When one of your business heroes reaches out to come on your podcast, you pick yourself up off the floor, stop hyperventilating and get that ish scheduled STAT! On this episode we welcome the one, the only, the marketing queen, herself, AMY freaking PORTERFIELD! And if you aren’t a listener of her #3 ranked marketing podcast, “Online Marketing Made Easy”, then you are in for a real treat! Amy just released her first book called “Two Weeks Notice” all about finding the courage to make big changes in your life and turn that side hustle into your full time gig. Amy gives us actionable tips and advice for first time entrepreneurs. We loved hearing her thoughts on boundaries, taking action, and why courage is the key to finally jumping all in on your new career. She even teaches us how to discover our personal key to success. For those veteran agents that are already “all in” on real estate, Amy will share her sage wisdom on email lists for your business. You don’t want to miss this conversation with ex-corporate girl turned multiple 7 figure CEO, Amy Porterfield!

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.

0:02
And I started handing out and realize my business cards look like condom wrappers. I was on somebody else’s time and someone else’s dimes. Keep clear on the kind of lifestyle you want and build your business around that. Social media can come and go, but you own that email list. Stop wasting your time. I want you to take imperfect action because action creates clarity.

0:36
Hi, y’all. Welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.

0:42
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 to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, Alyssa. Hey Katie. It is episode number 186. We have a very special guest today you are just being I’m like, so excited. Amy, please tell the people who you are and what you do. And I could, I could probably regurgitate the front of your podcast, but not going to do that I’m going to make you do.

1:14
Oh my goodness, I love you girls already. So very much. So thank you for having me. To give a little bit of background I always say I’m an ex corporate girl turned accidental entrepreneur. About 14 years ago, I left my very last nine to five job I worked for Tony Robbins. I was the director of content development. But I wanted freedom. I wanted to make my own money and do it on my own terms. And it was the first time ever that I felt like I desired that freedom. And so I went out on my own 14 years ago, stumbled my way through the first few years. But I came out the other end. And I have a business where I teach people how to grow their own businesses. I’ve created eight successful digital courses, welcomed over 50,000 students into my world generated over $80 million. And today, I just love teaching people how to find their own freedom, I wrote a book called Two Weeks Notice how to find the courage to quit your nine to five job, make more money, work from wherever and change the world. And this is like how to get started. This is the book I wish I had when I was first starting out.

2:18
And there was so we have the book, if you are one of our YouTube or not one of our YouTube people, this is the episode you may want to watch on YouTube,

2:26
right? Because you need to see Amy’s smiling face and you need to see.

2:29
But we felt like this resonated so much in the real estate community especially because, you know, once you become a realtor, it is up to you, you have to make it happen. There is no salary, there is no regular paycheck. And it it also takes people a lot of time. If they’re coming from a very secure, comfortable guaranteed corporate job. And then they want to get into real estate. Sometimes they’re working both for a while until they get going. But then it’s you know, it’s so hard to pull the final trigger, and to make the jump to just going into it where you have to make it happen. So there was so much of your book that we felt resonated with our audience. So we’re just thrilled to have you here to talk to that area. I have a question

3:19
about that, Amy. So we were reading it through the eyes of our audience, which are realtors, and that a lot of them start as a side hustle. And then they have to employ and give their two weeks notice and like say I’m gonna do this all in when you wrote it, it is a very how to book for online business. Did you think that it might resonate with other like in our case where we’re talking about maybe it’s resonating for a realtor and who’s not necessarily starting an online business?

