Join us today as we ask ourselves a very important question to check the pulse of our business…If you hired yourself as a client, would you fire yourself? It’s time for a candid end-of-year accountability check. In this episode, we dive into the hard questions you need to ask yourself as a real estate agent.

From communication missteps to lack of follow-through, we share stories and practical advice to help you own your mistakes, fix them, and move forward stronger. Alissa opens up about a tough situation where she dropped the ball and had to face her clients honestly. We also talk about why the only way to feel better after a mistake is to take action.

You’ll learn:
Why avoiding difficult conversations makes things worse.
How to handle mistakes without damaging your reputation.
The importance of transparent communication with your clients.
Why contracts should never be a “gotcha” moment.
Practical ways to keep yourself accountable and improve your systems.

We also explore why being a good co-op agent, setting boundaries, and following through on commitments are essential to long-term success in real estate. Plus, stick around for a fun segment on how different Enneagram types might get fired—don’t worry, it’s all in good fun!

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The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.
Alissa 0:07
The second I picked up the phone, all of that went away. I just needed to take action, yeah, so that’s when I was like, okay, like,

Katy 0:19
I can’t be that. I

Alissa 0:19
can’t be that. I can’t be this person. The first three years isn’t when you get rich, it’s when you get good. Every day they come home and see your name and face in the yard, they’re gonna be angry. Hi y’all, welcome to hustle, humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie, and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market. We

Katy 0:42
work for two different companies where we should be competitors, but we have chosen community over competition. The

Alissa 0:47
goal of our podcast is to encourage you to find your own way in business, so stop

Katy 0:51
comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Okay, hi, Alyssa. Hey, Katie, welcome. Thank you. Episode 278 and today, we’re gonna ask ourselves your favorite question of the year. Yes,

Alissa 1:03
say it. If you hired you to run your business, would you fire you? So now we’re gonna ask ourselves the tough questions we’re gonna ask ourselves. This is like a little end of the year accountability check in. Yes,

Katy 1:19
this may be painful.

Alissa 1:21
Yes, shall? Shall I help the audience by vulnerably sharing a story where I feel like I dropped

Katy 1:28
the ball? You would fire yourself. Sure? Why not? Let’s start there. There’s nowhere to go from but up from there. This

Alissa 1:34
is just a good example. So I recently, not recently, I listed a house that is gorgeous, beautiful. Love the house. I was even like, oh my gosh, should I buy this house as, like, a long term plan anyways? And the pictures came out. Great. Couldn’t wait to share them. We go on the market. I’m expecting all these showings the first weekend. Not so much. We finally get a showing, first showing, and it’s we get an offer. So first person that sees it agrees, yes, I want the house, perfect, but it’s contingent on the sale of their house, okay, which hasn’t sold yet, and on the market already. No, but he had pictures, and was like, can be on the market 24 hours. Okay, the agent is good. The neighborhood that the buyer’s house in is good, and also, like a more affordable price point had more recent sales, like all the data pointed to, their house is likely going to sell before ours, okay? So if their sales, we sell, okay. And also, more houses in the neighborhood that I was in started popping up. So all of a sudden there’s more inventory, inventory. And I’m like, okay, so we go under contract. And I don’t know why, but my brain just considered it, like, done deal, like, like it was pending, yeah, and I don’t like where this is going, No. I mean, I’ve redeemed myself, and I’m working on it, and I had to have a little chat with myself and to my sellers, where I basically just had to say, hey guys, I wanted first to apologize. I feel like once we went under contract in the beginning, we had a close date, and I treated it as a pending when I should have continued the regular marketing communication and regular marketing. Because why? Why were we having this moment? Because they’re the buyer’s home. Never sold. Yeah, to this day, never know. To this day, and you’re done with them. Now it’s been months and months, and you’re back on the market. We’ve done two extensions with them, but now not anymore. We’re still with them. I’m still with them, but I realized that I just wasn’t communicating with them like I should have. And then I had, like, a fight or flight moment where I just froze, like, I know I need to call them and I know I need to do some marketing here, but now I’m now it’s like, no matter what I do, it’s obvious I had dropped the ball. Yes. Like I was kind of Yeah, just like, this happened. I had like, paralysis, yeah, you know, yeah. And so I called one of my friends and was like, I need a pep talk. I was like, You’re so good at marketing. And I just feel like I’ve dropped the ball, okay, and I have to make a phone call now, yeah, and I’m embarrassed about it, about it, because I should have made this phone call way sooner. And I feel bad. I feel like I have done these clients a disservice. And she started off by being very kind, like, Alyssa, you’re being so hard on yourself, like you’re a great agent. And I just wanted to be like, listen, I do appreciate you saying that, but I will let you know I messed up here. Yeah, I dropped the ball. That’s not what we’re debating. Not here to be complimented or made to feel better. Oh, no, I need a pep talk, right? You know? And she was like, Okay, got it. Well, you just need to be honest. Yeah, and call them and let them hear your voice. And it’s hard because they don’t live here, okay, so face to face stuff has been hard. Yeah? She. Was like, maybe even just make a little video of, Hey guys, I was about to call you and thought, you know, y’all don’t live here, it may be best to see face to face, right? Because I’m going to tell you that I’m not doing it. And I just wanted to call and say, I realize time is passing, yeah, and I owe you an apology for not keeping up the marketing efforts as strongly as I should have. I know we all felt pretty confident with this offer in the beginning time is proving that our house isn’t selling, their house isn’t selling. A lot of houses aren’t selling, right? It’s not just y’all. She was like, but you need to have an update. So I went, I quickly went through. I was like, you know, at this point now, we are one of six listings on the market in the neighborhood. Our contingent buyers are still very interested. They would like to do an extension, if we’re open to it. Here’s the data there, regardless of what you decide to do, here’s the marketing plan. We’re going to be doing a subdivision, wide open house. We’re going to be advertising it as a group, because the problem is, none of us were having showings. No one in the neighbor. I reached out to all six agents, and none of us were because I thought, maybe we’re not showing because we’re labeled contingent. That’s what. That’s a great point. I was trying to figure that out, yeah, and I told them that too. I said I was trying to figure out, are we not showing because we’re contingent,

