Episode 2 is an overview of the real estate industry from our perspective. We talk to each other about the messages Realtors receive when they enter the industry and the overall glamorous perception perpetrated by outlets like HGTV. Hear us discuss why we don’t think it matters how you dress and what you drive and that you CAN be you and find success in your business. We touch on what’s trendy in the industry and what “they” tell you to do. We also talk about what hustle looks like to us and how we feel about that word.
The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.
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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 work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business. So stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hey guys, welcome to episode two, episode two of hustle humbly. Hi. And this is all about what is the culture of the real estate industry right now. Before we jump into that, on the last episode, we mentioned some stats. Oh, I can’t wait. We’re gonna cover the stats. But should we also we talked about this people might not know our voices yet. Oh, yeah. So this is Katie. This is me. Hey, guys, it’s Alisa. Okay, now, you know, okay. Yes. So when we were looking at the fail rate, which is really the only stat that we were looking for, I came across some other interesting numbers. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna cover some because it’s the state of the industry. Yeah, numbers are good. We want to know where we’re coming from. Yeah. So So here’s what we have. Um, the fail rate is around 87%. In the first five years, oh, five. So the way they actually worded it was 13% of Realtors make it past five years. Okay. And those are the ones that that last right. So I thought that’s very interesting. Long term agents, right. When the National Association of REALTORS began in 1908, there was 1646 realtors in the country. 1000. Right, right at 1600. Probably no 1000 Just as a human. Oh, for sure. For sure. Now, the National Association of REALTORS has 1373 I’m sorry, one I have. Yes. It has 1,000,373 227 realtors. 1.3 million people selling real estate is that just real tours are real estate agents. That’s just Realtors not real estate agent. These stats came from the National Association of real so we got those and this is in the last year. Yeah, this was for June 2019. Okay, so it’s wary of 1.3 million realtors in the United States. Yes. And then just in our marketplace in the Baton Rouge area. We have 2341 realtors that sold at least one house in the last 12 months. Right. And so if you’re local, you probably are saying to yourself, well, there’s way more Realtors than 2300. Yes, it pushes near 3000 People with a real estate license and record right but at least 2300 sold one house one house. Um, the average Realtor in the United States is a 54 year old white female. Okay, I just thought that was randomly interesting. It’s interesting, because I don’t know if we’ve discussed this, but I’m 42. And you are I’m 30. So we’re below average or below average, we’re useful for the for the profession, right? Exactly. According to Nar, the average realtor works 35 hours per week, they may be lying, you probably have taken this survey and said that because in my mind, I want to believe that’s true, right? That would be lovely. And they have an average income of $41,800. Okay, it’s tough when you think about all those fees and dues and yeah, being 1099 paying taxes rough. It’s very rare. It’s not a lot of take home pay people it’s not. And then and they do that the average realtor sells 12 houses a year. Okay, so for a point of reference, I think, oh, gosh, I usually push around 30 A year transactions that depends. I’ve gone you know, 35 ish is probably the highest 37. But how many did you do last year? Um, last year, I was in the 80s. Okay, and my best year so far was 2017 Selling 92 Home 92. So that’s good. That’s interesting, very interesting numbers here. So for today’s topic, we’re talking about the culture of the real estate industry. And I feel like it’s a great episode for episode number two, after coming off episode number one, right, which was really our why. Yeah, and a little bit of touching on the culture. And now we’re going to talk about what we know to be true. Yeah, what we see and you know, are pretty areas right? In our market, but I have a feeling it’s, it’s probably very similar throughout. Do you belong to any groups that are nationwide? Or, you know, like, I have a couple of Facebook groups or realtors that I’m in? Oh, yeah. So you can get a vibe for what other people are feeling or saying, right? Yes. Okay. I am okay. And I think that the culture is one reason you and I I sort of became friends because all of a sudden there was somebody that wasn’t like, so sucked in. Yeah, and could just see it for what it was right? And recognize, like the strengths and weaknesses that you have within it that I have within it. And our friendship just kind of worked. And we were like, it’s kind of weird that we’re such good friends and we’re with different companies, because that’s not that’s not the norm. That’s not the norm. I mean, people I feel like we have a friendly Association, but to do like a podcast together. I mean, I’ve actually lost a listing to you before. That’s true. That was technically before we were friends. I just tried to be mindful. It was in my neighbor. That sounds really bad. Just saying it sounds really bad. Yeah, I didn’t steal it. No, she didn’t steal it. She She want it. Yeah. Well, I mean, sort of weird. There were other real there was a lot of drama involved, not between us. But in the whole situation. The sellers got too many people too many Realtors involved. They called so many people they did. And when I thought I was going for pictures, they were like, Oh, we already have a realtor. It’s Katie. Yeah. And then and then I reached out for the for the original coffee wasn’t that long after that? Yeah. And I was like, Oh, this is that Katie? girl. She’s still y’all. But okay to speak to character. You still came to the coffee? Yeah, you even