3:44
Absolutely. So many people have picked up this book where they’re in a very different industry than let’s say building an online business. But they need to use online tools in order to get the customers they want to work with make the kind of money and impact they want. And so this book resonates across the board there. And here’s something I think is so interesting, especially for those that are getting into real estate, you’re absolutely right that most people, they’re in their nine to five job and they are moonlighting at the time. It’s their side hustle where they want to do full time but they’re not yet making enough money. And in the beginning of my book, I talked about building out a runway, and this runway starts with your why why do you want to go all in with real estate? What will that afford you? What will it give you in terms of your life, your family’s life, your legacy? Why is this something so important to you? If you get really crystal clear on your why it will allow you to start making that transition more clearly because you are ready and you want it. Like for me when I worked for Tony Robbins I didn’t want to be told what to do when to do it or how to do it. I didn’t want to ask for a raise or ask for a promotion. I knew I had hit a glass ceiling. I wanted autonomy. I wanted to do my own thing on my own terms. Might Why was very clear. Now when you have a clear Why it doesn’t mean all the Skerries go away, you’re going to be freaked out what if I don’t make enough money? What if this doesn’t work? What if I crash and burn all the what ifs are there for all of us? But my question is, how bad do you want it? Are you willing to get uncomfortable to make it work? So you got to get clear on your why. But the next thing is, I want you to choose an exit date. So anybody listening right now that still in the nine to five in there doing a side hustle in real estate, they haven’t went all in yet. When will you know I’m not saying it’s in two weeks from now, you know, the title of my book two weeks notice there’s a ramp up first. So maybe it’s three months, six months, nine months a year, let’s not make it more than a year because we’re letting fear drive us if we do. So let’s choose our exit date, put it on a post it note, put it on a mirror where you’re going to see it every single day. And then ask yourself, What can I do today? To lead me closer to that date? Do I need to connect with someone build new relationships, listen to your podcast to get the knowledge, like what do I need to do today to get me closer to that date. And then the next thing I want you to do is look at your finances, you’re never going to leave that nine to five job until you have a clear vision of what your finances look like a reality and knowing like okay, how much do I ultimately need to make every month to get by? This is not the time you’re buying a house renovating the house going on vacation buying a car? No, we’re getting scrappy in our first five years of entrepreneurship. And so what does that look like for you talk to your partner get clear there. And then from there, you just start to work on that runway, you know, just do the thing you need to do really ramp up that side hustle, because on that day you leave, I want you scared, you’re gonna be scared, I don’t want you to be scared, you’re gonna be scared, but you’re gonna be ready. So that’s kind of what the runway looks like. And I map it out in a lot of detail in the book.

6:45
Yeah, it is very detailed. One of the things I’ve heard you mentioned before, especially with female entrepreneurs, being the majority of your audience is that you have found through the people that you have talked to and worked with that women have a harder time because we want it to be perfect. We want to have everything ready to go very structured, we want to be prepared, but sometimes that just leads to procrastination, and not actually taking any action. So if you’re one of those people that feels like well, I can’t do it until I have all my ducks in a row and everything is like perfect. And a guarantee. Like what advice would you share to the people that are really struggling to get it perfect.

7:26
So what I would say is that no matter how perfect, you’re going to try to get it no matter how much research you do how much dialing in you do it will never be perfect, because you’ve never done it before. So stop wasting your time. I want you to take imperfect action because action creates clarity. You know, it’s interesting, I’ve been around a lot of guys in my industry, when I came on the scene, it was pretty much all men. And the amount of confidence they have in things they do not know about blows my mind. And I’m not knocking them. I’m saying give me some of that. Like for my especially for the women I serve. We need some of that, because they just show up and figure it out. And I want more. My dog can you hear? Oh god, I’m hoping my husband grabs him very fast. Like I think I have an intruder in my house what has happened. But we’re gonna we’re gonna keep going. You’re probably getting a patent or something. Yeah, exactly. Something. But the the I want us women to show up and say we don’t have it all figured out. But I am worth it. I am resilient. I have a track record of figuring out everything that’s come my way because I’m still alive. And I’m still here. I will do this imperfectly. The only people who get started are those willing to do it imperfectly.

8:45
Yeah, I mean, it’s action taking is the key. And I think a lot of us get stuck in our head overthinking it and not doing just the actions. And sometimes you just have to put yourself out there and then you’re like, Okay, that wasn’t so bad. Now I can take the next action. If you don’t do the first one, you’re never gonna go to the next step.

9:00
Never. And one more quick thing, usually how we start is not going to be our end all be all. Like when I first started my business, I did things a whole lot differently than I do now. So I love that idea of just allowing yourself to start knowing Nothing’s set in stone and you can change it as you go. So don’t put all the pressure on yourself that it all has to be figured out because it’s gonna it’s going to change as you get more clarity.

9:25
You know what that makes me think about like logos, branding website, all those best cards, all these things that people get really invested in when they’re in a new place because they think it legitimizes the business. So in the weeds about what are my colors gonna be I’m like, who cares 100 times. Okay, matter

9:45
Nouriel rabbit holes, and they I really do think they’re busy work. That’s really just fear. So I did the same thing. I thought I needed a perfect website, and I thought I needed really fancy business cards. So I created these business cards that took me forever, like the color, the metallic font and like, I had them square, not rectangle because I wanted to be different. And I started handing out and realize my business cards look like condom wrappers. So that’s great. I just spent all this money and time, they genuinely look like condom wrappers. And so that I stopped giving them out because I was mortified. So I think we all do this, because we want to be legit. But the smartest business owners just get busy on the things that are going to make them money and make an impact. And they don’t worry about all that other stuff. I always say in the book, there’s a whole chapter about building out your website. And I made a million dollars with one of the ugliest websites on the internet at the time. Because I just said I’m gonna go out there and get going. Yeah,

10:45
there’s a picture in the book. And I was like, Oh, here’s a tie. Pretty bad. Yeah. Okay, I want you to talk to us about so when you’ve decided to make the job, you’ve put your you know, date on the sticky note, you’re like, Okay, I’m gonna do this, you go into great detail about the difference between courage and confidence and that you need courage in the beginning. Can you talk to us a little bit about? What’s the difference between the two? And how do you get the courage like, you know, you need the courage?