Katy 6:21
even labeled contingent,

Alissa 6:24
even though I have in the remarks and all of that buyer’s home has not sold, we show, please show the house like I have that everywhere. But when I called the others, they’re like, have you had a showing? We have it. And I’m like, Oh Lord. So even if we were active, it was just quiet. And I still think if one of us is going to sell first, it’s going to be these buyers maybe, right, the buyers that you have under contract, yeah, because they want to live there, yeah, and they’re in, you know, like their neighborhood is slow too, but not as slow as where we are, yeah? So anyways, I just had to sort of come up. I had to really give myself a mindset, yeah, check and be like, Alyssa. You need to, like, do something. You need to get some movement in this neighborhood. You need to show your sellers what you’re doing. So we did all of that. And you know what is so funny? I put myself through hours of agony about this, and the second I picked up the phone, all of that went away. It was like, I just needed to take action, yeah, and make the phone call, right? And have the plan, yeah, and say I’m sorry, but we’re moving forward now. They weren’t mad. Anyway, I think they were just they were getting mad, yeah, I could tell, yeah, you know. And then, because the husband had emailed me and was like, we’re open to ideas, anything creative now, and we had done like, two open houses, okay, but, you know, nothing super special. I

Katy 7:52
have a side question, and then we’ll move on from your I see what your point is. Did you audit the listing of the contingent buyer. Like, have you looked at their listing to see if you can give them some

Alissa 8:06
Yes, friendly advice. I even ran, like, a market analysis for them. Was like, hey, I really think if you could be here, you would be very competitive, you know. And they reduce. They did okay. So I, you know, did all your sellers? I did, okay, good. And that’s a great point, Katie, because you may do things that you know are good, but your clients don’t know you’re doing. They’ve talked about that a lot this year, so you have to communicate. Yeah, hey guys, today I ran a market analysis, and this is what happened, and all of that, you know. And then I noticed every now and then on a Monday, they would email me and be like, hey, any update? Right, right, right, right. So that’s when I was like, Okay, we need to correct this. I have gone too long. The houses have gone too long, yeah, but it but I did have to really look at myself and be like, you need to fix this. Like,

Katy 8:58
if you were your own agent in that scenario I would have fired,

Alissa 9:01
would have fired you, and then in the same week, I had another client call me and was like, Hey, I got your name from so and so, my house is on the market right now, but, like, we just haven’t heard from our agent. You’re like, my you don’t want me. And in my head, I’m like, that’s probably what my clients are doing now, yes, like they might be calling other agents, right, and saying that. And then what do we do as agents? We look up their house and see who their agent is not communicating with them. So that’s when I was like, okay, like, I can’t be that. I can’t be that, I can’t be this person. And so it just sort of, you know, lit the fire, but if you think your clients aren’t talking about your communication and your marketing, your performance, to their office, to agents, their neighbors, to other agents,

Katy 9:56
I had a listing that was sitting not that long ago last. Last year, maybe, and they would call me and say things like, the other agent in our neighborhood said your sign is too light, too pale, too pale. And I was like, oh god, why are you talking to another agent?