knew. Like, that’s ridiculous. We did talk about this scenario during the coffee. It was not malicious. And I appreciate that. You gave me the opportunity to talk that. Yeah, I’m glad I did. Look, here we are now where we are now. Okay, but so culture? What do you feel like the culture is in the real estate industry? Okay, this is really complex, I think but we’ll just touch on as much as we can. I think that it’s a feast or famine situation where a lot of people Realtors love to talk. I mean, talkers, by nature, you have to be to get through this, but they love to talk, and maybe be a little bit dramatic at times. Yeah, you know, it’s an up and down. I feel like part of the culture. That’s not I mean, there’s a lot of competition. It’s not we do not all operate in a community vibe. We are constantly feeling like we’re in competition for listings or buyers, or, you know, like, there isn’t enough for everyone. It’s a scarcity mindset problem. I think that I fall, you know, victim to that probably just as much as anyone I really am competitive by nature. And so this this industry is rough for me to navigate. Because I don’t want to focus on that. Yeah, it is. It’s hard not to get sucked into the culture. The majority of my friends are realtors, because that’s who I spend my time with my office friends, people outside of my office. And it is hard not to listen noise the word noise keeps coming up. But that’s what it is just people’s perspective of what’s going on. And it’s really hard to keep a positive mindset to keep your attitude right to keep your focus good. Yes, I spend a lot of time working in my home office where it is just me and I have full control on what I am thinking because when I’m alone and I’m paying attention to my mindset, which we’re going to dive really deep into next episode, then I can stay positive but there are a lot of people in the industry who are looking to drag other people down right and maybe make you feel a little bit less than if you’re not measuring up. Yeah, I think that that’s something I have definitely experienced. Social media of course is very heavy in our culture. Right? We I mean you don’t want to be a secret agent No, you have to be on social Yeah, you have to be on social media people need to know that you’re out there and that you’re doing this An example would be June this year was a really good month for our marketplace our market Yeah, a lot of people including myself had a really good June I posted about my June a thank you to my clients it was my record month so far in my real estate career. A few others I saw I saw some mortgage lenders my record month too. It was yeah because of my big listing. Oh yeah, that’s awesome. Well, congrats June was good for everyone. June was good for everyone. Mortgage lenders had a good June we saw them posting on social media. Yes. My lender posted Yes, I saw her they were and so I It was just cool. It was cool to see like everybody had a good June it was very positive.
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It was very possible at then. Go on. There’s got to be a Debbie Downer. Yep. Who has to make a post saying, Man, there sure has been a lot of humble bragging going on on social media lately. How would we ever know how wonderful you’re doing and how fantastic you are? Without social media? Yes. And then of course it was hashtag humble brag. And it’s just like, why is why is it even necessary? It’s not like It’s just going out of your way to write something negative. Yeah, like, it’s not like she was like personally attacking anyone, but it was just not needed. Do you think that came from a place where maybe she felt less than because everyone else was doing so well. And maybe that wasn’t her best mom and I, you know, I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt hurting people hurt people. Maybe she’s coming from a place of just wishing she had had been able to celebrate. And you just never know I do. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt you never know where they’re coming from. But you can have some self control and just not you don’t have to be negative, right? Putting negativity out there, then you’re gonna get negativity back. But that’s our culture. Yes, that is part of our culture. What sort of messages do you think new agents specifically receive when they come into real estate? I feel like at first it’s like glamour, Glamour glamour. Yeah, like we’re a very glamorous like real estate. We just, we work at the cute coffee shops and we Instagram and we take cute picture. Have you seen some of my Instagram Stories? I’ve been trying to combat this on my own. I’m a one man army. I post whenever I’m dusting, I post whenever I’m sweeping. I saw you pull up trash cans. I pulled Oh my gosh. Oh, I picked up the most disgusting bag of trash out of the road before a showing. And it was in a filthy disgusting puddle. And I had to roll up the trash. It’s gross. Yeah, it’s it’s those things aren’t on social media, although they want it to seem like, you know, this is just the life. Yes. It’s all glamorous. All with all with the guy don’t even have words for it. Really? Because it’s not glamorous, at all. Yeah, I mean, it’s fun to post the cute houses that we see. But I mean, I’ve been in houses that have fleas. Oh, you know, I should have thought of a list of gross houses I’ve been in. I’ve been in ones I did literally didn’t want to breathe in. I just smelled so bad. I wanted to wash my entire body, not just my hands when I left. I had a final walkthrough yesterday. And I had to wait outside because it was so heavily smelling of cigarette smoke. And I had lunch with my dad after and he was kind of like, did you start smoking? Like no, I was just in a smoky house. Right? There are a lot of places where I feel icky. Yeah. And we weren’t even I mean, we could go on a whole nother tangent about safety. Oh, yes, we should do a whole episode, we should probably do well episode on it, because it’s important to be safe. Yeah. What about while we’re talking about being in gross places? Let’s talk a little bit about maybe the perception of the industry as far as what you were and what you