11:12
Yes. So a lot of the times, my students will come to me and they’ll say, I just, I haven’t started, I have a lack of confidence. And I tell them, you should not have any confidence. Confidence comes from a proven track record, I’m confident I could do this, because I’ve done it before. I’m confident I could do this because I started and I saw some success. So now I’m going to push it even further. That’s competence. But when you’re just starting out, let’s say in real estate, you’ve never sold a house yet at all. You’ve got the education, you’re starting to make your relationships, but you haven’t done it yet. There’s zero confidence to be had. It’s courage and courage is in all of us, we are born with it. And so it’s that faith, whatever you believe in the universe, God, whatever it might be faith that I will be taken care of. And I will figure this out, I’m going to jump, and then I’m going to say I’m going, this is going to work for me. So you have to have the courage in order to get started. So don’t look for confidence, have that leap of faith kind of courage.

12:13
And even when you have courage, in your example, like when you first did your first launch and have these big expectations, and then it was very humbling, because it didn’t go exactly how you thought it would be. And I was even talking with Katie, because you were discussing about the capacity. What is your capacity for zero? Which is basically like, what is your capacity to start from nothing to start with zero followers on Instagram, zero people in your database. Like that takes some grit and really a lot of mindset work. And I told Katie as an Enneagram, three achiever, I would have a hard time, you know, I do have a hard time with failure. You know, I’m like, I take it personal. But you talk about your humbling beginnings and the capacity for zero. Can you kind of dive into that?

13:10
Yeah, let’s talk about that. So you’re right, then my first year of being an entrepreneur. And funny enough, I never called myself an entrepreneur, that was way too fancy. So business owner, I decided to launch a digital course teaching people how to launch a book using social media, I’m mortified by that I had never launched a book in my life, I just thought this was a really good niche. And I was desperate to make a name for myself. So I put this course out there where I was not qualified to teach it. And I made a whopping $267. And I thought I’d make like $100,000, it looked like everyone else was making millions online. So I cried for a week, my husband literally had to say like, stop, we need to get your act together here. This is ridiculous. But I was a mess. And in my mind, I thought I am not cut out to be a business owner, I cannot make this work, I’m going to have to grovel back from my job. And so in those situations, I had to realize that if I stay with this, if this did not work at all, but if I just stay with this and figure out a different way, then I am still in the game. That was the thing I had to still be in the game. Because this capacity for zero is how bad do you want it? Are you willing to put your ego aside? It’s all ego and say exactly what you said, I don’t have a database. I don’t have a social media following. I haven’t made one penny yet selling a house, and I am sticking with this. So the people that when the people that exceed the expectations of their success, have a high capacity for zero. I’m gonna put my ego aside and I’m going to start from zero and I’m gonna see what I can do. If we look at some of the most famous entrepreneurs, they all had a high capacity for zero. And part of that is not worrying about or banking on what other people think. Now I’m a sensitive girl and I cared deeply about what other people thought of me when I first started out, and it made me play so small. Can you relate? Like when you’re gonna think of me? It almost stopped me in my tracks. What was your experience with that?