Alissa 10:12
I know it’s not a good feeling, not a good feeling. And so the only thing that you can do in those situations, the only thing that will make you feel any better is to take action. Yeah, but I wrote down a quote that I thought would be perfect for this episode. Please tell us. But is it really imposter syndrome? If you’re not doing a good job, no, then you’re just No, you’re just actually not doing a good job, doing a good job. And I think sometimes in real estate, it’s such a vain business, yeah, and we want to be like we are so good. Let us show you how good we are on Instagram. And let us, let us show you all these awards we’ve gotten. And so it gives you this false sense of security that you’re good, right?

Katy 10:59
Can you imagine your listing, your sellers, your their listings are sitting and they see you posting yourself with awards. What is that feeling Got to be like? They’re like, Oh, she’s not getting it done over here,

Alissa 11:12
right? Yeah. And when you make a post sold in one day, and they’re like, she can’t sell my day, yeah? All right, that’s hard. So you really have to be aware of, I think we get so in our head about what we think of ourselves, yeah, that we forget, like the only thing that really matters in our business is how our clients feel about us.

Katy 11:33
Yeah, yeah, okay, so I have for you the top reasons per my sweet friend chat GPT, that employees are fired, and I thought that we could frame our discussion through the reasons why, a standard. And obviously you’re employing yourself, yeah, that’s great, right? Yeah, okay, but then you still have to give yourself that accountability, like review, right? Like you need a performance review. We’re gonna do a personal performance review. Oh, good. Okay, okay, so the top reasons employees are fired, they are a mix of performance, behavior and attitude issues. Oh so good. Okay, I’m gonna save number one for the end, because it’s the one I think we’re gonna dig into more, okay, tardiness. The other one was attendance. But like, obviously, you, you choose your schedule, and you probably are attending more than you want. But I think we, we all might need to take a good, hard look in the mirror with the tardiness. You’re a timely person. Yeah, I am a tardy person, but I’m not early, but I’m on time. It is my nature. I am not going to be 15 minutes late. No, 10 would be a lot, but five would be standard, right? If I’m rolling up five minutes late, that’s about, right. Okay, there are agents that are 20 minutes late, yeah, to everything you know, when you get to the inspector and they’re like, Oh, you’re here on time, yeah, wow, surprise, most agents are here 30 minutes later, yeah, I’m just waiting for them to open a door, right? Okay, so tardiness, next one, dishonesty or lack of integrity, lying, falsifying information, or any unethical behavior. I mean, I don’t I hope that no one listening has done this. This would include fraud or embezzlement, none of our hustle, humbly, listeners, but you told me something when we were taking notes for this episode that I felt like fit in this category, and that was someone said, I’ve just been kind of like slipping my BBA in there.

Alissa 13:24
Yes, like,

Katy 13:25
I hope they don’t ask me any questions. I don’t want to talk about this, but I’m just gonna sign this sign here. Okay, so if you feel like you’re giving your clients any document to sign that you’re not properly explaining, especially if it involves your payment, yeah, that is definitely a little you’re fired a little on the unethical side, I

Alissa 13:45
would say we should revisit that more in a minute.

Katy 13:47
Okay, fine. We’ll come back to this one for you. Next, insubordination. Oh, refusing to follow instructions, disrespecting authority and and I would say this in your in your self employed business, would be more like you’re not upholding your own business rules or boundaries, right?

Alissa 14:04
You’re being a pop tart agent. You’re showing houses to not pre approved buyers. You

Katy 14:09
make the rules, but you also have to listen to yourself when you set the rules, yeah? So you cannot be an insubordinate to yourself, and y’all can say what you want, but we’ve all done it, yeah? Oh, I know I’m not supposed to, right, but I just, I’m gonna do it. Yeah? This fire really wants to go today. Inappropriate behavior. Now, remember, these are framed in the employee being fired by an employer, sure, but actions like harassment, bullying are creating a hostile work environment. And I would say, You know what? Obviously, you are not putting yourself in a hostile work environment with you, but you do choose which office you work in. You do choose like, are you putting yourself into hostile situations or unpleasant places? You chose to go there, right? You’re in total control.