drive? And how does that it’s all part of that what you’re putting out there to the public. As a perception of real estate, what are your thoughts on this? I think some of it again, is thanks to HGTV. Oh, that’s true for making Realtors look like they have to work, you know, suits every day and drive fancy cars and basically be unapproachable. But on that note, so I guess 2016 I was placed into Baton Rouge is 30 under 30 Note 40 under 4040 under 4040 under 40. And part of that recognition part of the reward was that Mercedes gave us each a Mercedes five, I remember this for a month. So for a month, I got rid of my Toyota, right, and I drove a Mercedes. Mm hmm. And y’all I cannot tell you how many times I pulled up at a $200,000 house to show this young family who was on a budget. And I felt like I needed to explain myself, right. I was like, this isn’t my car. I drive a Toyota, right. Like, like, they literally looked at the car like, wow, we’re trying to buy a house that kind of stinks on the inside. So that way we can still afford diapers. Right? It’s it was just a tough spot to be in because I didn’t I was excited about the Mercedes, right? It’s like, I’m going to drive this Mercedes for a whole month. It’s going to be so cool. But almost every time that I pulled up to a client, I felt like a fraud and I felt like I needed to explain myself and look. I think if you want to drive a Mercedes, you should drive it drive. Good. Do it. It just made me realize that where I am in my personal journey of real estate, I don’t Well, what also might just be that that isn’t what resonated with you as a person you didn’t go out and buy that car. Right? I have a great car story. Okay, so I think it was 2008 I believe I so I’ve been in the business like three years, you know, trucking along. I had my you know, Honda Pilot, which I still have today a different one but I like my Honda um And I’ve met a new client internet lead. They’ve never met me young couple not not even married yet. They were about to get married. Going to look at look, bless them. They had saved up enough money to start looking at 300,000. Wow. Right. I mean, it’s pretty impressive for first time homebuyer Yeah, either way, I pulled up in my, I, y’all I’m not gonna lie, I beat up my cars, they’re dented and scratched, and I just, I’ve treat them rough. We live in hard. I’m really using them. So I pull up in my Honda Pilot, and they’ve never met me before. And we go through the tour, and we come back out. And he looks at me and he says, Well, we had met with another couple of agents, I think they just been kind of calling signs or other online, you know, companies or whatever. And he said, but we would like to work with you. I like your car. I feel like you’re not, you know, going to be too much for us or put on it like whatever they just like to say like the humility of my car. Yeah. Like this is legitimately my car where I feel comfortable in. And they were into that. And I always go back to that story. I listen to a lot of Brian Buffini and have done some of his trainings. And he tells some stories about the type of car that he drove in the beginning. And the point is, it doesn’t matter what you’re driving. No, it does. It doesn’t matter what you’re driving, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. As long as you present yourself professionally. You don’t have to have the fanciest clothes or the fanciest car. And if you want the fanciest clothes and the fanciest car, that’s okay, too. Right? That’s your clientele. You What do you always say, Your vibe attracts your tribe. I didn’t make that up, y’all. I feel like that was in a Gary Vee book. And it’s true. It is true. And I think the reason I felt so uncomfortable is because it wasn’t authentic to who I am. You know, like the majority of my clients, my average price point is like 220 to two radii. And, you know, it’s just not as relatable and that’s why I think it’s cool that there are so many realtors out there, that if you’re a fancy shmancy person, right and get a fancy shmancy realtor it doesn’t want anyone and if you don’t want you don’t have to look my biggest listing ever over $2 million at the start the most down to earth people they I don’t know that they would have wanted to work with me if I had shown up in a fancy shmancy car, they liked your Honda. They they liked my Honda and your jeans, probably they probably did. And I had to show that that takes us right into clothes, I had to show that house in flats or boots, or you know, some type of sandal because you had to walk three acres, and there was waterfalls and streams. And yeah, that was a cool house and mud. You know, it didn’t make any sense to wear. And sometimes I would remind the other agents who were coming to bring their buyers that they needed to wear practical shoes, because he couldn’t take the tour in stiletto heels and he just couldn’t. Yeah, it’s very interesting. I think that even with offices, you’ll see that they’re sort of more relaxed offices. I mean, people wear whatever they want, wherever they’re working, and you sort of gravitate towards the one that fits what you are and what you’re comfortable with. And that’s their style for every client. Oh, yeah, I think that’s good. I just like being whoever I am. Because then I feel more comfortable when I’m talking to people. Um, I’m in jeans almost all the time. I mean, there’s just, they’re nice. I don’t feel like I look shabby. The times that I have felt the most uncomfortable is when I was trying to be impressive. Yeah. And I was dressed up trying to be super fancy and act like I was something that I wasn’t right. And then I may have looked the part but you didn’t feel I didn’t feel it. And it did not come out in my interview. And those are probably the listings that I did not get selected for yet more likely to lose them. Yeah, cuz I just I couldn’t speak right. Because I just was too nervous and trying too hard. It’s hard to lean into who we are. It is hard. That’s not preached in, in the culture. No one’s out there. Given that message being used. Do you do whatever is comfortable with you? And that’s part of what we’re trying to.