15:12
So whenever I was first interviewing with brokers, my dad is a real estate appraiser. And he told me, Alyssa, when you go on these interviews, this is not like you’re trying to get the job they all want, they all want you to sign the paper because they don’t pay you. So they live by hiring you. And if you happen to sell a home, they get a percentage. So you’re paying them. So when you go on these interviews, you need to be like, firm, you know, I had just gotten my MBA. So I’m used to like corporate interviews where I’m really trying to, like sell myself and he says, it’s switched. And sure enough, the first interview I went on, I was so glad he told me that because they were very much like, you seem great sign here, we would love to have you and I was kind of like, okay, this is what he said would happen. And I told them, You know, I do have two more interviews. And then one of the interviewers was very, over promising a lot of hype, a lot of motivation, the sky’s the limit, you can make your you pick your income, like it’s whatever you want it to be, and I was really drinking the Kool Aid. I was like, so excited, like, this is gonna be the best ever, why doesn’t everybody do this, and I almost signed, but I had one more interview. And I just felt like I needed to honor that interview the next day, which is ultimately where I landed. But I sat down. And it was a very different interview, I was very prepared for it to be like what I had just experienced. And she said, at the time, I was single, not married. You know, she was like, so how are you going to survive your first three years? Nice. And I was like, what? And she was like, how do you have money in your savings account. And I’m like, is $700 considered savings and savings account, and he just really went over like, how hard it was going to be, and how the first year you kind of have to prepare to not make money so that if you do it’s exciting, like even if you get one paycheck, you’re excited instead of like, I only got one paycheck. And I will say Sure enough, back in 2011, when I started real estate, that’s how it went. It was very hard. I was 22. But I looked like I was 14 years old. I always looked like so much younger. Nobody trusted me to sell their house. Like I was constantly having to sell myself only to be rejected. I got rejected by family members, friends, I just watched them buy houses and other people. So but I remember thinking, I think the reason I made it through that is because I was told that’s how it works. I would have been told it’s great. We’re gonna be so successful, you have a great sphere. And this would have happened, I think I would have crumbled. Because anciens Yeah, I really would have thought like I have failed, because what they said is not happening for me. But it’s almost like when the things happen. I was like, okay, that’s what she said would happen. And it is so it’s okay. And I only have to get through this like a few more times before it’s like out of the way. So it was possible for me to kind of like go in helped.

18:39
Absolutely. I love what you said, because one of the reasons I wrote the book two weeks notice is to really set expectations on the right track. Knowing that yes, it’s going to be hard. Yes, you’re going to stumble and fall, you need to make all the mistakes. But let me at least give you a roadmap. So when you make the mistake, you know how to get back up and keep going. And so I really do think it takes people like us who have already gone to say, let me tell you all the roadmap or all the traps in the road, all the challenges you’re up against. Let me tell you my own stories so that you are aware and hopefully can sidestep some of them as well. So you sidestep a lot of heartache, knowing what to expect and that’s why I wrote the book. I want other people to feel the way you felt. That’s such a great story.

19:24
Absolutely. That’s a good point. Hey friends, we are here to tell you that we have made you a freebie

19:34
a freebie it’s

19:36
free. It’s free. Those are my favorite why no look.

19:39
I love a good freebie and this one is vital. I love it now I will say we have always since episode nine way back then when we had our database episode the original had our database template for free. Yeah, hey, it is a spreadsheet. It is the column headers and some instructions on how to use it. It is not difficult. No but we You have amped it up this year. And now there is a Who do you know list that comes with your database template.

20:08
So this list will really help you build your database. If you feel like you don’t know who to add, how do I find people? This list gets you brainstorming about who do you already know, right?

20:21
This even works if you’re brand new to your area. Yeah, so who do you know you’re gonna take a list? And you’re like, oh, yeah, I know these people, I know them. And you’re gonna put them straight onto that database template, and you’re gonna hit the ground running with your database work. It’s an excellent resource. And you just have to visit hustle humbly. podcast.com/start here.

20:42
Yes. Because the database is the foundation of your business. It’s where you need to start. Start there.

20:47
Perfect. Okay, enjoy. Okay, so tell us about the beginning when you became an entrepreneur, you know, our show was called hustle humbly. So we’re very into like humble beginnings, like, obviously, preparing to not just go right to the top from the beginning. But what what does that maybe mean to you hustling humbly? And how was the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey.

21:13
So in the first two years, I did social media for small businesses is the one thing I knew I could do, well, not fantastic, but well enough. And I could get clients because no one wanted to do the social media for that for on their own. And so I did that for the first two years. And I got all these clients, and then realized I had no idea how to set boundaries, I was still this corporate Yes, girl. So every time I’d get on a phone call with them, we’d hang up and I’d have 20 action items, they’ve had zero. And I was literally doing all the things for them. And so I hated it. So my humble hustling humbly, was I was doing all the things I needed to make money, I felt desperate about making this work. But I literally created a business I hated. So like two years in, I realized, I’m working my tail off way more than I was in corporate, I did not know that that was how it’s going to be, I wasn’t making nearly as much money as I thought I should have been making, again, expectations were all over the place, totally out of whack. And also, I didn’t like the business I created, I didn’t want to work one on one with clients. And so that’s when I started to say, I’m going to pivot and change my business model. And so a lot of people are listening, getting into real estate, that’s a huge pivot for them. It’s it’s at their, they were going one way and then they realized, I don’t want this way, I want to go another way. And I want to just give everyone permission, that you have to create the life and the business by your own design. That is where freedom comes from. That’s where the sky’s the limit down the road can come from. And so making that pivot, I want to invite people all day long to do that, if that’s what’s calling you and I made the pivot, I changed my business model to create digital courses. 14 years later, that’s exactly what I do. But I’m glad I had the courage to do so because it’s kind of a scary thing to say this isn’t working. I love that you