Alissa 15:01
And I think there’s some are you giving yourself a hostile reputation if you are difficult to work with, if you’re rude to other agents, if you’re not helpful, oh yeah,

Katy 15:12
you’re gonna love this one goes hand in hand with that negative attitude or poor teamwork, okay, consistently displaying a poor attitude, being uncooperative or not working well with others can harm the team dynamics, but it can harm your business, right? Totally can. So are you not being a good Co Op agent? Right? Remember episode 129, good Co Op How to Be a Good Co Op agent, that one’s so important here. I

Alissa 15:38
feel like that would be a great episode to refresh on this week. Right to go with this, because

Katy 15:44
it really does ask you all those questions like, Are you? Are you doing the right thing with the title company, with the lenders, with the other agents, with your clients, okay, that was negative attitude, or poor teamwork. You’re a team of one, maybe, right, but you can still have poor team work,

Alissa 16:02
okay? Via this would be a good episode for those agents that listen, that are on or have a

Katy 16:08
team for sure, because then you have team dynamics, yeah, they can really apply. Maybe you’re maybe you’re not just looking at your own accountability, but the accountability of your team. Yeah, are you creating a hostile work environment? Like, what if two the problem or what if two team members are fighting, but you’re just letting that happen, right? Like you, you’re creating the work environment, yeah? Um, violation of company policy, and this was breaking company policies, such as misuse of company, company property, violating dress code, or you’re gonna like this one ignoring safety rules. So you should have a policy about your safety, and you should be holding yourself accountable for following the safety rules, right? Yeah, and maybe the office where you work has some company policies, but you holding yourself accountable is what we’re talking about. Okay, ready? Misuse of company resources, using company assets like computers or vehicles for personal reasons, or you’re gonna love this one, spending excessive time on social media during work hours. It’s like our job, but is it right? Was scrolling for an hour. Say I was working, if you didn’t comment on anything and you scrolled for an hour, that was not for work. No working. You need to hold yourself accountable. That was a misuse of your company resources.

Alissa 17:29
That is true, like be true. These are your business hours, and if you don’t get what you need done during your business hours, you’re going to be doing it in the evening, when you really want to be watching your show,

Katy 17:38
right? What if you had a job that you couldn’t take the work home with you. You just didn’t get it done during the day. Yeah, you’re fired. That’s that exactly I’m telling you how you’re gonna get fired. Yeah, all right, this one just made me chuckle, not because I think this, this is fun. I’m just gonna tell you, Okay, substance abuse arriving at work intoxicated or using drugs or alcohol during work hours. I’m like, this is the definition of every realtor event you’ve ever been invited to every year. Have a drink. Yeah?

Alissa 18:06
Here it’s a 10am open house. Have a mimosa, right? Yeah, I’m just gonna leave it at that. I

Katy 18:11
just thought was so funny. I’m like, well, in a workplace, you might be fired, yes,

Alissa 18:15
poor

Katy 18:16
adaptability to change, resistance to changes in processes, technology or policies, especially in rapidly evolving industries, can be viewed as a barrier to productivity. So you need to ask yourself, how are you adapting to change? Are you able to deal with the new technology or new rules or new laws or new policies? Yeah. Do you easily adapt things that your office is implementing? Are you so resistant and you have to fuss about everything, right? So I thought that one was pretty accurate. Okay, so let’s go back to number one, which is the one we I think you’re going to dig into poor performance, consistently failing to meet job expectations, missing deadlines, producing low quality work. And I think this probably falls in line with the did you call the seller, or did they have to call you like? How people prompting you like, right? Are people having to hunt you down? Yeah,

Alissa 19:19
I wrote down from what you said, consistently failing, right? Well, that’s pretty much like every seller you have is aggravated at

Katy 19:29
you, at you, then you are probably doing something wrong, nothing.

Alissa 19:35
I know this is nothing. Makes me feel better. I have another listing right now that is sitting okay. And I was talking to the seller the other day, and after we got off the phone, she texted me and was like, I just wanted to thank you for everything you’re doing. Wow. And I was like, Oh my gosh, and I’m thinking to myself, and it’s not selling, yeah, but she’s hearing from me, and you’re working, and we’re working, and we’re communicating, and that’s I. Think too. Sometimes people agents think the goal is to make the client happy, right? We can’t always do that. Sometimes you are marketing, working and doing what you’re supposed to be doing, and you still have an unhappy client. Yeah, that’s not what we’re talking about in this episode today. No, no, this episode today is about you. We’re not pointing the finger at your sellers. We’re not pointing the finger at other agents. We’re taking a good look in the mirror today, right to say you