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Yeah, like I’ve had realtor friends from other companies or whatever, text me and be like, Hey, you want to grab lunch today? And depending on who that person is, I’m like, I wish I was dressed better. Yes. Like I wish that I had today was I had worn heels right? But yeah, I think you know it you have to be whatever whoever you are, you have to be comfortable with it. You need to own it. And it does need to be professional. Yeah, no, you need to we’re not going to like have a slob screw up and be sloppy and no for just embrace the realtor brand. Okay, but it’s okay to dress and drive how you wish to correct Do you Do you on the dressing and the driving? And I think the only reason we’re even having to discuss this is because one big thing that is happening in our culture. Yes is perception over reality cars rekt volume over income people will sacrifice actual money in their bank account to have the numbers appear to be larger. Right. And that is something that has been a huge problem. I think country wide from what I’ve been seeing right boards across the country are trying to figure out with people who are lying about their numbers in putting sales that they weren’t involved in teams not disclosing how many people are on their team. Oh, that’s interesting. Yes. People going by a solo name when they are in fact, a team labeling things correctly. There’s just people are willing to not make as much money as long as it looks like they’re
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the best. Right? We’re number one. We’re number one. Look at the numbers. Gotta be number one. Right. Okay.
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Hello, friends. Hi, y’all. Our template course has launched out there. And we have been getting some really positive feedback. Yes, I have some great feedback I wanted to share with you guys. We had one purchaser say thank you for these templates. As a new agent, I feel it would have taken me years to create these on my own. That’s awesome. I know. It’s so great. And then I had these are so incredibly helpful. What a great investment. Thank you for your time and efforts putting these together. I think that you guys, this is the answer to saving yourself some time. It helps you put systems in place, it keeps you professional, it keeps you consistent. It just makes everything run so much smoother, much smoother. You’re never going to forget to tell somebody something, no, this always there. It’s all there. And you’re going to edit it to make it sound like your voice if you’d like and it’s going to be perfect for your business. Yeah, so go check out our template course. Yes. At a soul humbly podcast.com. Perfect. Enjoy, enjoy. What do you think is trendy in the industry as a whole? You know, it’s interesting. I saw a post the other day in one of the nationwide groups, and people are starting teams like big teams really fast. Right? First when they first start. Yeah, they’re like, I’m gonna be realtor and I’m gonna make a big team. I personally don’t understand how it’s possible, right? I guess there are some people out there doing it. Maybe we’ll have to interview some of them. I think their brain. Yeah, that would be good. I am. So you’re seven years behind me. When I started. There were teams Yeah, for sure. There were teams, but it was not at all the way it is now where it feels like almost everyone is a team are a 5050. Let’s just say it’s 5050. That’s how it feels to me right now. And when I started there was a handful of big teams. But in that team structure, you knew who the team leader was. And they typically were a rainmaker, which meant they were taking listings, and they were filtering out the buyer leads to all of the agents below them, where however many that was none of those agents below were taking listings. It was one listing agent. And then I guess buyer’s agents, we’ll just call all of them below. Yeah, now they’re in it’s kind of interesting that you can have different types of teams. Sometimes it’s just a two person team. And I could list everything together. Or there’s a team where anyone can take a listing anyone can represent a buyer, or I think there’s some teams that are structured where they do different geographical areas, which that makes logical sense. But that’s almost just like a mini brokerage. Right? So that’s kind of a good question. And when we have those people in here, I want to ask the people that have a team with like, staff and administration, like, if you have all that and you’re paying for all that, why not be your own broker? Right, if you’re paying for it, and we’ll need to make a note of that. Yeah, well, because we really find this out for you. I guess this is a good time for us to talk about neither of us as a team. No, we’re about you need to know that. No. And, and I guess I’m about to get a little vulnerable. Because do it as my success has grown. I have been pressured to build a team. Okay. It is something that when I talk to high producing realtors, they’re like, You need a team Alyssa, you shouldn’t be putting your signs out. You shouldn’t be having to do all this background work and do this and do that. And it almost upsets them that you don’t that I don’t have a team, right. And it’s almost like in resistance to that. I have had to say, I don’t want to be a team. I don’t I’m like the rebellious teenager like you’re trying to prove something now i It got to the point where I was like, I feel like I need to prove something and