23:05
brought up boundaries. That’s one of our favorite things to talk about on the show. Because part of our inspiration for the podcast was to bring professionalism back to the realtor brand. We want the same respect as an attorney, a CPA like we want. You don’t text your dentist at nine o’clock at night and be like my tooth kind of hurts, you know, a like so but when you’re a realtor, there are so many operating from the standpoint of like, I’m going to put my cell phone number on a billboard and it doesn’t matter what time it is. 24/7 Call me text me like, it just comes off as very scarcity mindset. And you know, Katie and I have both had our own journeys. And, you know, I didn’t have boundaries until my first daughter was born and 2017 and I had to like, force boundaries. Because you know, all of a sudden, I had somebody else in my life I had to take care of in a certain pickup time at daycare. But you know, realtors are known for not really having any boundaries. The client comes first. You got to get the sale. The family can wait. And you had even I had heard you share a story before about working while you were at a friend’s wedding over the weekend. Yeah. I would love for you to share that story with our listeners and also tell us because I think that’s when you were still in corporate in your corporate. But how did you get down to the entrepreneur newer?

24:32
Yeah, so it’s near the tail end of working at my Tony Robbins job. And one of my best girlfriends was getting married in this little sleepy town in northern California. And by sleepy I mean the Wi Fi was very shoddy and here I show up knowing I was on deadline for a project didn’t manage my time properly said of course I’ll do it. Well, I’m on this trip. And I’m like sneaking around during like the wedding festive festivities like before the actual wedding. to go to these little cafes, hide in the back, type away, do all my work hoping no one sees me. And I fully wasn’t present during those days leading up to the wedding. Then we get to the wedding, we do all the things. We’re doing a champagne toast, and the bride looks at me and she said, all you do his work. And I was so embarrassed. But she was absolutely right. All I did was work, I had zero boundaries. Because I wanted, I wanted to be acknowledged, I wanted to be important. I wanted to make a lot of money and climb that corporate ladder, and I was on somebody else’s time and someone else’s dime. So I wasn’t calling the shots. So I was doing all this work, she calls me out. And I’d like to say that I went home that day and just like changed my life and changed how I did things took me a few more years to figure out if I don’t set some boundaries, I will literally lose friends and family and myself. And so in the book, I talk about non negotiables. Because as much as this is a business strategy book, it’s also a mindset book to operate as a business owner. And so I talked about these non negotiables I had to set up things I will or will not do no matter what. And I did them a few years into my business, but I’m encouraging people to do them on day one, so that they are creating a business in the life they love. We don’t need to hit burnout in the first few years of doing our own thing. So I think it’s so important.

26:24
At what point when you became an entrepreneur, did you realize okay, I thought this was gonna make me more free. But I find myself now working, working working hustling, hustling, hustling, guess was like at what point were you like, I have to have some boundaries in place with the people I’m working with. Did you ever? What did that look like? Did you set business hours or just put limits on things?

26:48
It was two years I was about two years in and I realized I’m a shell of a person right now. And that’s when I realized I created a business I didn’t love and I needed to change it. But it really took my husband coming to me and saying, I don’t even know you anymore. Like your, your job has become everything to you. More important than my family. I don’t like to admit that. But that’s how I was operating. And so the business came first for everything was my baby. It was like if if I if this doesn’t work, what does that say about me, which is such a dangerous thought it says nothing about me. But I thought it meant everything. And so when my husband came to me, and he’s like, I’m frustrated that made me nervous. It was He was still we’re still newlyweds practically. And I got scared that he wasn’t going to want to stay with me anymore. Right? So scared straight, essentially. Right? So that’s when I started to create these non negotiables. One of them was that I was going to have coffee with my husband in the morning. He was a firefighter at the time and the mornings he was home. He just wanted 30 minutes of my time. Quality Time is his love language. Mine’s acts of service, but I needed to give it to him. So that became a non negotiable. When Toby was home, we did coffee in the morning for 30 minutes, phones down, we were present. Another one was I wasn’t going to work every single weekend. Now, let’s be honest, you hustle. In the beginning, there are definitely going to be weekend working sessions, but not every single weekend. So I would say like one or two weekends, and then I would plan to have the other weekends off. I also started to put a cut off time at night time. Six o’clock, I’m done working. And I still do that to this day. I’d love to say five o’clock, but I know it’s never gonna happen. So six o’clock, I had to be realistic, I’m done. That means I close the door because now we’re working from home. No one like is telling us what to do. I closed the door, shut the computer, go downstairs and I’m present for my family. These are things that made a huge difference. But it almost cost me my marriage. It felt like so it was like meant a lot to me. I don’t think you need to get to that place to create these, like do it before that happens.