Katy 20:34
recently responded to a message I think someone was having an issue and and you’re like, not every client is going to show up to the closing table happy. It doesn’t mean you didn’t do your job. And you also have to think it’s a highly emotional time. Some people don’t want to be selling or buying. Yeah,

Alissa 20:50
this agent was really down on herself, yeah? And she wrote us an email about how, what could she have done better? And she told us it was an elderly couple they were having trouble getting out of their house. She helped them with packing. She went to check on them, like, five days before closing, and the wife was crying because they’re so overwhelmed with moving their whole life. And she’s like, I don’t think I’m gonna have time to clean it. And the agent’s like, Don’t worry, I’ll have my cleaner over here. You don’t clean. They close. Wife is unhappy. I said, you this is not a would you fire you situation at all? You did all the right things, and we need to rest in that. Yeah, I’m harder on myself than any client could ever be, and that’s the truth. Now, the second that a client is unhappy or expresses I definitely go into high gear of, okay, I need to get it together and make sure I’m doing the right things. But sometimes it’s like I have done the things, and it’s not necessarily something on my part, but we also need to be able to say, Yeah, I did drop the ball here, and this is what I need to do to fix it. Yeah, I

Katy 22:01
think that’s fair. Under performance. I also was, how responsive Are you? Do you answer your phone, especially if your client is calling? But what if it is just a random number? I know they’re trying to sell a lot of things to a lot of agents, but like, sometimes you just gotta answer the phone. And if there’s that long pause before the machine or the person I just hang up, yeah? Yeah, yeah. If there’s a human there, then I’ll see what they want, right? Like, if it takes a long pause, I’m like, bye. But do you answer your phone? Do you respond to email in a timely fashion? Do you respond to text?

Alissa 22:33
Do you set the expectation of, hey, thanks so much. I got your email. I’ll have this to you tomorrow, right? They just need to know communication. Yeah, part of this episode was inspired because we’ve been hearing more and more stories about buyers wanting to get out of buyer rep agreements, yeah, because they didn’t realize they signed them. Okay, tell it. And that is why I think that’s a problem. Yeah, we’re

Katy 23:02
back on dishonesty, lack of integrity. Yes, okay. And

Alissa 23:06
you may think, Well, I’m not a dishonest person, but we’ve had some. This is the exact you know, when people are like, Well, I just didn’t tell you. Yeah, I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t say anything on your own. Yeah, cases, right? Still, the omission is still alive with all of these changes going on. It is in your job description, no matter what company you work for, if you are a licensed agent, it is in your job description to explain contracts to your clients. Yes, we have had several stories come through. Yeah, some from fairly decent agents. Yeah, where agents are, like, I mean, I haven’t had any trouble getting them signed. I just slip it in with everything else, and they sign it. I’m like, that’s probably

Katy 23:59
until a seller won’t pay the commission that you got the buyer to agree to, and you’re gonna either have to tell the buyer they sign that to get paid, or admit that you slipped it in there and just not get paid. Yeah,

Alissa 24:10
right. And we’re having so many buyers say, Well, I didn’t understand. I was told I just had to sign that to see the house. Yeah. I didn’t know it was a binding contract

Katy 24:21
where I’m paying someone, yeah? And I

Alissa 24:25
think we’re gonna hear more of this. I think it’ll settle down next year.

Katy 24:29
You’re very optimistic. Well, I

Alissa 24:32
say that too, because with all the changes in the industry, I’ve seen a handful of people going inactive, yeah, like, they’re like, I’m just not, I don’t want to do this? Yeah, maybe they’re part time and don’t want to, or maybe this has just been a rough road for them. Yes, such a hard year, and a lot of people are going back to corporate jobs and regular paychecks, yeah, which, if that’s what you need for your family, fine, that’s you know, you need to do what’s best for your family. But if you’re going to commit to the real estate. State profession, part of that is having very difficult conversations. Yeah, we have to talk about money. Yeah, we have to talk about pricing right, and hoping that your client sign something without asking any questions. Isn’t the way super wrong. I saw a quote the other day that said the first three years isn’t when you get rich, it’s when you get good. Oh, I did see that, and I thought, yes, if you a seasoned agent or a not seasoned agent, if you are struggling with presenting the listing agreement, the buyer rep agreement, the property disclosure, yeah, go take some classes, go to your broker, attend the meetings. There are so many resources videos out there to help you with your confidence. Yeah, but every time you skate by, you’re doing yourself a disservice, and

