mean, you shouldn’t try to have a very wide umbrella, right? Everybody under the tip. So I try and be as sensitive as I can. So no, I don’t do all of that.

49:56
Okay, good. Anything. Here’s here’s our fun You know, what is your goal or hope for your students? Like? What do you wish for them?

50:09
Success I truly, you know, the one thing that I miss about the classroom is getting to know the students on a personal level, and you can share in the success a little more. From a pre licensing standpoint, it’s, it is very neat to walk into a class and see students that that are successful having taken your program. Yeah, that’s why I enjoy going to classes from a C standpoint is because I get to see those folks where I’ve seen their name, but I didn’t necessarily see your face.

50:37
And then it’s funny because they feel like they know you. That is correct. They watch you, but you never saw them.

50:42
I’ll have a five minute conversation with someone and they’ll go wait a second, we’ve never met and I’m going, thank you

50:48
good. Okay, just making sure.

50:50
But it’s real estate’s a really, it typically is a second career. And a lot of times people are at a very vulnerable part in their life. And I’ve had people in our classes that they got fired or laid off that their spouse left them that, you know, something as simple as my kids are now in school, and I don’t have anything to do, right. They just their transition, they’re at some crossroads, and they’re very vulnerable. And then you can come in and kind of just watch confidence. And then five years later, you can, you know, you see something where their top 10 in their company, or they’re getting some award, that part is cool. So that’s what I really, that’s the part that I like, is I like watching somebody kind of come through, and then just grow and blossom and align, say, I always saw it in you. But yeah. It’s, it’s something that really kind of enjoy watching people succeed.

51:54
Yeah. So are you going to try to? Are you still pursuing all 50? States slowly, but surely.

52:01
Maybe, you know, it’s it’s, there’s, and I’m sure you all struggle with this. How big do you want to get right? And when you when you get to a certain point, you have to add layers and people and complexity, and we’ve got a really good efficient structure. Yeah. So the short answer is yes, I like the money. I think it would be great. But But what I have discovered is we’ve got to add it piece by piece. So as we start adding the states, we kind of, we kind of figure it out. So it’s you always

52:31
got to work to make money. I know.

52:34
That’s work. So much work.

52:37
You got to put it in the time.

52:40
Okay, yeah. Brought a toast for us. I did do today.

52:45
Well, this is a little cheesy, perhaps, but it’s my wife. So by the time this airs, it’ll be close to our 20th year anniversary. Love it. So 20 years. And so she in 20. So Bob, and I became partners in 2010. And then in 2015. He walks in on a Tuesday, and like, I’m done, you close the business, the other part of our transaction on a Friday to three days. And so I’m stuck with this business owner. And I was like, I don’t really know what to do. And my wife had had another job. So the in 2016, I was like drowning. And I was like, I can’t, I can’t help this. And so she came on board on 2016. And all of the background you’ve had, she’s in a she’s marketing background. That’s just what you needed. So she runs truly runs the day to day operation. I mean, I’m just we should have interviewed her. She’s the one that you interview. I’m the microphone. And I

53:51
always joke with her. Like if someone wanted to interview us and got Jay correct, you know, right. Like, it’s

53:57
just the talent. So I literally, yesterday, I was in my studio for five hours, and she’s the one that makes sure that everybody’s registered and the students are happy. Everybody does what they’re supposed to do. So she knows she truly is the heartbeat and not to mention the whole mom duties that along with a company of those things. So she’s, she’s the best 20 years.

54:22
Oh, thank you. And cheers. Cheers years to Laura. So Laura. Okay. Well, thank you for coming. We appreciate you so much. This was fun. I’m sure we’ll get lots of questions about real estate school, so we’ll just forward them straight.

54:37
What I do, oh, do

54:38
you want to tell everyone where they could find you though?

54:40
So our school and in Baton Rouge is Bob Brooks brooks.com. Okay, then in every other state. It’s the Lancaster Institute. So Lancaster Institute. I like that.

54:52
I know. Sounds efficient. Good. I know it’s Yeah. Gone from school to institute that’s

54:57
correct. Well, so you can’t There are some states where you can’t use the word school you can’t use the word college you can’t use the word Academy because then they start looking at it as a university. Oh, so you have to go through a whole set of regulations things you learn. So you’re like,

55:12
Well what word works but doesn’t Institute is accepted to to

55:16
terms to be accept, but it’s very difficult to spell so I’m trying to find a URL that’s super small. Lancaster Institute is

55:24
Vegas, I’m guessing lancaster.com Is it a real?

55:27
No, it’s not we tried. Took me 10 years to buy brooks.com But oh, my goodness, it was Bob Brooks school.com forever and it took me 10 years and were you like then just let it go. And more than I wanted to pay for it.

55:42
Okay, well, Wow,

55:43
interesting. big

55:44
takeaways. You must work and you must pay money. It’s true. Yes, yes. Okay. Goodbye.

55:53
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55:56
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56:04
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56:11
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