28:53
Yeah, I think what happens with realtors entrepreneurs, everyone because you’re grinding so hard in the beginning and you’re like, well, I’ll do anything. I’ve got to be scrappy. I want to make this work. You get into that mindset and your behaviors are set from the beginning like well, I don’t have a problem working after five. It’s not every day because my business is slow. And then all of a sudden you just become habitually, like, oh, I work after five. I work every weekend. It just you if you don’t set it up in the beginning, it’s exactly what you’re saying. You’ll just go that way and then all of a sudden you wake up one morning you’re like I work every day after five I work every single weekend. I never take a day off and then someone has to point it out to you almost because you’re just like on the app. And that sounds like autopilot.

29:33
Yes, exactly is autopilot and I find myself it’s not that I’m a you know, an unhappy slave when I’m doing that. It’s that I genuinely love futur and getting lost in it. That is why I have trouble setting boundaries because give me the internet and a laptop and I would be a happy camper for weeks probably. And so It’s not that I’m having to set boundaries, because I’m not happy doing my work, I have to set boundaries because I love to work. And I get sucked in and I don’t want to stop. And then I look up and life has moved right on by me. And I’m like, wait a second, I want to shut the laptop and watch my kids grow up.

30:19
Yes. And I think that’s a great point that we don’t need to beat ourselves up for loving something so very much. And I mean, most people in the world will never create a business by their own design. So when we’re talking to people that are creating real estate careers, you are very one of the few. And so you shouldn’t be proud of yourself for what you created. And of course, you’re obsessed with it. But we’re doing this to create a life we love as well. So one of the best pieces of advice that I can give, and this is something I map out in the book, get clear on the kind of lifestyle you want, and build your business around that versus start your business and then try to fit your lifestyle in. That’s the mistake I made. But if you got clear, how do you want to wake up in the morning? How do you want to spend your morning, your afternoon, your night? How do you want to show up for your family? What do weekends look like? When do you take vacations? How do you save money? Let’s get clear on the lifestyle you want. And then say okay, I’m going to build this business to make that happen. Any entrepreneur, any real estate professional can do that?

31:18
Yeah. Makes perfect sense. Okay, I want you to shift and talk about your other love language email list. What you want to say,

31:28
before we like super dive in, just to give you some dynamic of us, Katie has this incredible ability to understand the online world. She loves to take online courses, I can’t sit still I would rather like do it in person or have someone like tell me teach me physically, you know, she has real Instagram friends, I have trouble remembering that people online are real. worrying that we have a podcast that people listen to. I’m like, we do have people that listen, she’s like, Yeah. But I heard you tell a story about how your dad doesn’t fully understand what you do, necessarily. And that he’s like, I don’t know something on the internet. And you’re like, Dad, as long as I have a all you really need to know is as long as my email list is healthy, my business is healthy, and I am making money. So now when he sees you, he says, How’s your email? Email List? Yeah, okay, me and your dad are cut from the same cloth. I’m like, I love have a podcast. It’s online, you can go listen to it. Right?

32:39
Let’s, here’s a great example of this. So we start the podcast, because we want to help the industry, you want to help other agents, we wanted to really serve them in that way. So it really was how can we bring value to our industry? How can we make it better now, six months in, we would talk about things like our email template, like we use an email template for this, we use an email template for that the people kept asking for the email template. So I’m like, Alyssa, we’re gonna have to make a packet of these email templates. They really want them and then we’ll sell it to them. And that’ll be good because we’re not being compensated for. Yes. So we’ll put it together in a little course, and we’ll sell it and she’s like, I mean, what are people going to pay for that? $10? Like, you did years of work to get this right in your business. Now you’re where someone basically the easy button, you’re not going to charge $10 I don’t know, it was just that that’s the example of what what we got going on here. So like, it’s just that’s hilarious. But I’ve always been growing our email list, and Alyssa likes to keep her inbox at a 00. When I’m like, I’m gonna send the database and email. She’s kind of like, Ah, I don’t know, please don’t send too many emails. And I’m like, Girl, we’re sending an email and we’re sending an arrow. Yeah. So I want you to talk about what is rented land because Realtors get real into social media. I want you to talk about what that means and why every entrepreneur needs an email list, not just if you’re an online business.