Katy 25:57
it’s the reverse. Every time you do it and you talk it through, it gets easier and easier. I can attest to that 100%

Alissa 26:03
I mean, when this whole buyer rep agreement, it was like the anticipation of it was causing so much of the tension, because people were really panicking. And every time you turned around, there was a new class to attend. Yeah, I will say once it was finally here and I made it through my first presentation. It was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. And I thought, Okay. And did I fumble through it? Uh huh, yeah. And did I tell my client? Hey, just to be honest with you, Today is August 16, and this is the first time I’m presenting this. If I’m unclear about anything, please ask questions, because I don’t want to miss anything, right? That is how we don’t feel like you have to be so stuffy, right? You know you need to be relatable and approachable so that your clients can ask you questions.

Katy 26:55
They definitely need to feel comfortable asking questions all through the process, not just, but especially when they’re signing something, yeah, interesting. Do you want to tell the story of the title attorney who called us?

Alissa 27:08
We had a title attorney who called and was like, Hey, I have a question. And I just want to know if you’re seeing this a lot, is this normal?

Katy 27:16
This is someone who’s been a title attorney for years and does closings all day, yes, every day.

Alissa 27:25
And what was it? He got a call from a buyer’s father. It was the buyer’s father called him because he’s an attorney, even though, you know, yeah, to say, My daughter went and saw this house with someone, and she signed a piece of paper. She doesn’t know what it was, but now this guy’s telling her, you’re my client. Yeah, and it was the poor girl had hit the button, yeah, online clicked to say, I want to see this house. Yeah, and she showed up to the house, and I think even may have thought she was meeting the listing agent. And when

Katy 27:58
she got to the house, the agent said, you must sign this to open the door, yeah, but it was a full buyer rep agreement for six months, and it had an amount that she was going to pay him. And he’s like, I think he did say, I will be your agent now, yeah, but you have to

Alissa 28:16
do this. You have to sign it if you want to see the house. How uncomfortable, right, as a consumer to show up, I would meet a stranger, very off putting. And you find this out now, like I left work to come here, of course, I do what I need to do to see the house, right? Well, I

Katy 28:31
think she really didn’t read it. No, she did not read it. She didn’t like the house and she didn’t like the agent, correct? Was the other part of the story. She didn’t like the house, and she definitely doesn’t like the agent. And she leaves, and she takes her piece of paper with her, and she gives it to her dad, obviously. And dad reads it and is like, what did you sign? You’re you, you, this is your agent. Now, what if you see another house you want to go see? You’re supposed to work with this person. So then he calls, and the title attorney is like, so I mean, like, what do they do? They’re stuck in this agreement. I’m like, well, they need to con because he’s like, she wants to see another house, but she wants to pick her own agent. Yeah? And we were like, you gotta, she’s gotta cancel that contract. They were afraid she was literally stuck in it, yeah? Like, you can cancel, right? But that’s not what the agent said. No, they

Alissa 29:21
had to get brokers involved. Yeah, and the title of her name was like, So, wait, people are just signing these things. And

Katy 29:28
he was more incredulous that agents were doing this. Yes, he could not this is a man who works in the industry and is surprised, could not believe and was surprised that agents would behave this way and get someone to sign something without them understanding, and tie them into something for six months. And neither of us were surprised, right? Because it happens every day.

Alissa 29:51
Yeah, we’re like, Hey, you’re you’re surprised by this behavior. He was really surprised. He was very surprised, and he was also. So trying to figure out, so is this agent gonna let them out? Yeah, we were like, I mean, we don’t know. He wouldn’t disclose who it was, which was kind but yeah, I’m like, You’re gonna have to call like, the dad is gonna have to call brokers. And this dad was ready to fight. He was ready to be like, I dare you to try to sue me. Right? We are not working with you. And is that the kind of client you want is that the reputation that you want definitely? No. I mean, no, no, no, no. If somebody doesn’t want to work with you anymore, it is better to release them, and agents want to die on the Hill of a contract. You signed a contract. I

Katy 30:38
know my thing has always been, if you don’t want to work with me, I don’t want to work with you, correct? If you don’t want me to have your house listed anymore, fine.