stay solo just to show all these people that it irritates so much that I can do it. Okay, well then fast forward, you have a baby and there’s some new agents in our office that could use some extra income Um, and I don’t mind paying them to put out some signs or, you know, and it’s almost like I was scared for certain people to find out that I had someone, right helping a lot of judgment in the industry or it’s there’s a lot of judgment in our culture, right. And it’s almost like people want to say, Oh, she has a team member. So that’s why they’re not. That’s why the numbers are so big. That was the secret. That was the secret. It’s been a secret. We’re trying to find the secret. And now I feel like even if I wanted to start a team one day, I couldn’t, because I would just be blasted. Right, right. You failed, you failed for the individual agent, you could do it all. And now you can do it. Now. We told her we, because recently I was asked to speak on a panel. Okay. And I was the only solo agent. Okay. Everybody else was on a team. Okay. And I thought I would love to speak on that panel to speak to the solo agents, right. But that’s not why I was brought there. They, I was brought there, basically to be made an example of, and at the end of it, they said, How many of you in here can sell that many houses in a year? Nobody? And I went, Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. I thought that’s why I was here. And basically they were like, no, no, you’re here so that we can show people your cautionary tale. Yes. But how you’re happy? It’s like they don’t want to believe it. This is. And it got a little awkward in the panel. Not really, for me. It didn’t bother me. I have tough skin in those kinds of situations. But after it ended, people were coming up to me, some of them apologizing for how it went. And I was like, wow, okay, it’s okay. I can I don’t take it personally, I enjoy the debate. Right? Well, and the next week, my mailbox at my office was full of cards, handwritten, literally handwritten letters from people being like, I just want to tell you that I’m a solo agent. And you inspired me. That’s awesome. Thank you for taking the heat during that panel. Right. And it resulted in like seven more coffees? Well, of course it did. Yeah, I did combine some of them, though. But that is just part of our culture is that when you see someone being successful, you want to explain it away discount and want to discount figure out the secret, right? Where how is this happening? Right? So you know, at the moment, right now I am content with helping the new agents out the new agents helped me out. I’m not I don’t have a buyer’s agent. It’s just me. I’m content to stay that way. Okay. If that ever changes in the future, I’ll have to just figure it out when that time comes and be prepared for the comments, but well, who cares? Who cares? It is what it is. It is what it is? And I don’t think it matters. No, you do whatever works for you. It’s your business. Yeah. Which is the point. Do whatever works for you. Yeah. Okay. Let’s talk a little bit about what they tell you to do. So when when you get into the business, what do they I’m doing my air quotes for the podcast? What do they tell you to do? What’s going to work? I have one in particular that I want to touch on, go for it, because it just had this happen. So we had a hurricane. This past weekend. It wasn’t much of anything. But I specifically contacted my seller who had their house listed for sale. And I can tell you the story for sale and for rent at the same time. So I had two listings in the system, we were going to go either way and see what happened. Well, we get a tenant, so we’re going to rent it out. So I need to pull the listing out of the system, those sale listing. Okay, so I sent her a message Saturday morning, and I said, Hey, there’s a hurricane today. So today is the day that I’m going to pull your listing from the MLS in hopes that all of the agents that call withdrawn listings do not harass you. And that is part of the culture of today. Yes, the people who are like there are all sorts of methods to get business. And I just feel like that particular one, the expired withdrawn, listing. Cold Calls has gotten really out of hand in our market. And I don’t know if it’s nationwide, I don’t know if it’s just here. But you will hear agents complain that their sellers for whatever reason, decided not to sell their house and then have to field days worth of calls to them. Their mother, their brother, their kid who’s 13 their grant, I have heard them all these agents bless them because they’re working hard. They’re out there hustling, they’re hustling. They they get all the phone numbers and they call all the phone numbers. I would love to know what the conversion rate is on that but I have to prep my clients that it’s going to happen right I think she may have gotten through unscathed. It’s now Tuesday and she hasn’t told me she got any calls. So my plan may have worked. But I feel like it’s unfortunate that I have to have a plan like that. Yeah, I think that it is unfortunate that that behavior kind of gives Realtors a bad rap in that they are. It bothers the public. It’s it is bothersome to the public. Yeah. Yeah. Like if they wanted to keep their house on the market and weren’t happy with their realtor. They would withdraw or expire and then call another realtor. I’m sure there are agents that have some success with this that would Yeah, I’m sure I want to rebut our feelings on it. And I’m happy to hear them.