34:04
Okay, love this. So I’m speaking to all the real estate professionals out there. And then anybody just growing a business in general, no matter if you’re doing it online or not. You need an email list names and emails of people who have raised their hand and said, Yes, I would like to hear from you. And here’s why. When you build your business on social media, which many real estate professionals do, because it is the first entry into growing an audience, when if you do only that, and you bank on I’ve got 100,000 Instagram followers or 50,000 Tik Tok followers, whatever it might be, you are building your business on rented land, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, they can change that algorithm and what you were doing today, boom, totally changes tomorrow and it does not work anymore. We’ve seen it over and over again with Facebook. I banked on that for years, and then it became pretty much pay to play and I was screwed. So I will never ever do that again. So of course, use social media, I want you to use it to engage your audience, create content, and use it to build your email list. And the way you do that, if of course, you get an email service provider, whatever works for all of you, I’m sure it’s going to work for your audience as well. Like, which one do you use?

35:19
I just started trying mailer light, we’ve used MailChimp, I send my emails from Kajabi because girl, you know, I signed up with you. But we’ll have people ask us okay, to your email looks so great. And I use a super basic template. It is clean graphics, like one picture and just plain font, but there’ll be like, your females look so great. And I’m like, you don’t need you can get a free email service provider to do what I’m doing. If you don’t need Kajabi, I got other things in there. But

35:46
it there’s so many easy ones. ConvertKit is another one, I love that you can start out for free, and then you just start paying when your email list starts growing more. So gotta get that email service provider. And the next thing you want to do is you want to create some kind of freebie. So I don’t think it’s enough to say sign up for my newsletter that is not sexy. No one wants another newsletter. Let’s not go that route. Instead, I want you to say I created this email template for you all you could say before you sell it, I created this one email template that got me 20 sales. In a month, I’m making this up. This is the email template, you do not want to miss boom, people want that bad. It’s so valuable, they would pay for it. But you’re giving one of the templates away for free. They’re giving you their name and email. And so you want some kind of freebie. And here’s the trick, you’re not just putting it out there and thinking they will come you’re talking about it every single week, maybe you make an Instagram real about it or some kind of social media posts, you’re linking to it in your bio, you’re getting interviewed by other people, and you’re mentioning you’ve got this freebie or wherever it might make sense. And so we need to get people on your email list. Because we also know that people sometimes think about selling their house or buying a house for ever. And then one day your email hits their inbox. And it was the morning they talk to their spouse, and they’re like, we’re going to do this we’re ready to buy. Here you are. You’ve been there every week. But this week, they’re really paying attention. That’s why this is so important. Social media can come and go, but you own that email list. Okay, I want you to tell them because I need to hear it from you, not me what I think you said there’s a certain x times your email converts more than social media, what is their time, an email to convert four times or more higher than any social media post. And you might think but Amy, I’ve got 50,000 people on social media and only 100 people on my email list, I’d bank on the 100 people, I genuinely would, you’re more connected to them. But here’s how you get connected to them. This is the part of the puzzle that people often miss. You are emailing them once a week. And and if you’re in a promotion, like you girls with your email templates, you’re emailing more but we won’t get into that you’re least emailing once a week, tips, insights, stories, things that will be valuable to a potential buyer or seller so that you become their go to source. That way when they’re ready. They remember you. And so the only way that people in email are going to be engaged with you is if they hear from you on a regular basis. And some of you are like no way that’s too much once a week, or what if they unsubscribe, if they unsubscribe, they weren’t meant for you anyway. And so this is the key that most people won’t do. But those that do, that’s where they see success. Just like

38:34
oh, I have been learning, you know, I’m learning. I’m getting there. Understand that.

38:41
She’s not mad anymore than melee wants

38:44
to be like, Oh my gosh, that’s so annoying. And now I’m like email them email.

38:49
I mean, I think she is always you have to come at providing value. And if it’s about you, then it’s going to be a problem. But if it’s truly about them and like is this a funny story? Is this helpful to get your house ready for sale? Is this like a tip that you might need in your life? Then what why that’s not a problem that’s just providing value.