Alissa 30:47
Every day they come home and see your name and face in the yard, they’re going to be angry. That’s like the story I shared before, of the guy who called me to list his house, but he’s it was like October, and he said, my my listing agreement isn’t up until January, and this agent won’t let me out. And I was like, well, you need to call the broker and say I am not comfortable working with this agent anymore. And he said I did, and the agent, I meant the broker is supporting the agent, saying I signed the contract and we’re not releasing you from the contract. Honestly, you hear that pretty, rarely, pretty, rarely, but I feel like more lately, as business has gotten harder. Business, the second someone signed something, agents leave going, Yes, I

Katy 31:34
got you. I got a client. The contract with your clients should never be a gotcha. Never,

Alissa 31:39
ever. So do you know what the seller did? Do you remember he waited, he stopped cutting his grass? Oh, that’s right, he sabotaged, sabotage. He was like, I don’t want this guy to get paid. He was like, not leaving for showings, dishes in this thing. And when, when I tell you this guy, he was ex military, so clean he was making him. He was like, in Finding Nemo the shrimp that really wants to clean, but they’re like, no, let the tank stop. Let the tank get dirty. And he’s like, sorry. Like, that one’s got to do it. He was like, that’s how I’ve been living in my house, because I did not want this agent to get the sale. So when I went after it was expired, I went for the listing appointment, and I was like, Wait a second, this house was dirty, because it was like, actually glowing. It was so clean. But again, who wants that reputation? And the point of, I know here at the Louisiana Real Estate Commission, the goal is always that the client is first, and no matter what has been signed, our the goal of the commission is to protect the

Katy 32:46
public. I believe that’s also the definition of realtor. Yeah,

Alissa 32:51
we are not here to strong anyone. No, I’m just I’m serving the public. So if you find yourself in a situation that’s been keeping you up at night. You’re not alone. I just felt that feeling, and it’s not a fun feeling, but the only thing you can do to feel better about it is not to call a co worker and vent and commiserate. Just do the work. Just do something. Do the work. When I scheduled this neighborhood open house, you know, every agent was like, Oh my gosh, yes. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And then there’s always that one that’s like, the whole, I mean, this isn’t gonna do anything. It’s not gonna make the house sell. And I’m like, Okay, well what? What else are you telling your seller? Yeah, I need to do something. We need to do something. So which agent Are you gonna be right? And the more you do, whether that’s going to be what actually causes the sale to happen or not, it gives you a reason to pick up the phone, call those people and give some updates, yeah. I always say my goal is, if I can’t sell the house and they switch agents after it expires, I want them to be like, Wow, Alyssa was so much, so good. That’s my goal. Yeah, every listing, I want them to be like, I think that’s fair, that the goal is not the sale, right? How many emails do we get of how do I make this house sell? I hate listings. I’m so stressed out because I can’t sell this house. Of them don’t sell. Some of them take a very long time, but they will extend for you, or if, if you’re working, I

Katy 34:29
had that my biggest listing. Remember, he extended for four years. I had that listing. You worked?

Alissa 34:35
He was so hard on that one, so hard. Yeah,

Katy 34:38
I’m like, I am, yes. I mean, good thing, it was a luxury listing, because I needed every bit of that commission out of the amount of time I spent on it, correct, and money I spent like, Yes. Anyway, I have a little fun treat for you. Oh, I have a list for you of why each Enneagram type would be fired.

Alissa 34:59
Mm. Oh, this is hilarious. Each

Katy 35:01
Enneagram type brings unique strengths to the workplace, but also has specific challenges that could, in extreme cases, lead to termination if left unchecked.

Alissa 35:10
If you are not familiar with the Enneagram, we did a really fun episode. Tell us the episode number. It’s

Katy 35:16
early on. It’s

Alissa 35:17
one of our first episodes, and it was so fine, real early. And we also compared each Enneagram type to a Disney to Disney character. That was to really help you understand, I

Katy 35:31
love a personality test, so I would love feedback on this episode. If you’re interested in us doing another personality style, like,

Alissa 35:38
Please don’t make us do disc. I

Speaker 1 35:40
just can’t talk about this anymore, like a Myers Briggs or something interesting. Episode 1313, the Enneagram. The Enneagram. So if you want to know what the types are, go to that one and take a test. There are some free ones, and it’s fast. It’s

Alissa 35:53
a really, you should make your family listen to it too. It’s just a fun episode. This

Katy 35:56
is like an age old personality test, like ancient, ancient, okay, all right, so type one the perfectionist. Here’s the reason why you’re gonna get fired being overly critical or rigid, especially if it leads to conflict or delays. Okay? It says they have high standards and can be overly focused on doing things the right way. This can lead to micromanagement or criticizing others, which might create friction. Yeah, all right. Type Two, the helper. This is me, reason for firing overstepping boundaries or neglecting their own responsibilities. Explanation. Type twos want to help and be needed, which can lead to over involvement in others tasks. Oh, yeah, like, maybe that’s