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Maybe we’ll interview maybe Hey, Carl, we’ll do an interview with you. You can tell us why it’s awesome. Yeah. Okay.
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It seems like less and less people are working their sphere of influence. Yes. It seems like it’s all about who do we not know let’s let’s stock the internet leads. Let’s door knock. Let’s cold call let’s do for sale by owners withdrawn. expireds. And, you know, again, there are people that are very successful in that, but it’s rare now. To find people that are sphere, focus, fear, because again, it’s the long game. Yeah, in order that takes too long takes a long time. We all want in relationships. They’re so needy. Yes, building your relationship with your sphere members is a labor intensive time consuming activity. It is not like logging into Zillow and saying I will pay you X dollars for X leads and then right and go show those people houses on Saturday at the drop of a hat because they’re gonna want to see them right away. Right? To be fair, when I started, I guess I was pretty progressive in 2006. I started paying for online leads. Zillow did not even exist, wow, Zillow was not a thing. And I paid for leads to a company called market leader at the time, they had just listed.com And I think house values.com. And they would play commercials on CNN and ESPN, whatever on all kinds of cable channels, and I paid I don’t even remember, I think it was 250 bucks a month and I would get there weren’t that many people in my in our market at the time doing it. So I would get a lot of overflow, I think I was guaranteed. Let’s just say 30 leads, I would get some months 7080 100 leads, I want to go set each and every one of them up on an MLS search. Oh my god, that was pretty intense. And internet leads then. And now I’m pretty sure it’s similar stats about 5% turn. So you need a ton about how it was for you. Yeah, it really was probably four to 5%. But I think that I probably would have fell victim to the 87% of Realtors don’t make it in the first five years had I not had those leads. Because I think that I that’s how you got started. That’s how I got started. Because you know what, it’s nice to practice on people who don’t know you and aren’t gonna see you again, like maybe you have a bad showing and they don’t call you back. And that’s fine. And you move on. And so it was helpful. And that’s I guess my point is, there’s a time and place for everything. And if it’s working for you then work it and that’s okay. But I for sure did. And as that moved on through my career. I don’t do any internet leads now. Right? I mean, I have a website that gets an occasional lead, but I’m not paying anyone to send me internet leads. Because the fun thing about that is 14 years deep, you can just contact your sphere from the past closings. It’s like a lovely group of people who already know like and trust you. With interesting I found out this is a new thing. Oh, let’s hear one thing that’s trending right now is partnering with a lender or title company to share the cost of online leads. Yes. And the rule is that anything that comes through is that lender and you as the realtor, y’all share that lead, okay, I just can’t imagine going to somebody being like, Hey, will you pay for some of my well, it almost feels like, okay, let’s just say you have a preferred lender and you go to them and say, I’m gonna get XYZ leads, okay, it’s gonna cost me $500 a month, I need to partner with a lender to pay half of that. Do you want to pay half and your preferred lender who you’ve used is going to say okay, because they don’t want you to go get another lender to do it. Right right. Yeah, there’s not a lot of loyalty now there really isn’t so I feel like that’s just become an interesting thing. I got started a lot on phone duty. But what was what I used to do and people don’t believe me like when I when I tried to like Coach new agents on what I used to do. It’s like they don’t believe me when I say I used to really like call those people Yeah, like the sign calls the people that call them phone duty, the open house people. The cold leads if I had a spreadsheet, and I called people until they told me to go away. Oh, you were relentless. I want I followed up in a nice way. And then non stalker way. Maybe sometimes I’ve ordered stalking when I would like look them up and find their address and handwrite them a thank you card. Oh, I have I have literally done that. Okay. So in the beginning, I would do that. I feel like in today’s culture, new agents, they don’t they don’t want to do all that. You know why? Why? It’s work. It’s work. It’s hard work. And it’s humbling. Yes. It’s humbling to be rejected that many times. Yes. But I think that’s what got me to this place of hustling from a humble place is that I’m I went there, and I’m used to it. I call when I was new. I called 100. For sale by owners. And how did that go over? I did not list anything. I’m sure I did it all wrong. But I went on several appointments. Okay. That was a lot of people. You were practicing. I was practicing. But nobody ever actually, well, maybe? Nope, nope. Nevermind. Nobody listed with me. Okay. And when I tell the new agents that I do this, and that, hey, remember that? Because sometimes, like if I’m out of town, I’ll throw you a sign call. Yeah. And I’ll be like, Hey, how did it go with that? Sancho call? Oh, I don’t know. They didn’t seem interested. Did you call them again? Did you follow up? Did you form a relationship? Did you let them know that you care about them and that you have their best interests at heart? Yeah. No. Okay. But it just seems like the new agent today is so different than the new agent. I was. Yeah, that was seven years ago. Yeah. That wasn’t that long. No. But it’s like, they just don’t want to do it. Do you think that it’s fear based competence base, I’m going to tell you because I hate cold calling. Like, I don’t like calling strangers. If they call me and I answer the phone. I have great success, because I like people. Yeah, like talking to me. I’m not afraid of strangers. But something about picking up that phone and dialing that number. It’s scary. And I think that it, it some people are suited for better than others. But I also wonder for new agents, it’s tough because they’re getting that message that they have to Yes, yes. So it’s almost like conflicting in that. My rule was always if you called me if you came to my open house, and you had if you called my sign, if you called while I was on bound duty. I’m going to follow up with you. Yeah. until you tell me you do not need me as your real right. Or that you have a mom who’s a realtor or something. Right. You know what I mean? Yes. But today, they don’t want to, they don’t want to follow up because they they immediately go to that stinking thinking mindset, where they go, Well, they just missed they weren’t interested. And it’s all this like, Woe is me. Nobody wants to buy a house. Yep. People are so difficult. Buyers are liars, sellers are worse. Like, it’s such a mindset. It’s such a mindset problem, which is why our next episode is called mindset meltdown. Right? And we’re going to talk about that. Yeah. Because it is a mindset problem. It’s a big problem. It’s not just new agents. I think that it’s kind of everywhere. All of the agents. Yeah, you know, and we get new Realtors of all different age groups and types of people. And everyone has, I think similar struggles. Yeah, everyone has different strengths. So what is hustle look like? For you? Okay. Let’s think about it. Okay. I’m going to tell you what it looks like for me. I pretend like I work 35 hours a week, but I don’t. Okay, I work after five. I work at least one weekend day. I tried to answer the phone when the people call. I feel stressed if I don’t answer my emails, like I wake up and go to work. Yeah, I could sit at my computer for eight hours and not be done with work. Yeah. And I, and it doesn’t bother me. And I liked to work hard. That’s who I am. And hustle is not a bad word to me. I’ve had it on my computer screensaver before. Because I feel proud that I have the ability to do that. Right. It’s your work ethic. Yeah, I enjoy what I’m doing. I like the people. I like the job that I’m doing. So when I have to hustle, it’s not. And I feel like I’m okay with it too. Because it’s also seasonal. Yes, that’s true. Like my husband understands that during the summer. I’m going to be working on my computer a lot more at home than when I do in December. Yeah. And when it’s good, you gotta keep up and you may have to put in more hours because later it when you have downtime is when you revamp you reorganize. So we’re in this career that is not nine to five that was and it’s very cyclical, it’s very cyclical, and it’s feast or famine. So then you feel like you have now I want you to talk a little bit about going to Australia. And what that was like it was it was really, I fret, a breath of fresh air. It was a perspective change that I desperately needed. So, only a realtor would be excited about, you know, a 20 hour flight, right? Because I was like, wait a minute, for 20 hours, I will have nothing but my computer and Wi Fi, right? Do you know how much work I can get done. And I did like I, I cleaned out my database, I
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followed up with people I tend, I went above and beyond, like, just communicate with people cleaned out things that have been on the to do list for way too long. Then when you landed Australia, it’s a 14 hour time difference or something like that. So it was nighttime, in where I live while I was in Australia having lunch. And it was so cool. Because there was no point in me having my phone during the day, right? Because who’s gonna call me at 3am? Nope, nobody, nobody from home is going to call me or 3am tiles. So nice. So what I would do is I wake up fairly early anyway. And I would wake up at 6am and Australia, which was 4pm. Okay. And I liked that timeframe because it gave me one hour of business hours write that code, I would walk across the street to the coffee shop. i On average, I had about 75 emails in my inbox, okay, from that day of me sleeping while they were working from 6am to 7am or 4pm to 5pm. I return phone calls. I cleared out my email got with the lenders with what they needed, got with