Alissa 36:38
just trying to be helpful. Mr. Lender, uh huh. It’s

Katy 36:41
like, back off. Yeah, okay, type three, here you go. Here’s me, the achiever. Reason for firing, prioritizing image over substance or engaging in unethical behavior to succeed. I’ll do anything to win. Win it. Oh, right explanation. The type threes are driven by success, and can sometimes prioritize results over integrity. I can see that, not for you personally, but like in the group, okay. Type four is the individualist, okay? Reason for firing struggling with teamwork or becoming overly emotional or withdrawn, they are often they value authenticity and often feel things deeply, which can sometimes make collaborating a challenge, okay? Type five the investigator reason for firing withdrawing from collaboration or hoarding information. Oh, type fives are not community over competition, so independent thinkers who prefer to work alone, if they become too isolated or keep valuable knowledge to themselves. It can hinder teen projects. Yes, type six, the loyalist reason. Did you know that type six is the most common type? Oh, interesting. The loyalist reason for firing excessive worry or resistance to

Alissa 37:54
change? Well, there’s a lot of that going on right now. Yeah,

Katy 37:58
they’re loyal, but can be overly cautious, especially if they feel insecure. This can lead to a lack of adaptability over questioning management decisions or displaying a fearful attitude. Okay? Type seven,

Alissa 38:09
the enthusiast, yay. Reason for firing, lack of follow through or getting distracted by too many ideas. I was gonna say lack of systems, right? I’m gonna spend three hours making a pretty flyer, but I’m not gonna do anything else.

Katy 38:23
They love new experiences, and can easily get bored, which might make it hard for them to complete routine tasks. Number eight, the challenger. Reason for firing aggressiveness or creating a hostile work environment, explanation the type eights are bold and direct, which can sometimes cross come across as intimidating or combative. They’re overly controlling or resistant to feedback. It can lead to conflicts with the team. That’s

Alissa 38:46
like, I’m not letting you out of this contract. You saw you signed it. Yeah, you signed it, so I’m not letting you out the rules.

Katy 38:52
Type nine, the peacemaker. Reason for firing avoiding conflict to the point of passive. It passivity or failing to take initiative.

Alissa 39:02
So I think I got kind of like that for a minute there, like I was just in a holding pattern because I didn’t know what to say. I was frozen. Yeah,

Katy 39:11
since they prioritize harmony, which can sometimes result in them not speaking up or addressing issues, well, harmony

Alissa 39:17
and real estate don’t exactly go together all the time. That’s true. We have a lot to discuss and confront, right? That was very helpful. I

Katy 39:27
just thought that was interesting. I’m like, let’s think about ways that you maybe need to take a check, a pulse check, of your business.

Alissa 39:35
And the good thing is, y’all are here, so y’all are a step above so many others seeking training and education and wanting that to want so you’re already ahead. So if whatever house or transaction it is you’re thinking of right now, like, pick up the phone right now, yeah, and just call them. I

Katy 39:54
always I also think about, how do I feel as a consumer? Because if we’re really asking ourselves, if. If I hired myself, would I fire myself? Like, when you go to do marketing, do you want to receive that newsletter? Do you want someone to knock on your door at 7pm like, do you want someone to have a, I don’t know, super loud, aggressive open house like on a Sunday morning? Like, what would you like as a consumer and do that? What would make you say you’re fired. Good question to ask yourself. Okay, so I guess Are you ready for a toast?

Alissa 40:27
Yeah, here we go. Okay, bye.

Speaker 2 40:29
My name is tg Tasso. I am from Naperville, Illinois. I am toasting our John Green realtor Oswego small group. They do such a great job being the best of the best. They are the best trained they do. They listen to the hustle humbly podcast and and we so appreciate all the great advice you give. And shout out to them because they are a great group of women.

Alissa 40:54
Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. If

Katy 40:58
you enjoyed this episode, please go to rate this podcast.com/hustle humbly, and leave us a review or drop a comment if you’re listening on Spotify,

Alissa 41:06
if you have an episode topic or someone you’d like to toast on the show, please email us at team. At hustle humbly podcast.com,

Katy 41:12
find us on social media at hustle humbly. Podcast, don’t forget to find all of the free resources at hustle humbly. Podcast.com/resources,

Alissa 41:22
see you next week. This is the good life.