title with what they needed. And by the time I was having breakfast, everybody at home was going to sleep. And I did this for a week. Yes. So for a week, I worked one hour a day. Amen. I handled everything. It was The Four Hour Workweek it was it was really the four hour workweek but it let me go. Wait a minute, how come when I’m at home, I’m refreshing my email when there’s no new emails, just to be like, I don’t need to be this crazy, like Shane machine that gets back with you in 45 seconds every time. So that is a little bit about hustle though we’re new ticket to the other extreme. Yeah, I get scolded a lot by my husband. Yeah. He says you don’t have to do that right now. Right. And that’s the truth. You don’t you don’t it’s not it’s not the end of the world. Nothing’s gonna fall apart if you save it for the morning. I love a scheduled text. This is my favorite thing. So that if someone sends me a text at 10pm Yes, I read it. I want to respond because I’m gonna forget, I can schedule it for 8am in the morning, and then it doesn’t look like I’m working all the hours. Well, if you respond, it just sets a pattern and that person will be the person that texts you at 10 o’clock every night. Yeah, for sure. You have to have boundaries. Yep. And we’re going to do another episode on boundaries. Yes. And work life balance. Yes. But I think the important thing here is that hustle is not a bad word. No, when it can be just like anything. It can be done excessively in an unhealthy way. But I think that if you can be aware of it, yes. And understand that it’s needed and that you have to work right. It’s just you don’t have to work. Right. Right. Right. If you want to make money, you want to work just like I want to work. Yeah, I do. I love to work we we do. Our families. Yes, that’s right. And their vacation. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I love vacation. Yeah. So it’s like, there’s just the culture, though, is is so hustle. You know this? Well, I think the culture too, is not giving the message that you can choose to do 10 transactions or 200 transactions, if that’s your goal, and that’s what you want to do, then that’s good. And because they’re putting everyone in the same line, right? Maybe I don’t want to be compared to the people who have, you know, 80 hours to spend on work a week or one a split, maybe I need to find you can if you’re only in competition with yourself, yeah. And you’re happy, then you’re fine. And I think that’s where the culture goes off the rails. And I think that’s why I love so at my office, at the beginning or the end of every year, we start goal setting for the next year. And I always love that meeting. Because there’s a girl, a lady, a woman, whatever. A friend, my friend in our office who she got into real estate when her youngest kids started driving, okay, she had been a stay at home mom and her husband worked and was the provider of the family. Well, now she’s no longer needed for carpool. Right and she wanted to go to work. Yeah. And you know, all of us are different. Yes. So we all have different reasons for the income that we want or need, right. So for example, if if Do you have a husband that is already providing and anything you make is extra, she set a goal to do 2 million a year. Okay. And we all celebrated that. Sure. We thought that was wonderful, right? That would make her happy. Yes. And allow her to live the life that she wants, right? I am married to someone in law enforcement. I can’t make I can’t I can’t sell that volume, or else we’d have to change your life. Change your lifestyle, no vacations, right? So my, like, my income need is based off of my family and our desires, and you know what we want out of life. And they celebrated that with me, right? And it’s just cool that we can have all these different goals and be okay, for sure. And I love that little meeting because that’s not the culture. No, it’s definitely not but the culture is like, what’d you do last year? Let’s double it. What do we need to do to get more more and more and it’s like, can I just celebrate where I am in life for a minute? Yes. Celebration, and rest is not in our culture. No, it needs to be and it does. We’re going to try and get it in there. This podcast episodes toast is someone near and dear to my heart. A new agent. Okay. Her name is Whitney Holland. And she is in the hustle year one. Oh, good. Shout out Whitney. Shout out to Whitney. She is on the roller coaster. And she’s not getting off right now. Good. strapped in. I’m so proud. She’s committed. Yay. She wants to do it for her family. Oh, and she’s had some success under her belt, which is why we’re toasting her. Awesome okay, I’m working on her mindset just getting it to a point of victory. Love it, you know, and so cheers to Whitney. Okay, we’ll toast me toast or whatnot mean we’re toasted Whitney toast. Cheers, Whitney to Whitney. Cheers to you. And if you have any victories to celebrate, we want to hear about them. Yeah, send them in and we will toast you. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast. If you have an episode, topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. See you next week. Bye. This is goodbye