39:08
Right? And I think that is a duty. Yeah. Mm. I think it’s a big mistake that Realtors make on accident is that they think we’re supposed to self promote constantly look at me. Here’s my new headshot. This is my face but really it’s about them and more than making a post or email that’s like do you need to buy or sell but rather going to them and commenting on their stuff and loving their pictures and being like, Wow, your dog is so cute. Whatever. It makes them feel good. And then they like you and then it just it’s a relationship. It’s not about

39:49
you have you ladies seen that woman Glenda on Tiktok Linda Baker glenbeigh is ever named Glenn

39:57
Baker. Yeah, no Hi. She wears stars all the time, right? She’s always got stars.

40:05
So I have no interest in real estate except the fact that I bought and sold houses, but like I would never be in your profession. And I watch her all the time. And the reason I watch her is because she gives great value. She’s just telling the stories of experiences she’s had in her industry. And I think it’s fascinating storytelling is so fascinating. Now that’s on a social media platform. I don’t know if she’s taking that huge following she has in getting them on an email list, she’s probably not it doesn’t happen is the secret that most people don’t know about. But imagine you started something like that, whether it be on any social media platform, and you knew how to move those people over to an email list. I promise you, there’s more money in that email list than she will ever have on tick tock. And so everyone listening, go watch her on tick tock, because she’s a master storytelling in the real estate industry. We can all learn something from her.

41:03
Oh, yeah, her stories are amazing and hilarious. And she does not pull any punches. Like she is just like, This is how it is. Lorenzo good. i Oh, good. Okay, I want you to talk about so okay. Real estate is a very congested field, you kind of mentioned about, you know, entering where you feel like, oh, there’s a million online businesses, or there’s a million of whatever I’m going to do, there’s so many of us out there. Okay. And so we get into our heads and think, why would I want to be another realtor? You know, there’s so many of them out there. There’s the four quadrants, can you walk us through the four quadrants and kind of help us get in the right mindset?

41:41
Yes. So when people say to me, Amy, I don’t know what I want to do in my business. And I know, this doesn’t necessarily apply, but stay with me for a second. I don’t know what I want to do in my business. How do I figure this out, I take them through the sweet spot formula. And so I’m going to take it through a lens of somebody who wants to be in real estate, but they’re not doing it yet. Okay, or they’re dabbling, but they’re not full time. So first of all, there’s four quadrants, and the first quadrant is where are you excelling? Where have you gotten results? What are you good at your skill, set your knowledge, your know how, now it might not be real estate, and that’s something you’re studying, or you just got your license or whatever it might be. But there’s other things that you’re really good at? Are you really good at communication or relationship building? Or are you good at creating content or writing a blog or making videos so that you can kind of find your own little unique way of doing this? Everyone has a unique way of doing whatever it is they want to do? Let’s figure that out. The second thing in the second quadrant is who do you want to serve? So maybe you start to specialize in? Well, I help families with small children. This is like my specialty, I find that perfect home in that perfect neighborhood near the right schools. This is where I’m really good. And that doesn’t mean that’s the only thing you do. But you have carved out like, I’m going to make a name in this area. So again, we’re finding out who you want to serve, what problems do they have, and you’re going to solve those through your real estate career. The third quadrant is where are people spending money. Now, when you think about in your situation with real estate, well, everyone’s spending money, they’re either buying or selling, and you’ve got that taken care of. So the third quadrant, no brainer, you’re in an industry where you can make money. And even if it’s highly congested, you only need a tiny sliver of people to pay attention for you to make a really good living. We’re not talking about you have to sell 2000 homes a year in order to make a great living like tiny sliver, and you’re going to

43:38
well, or 20 and be just fine.

43:41
Boom. Like that’s huge, like so we got to put this in perspective, we’re not looking for a humongous numbers. And so there’s absolutely room for you, and only you will do it anyway. Do it your way anyway. So can you make money with real estate, even if it’s highly congested? Absolutely. People prove that every single day. And then the fourth thing is, you need to make sure that it’s going to light you up. Whatever you decide, however you decide to do this, however you set up your real estate business, it’s got to bring you joy. And so if it doesn’t light you up, let’s change your business model or how you plan to do this. Because you’re going to eat sleep and breathe it as we talked about earlier. So it’s got to be something you love.

44:22
That’s so good. Yes.

44:24
So it’s so true. And a lot of us just think, oh, we’ll take every kind of client or I need to speak to everyone on social media. I keep telling agents and like pick a niche. It doesn’t matter what it is anyone you want to downsize, you want to work with people with, like families you want to work with first time first time sellers. Just pick one. They’re like, well, I don’t have any business. I don’t want to just focus on someone because then what if someone else needs me and like you could still work with them, but you need to talk to someone. If you talk to everyone you’re talking to no one and I think that in every field you just think oh well I mean any kind of business. I’ll just talk to everyone and then no one listens because they don’t know you’re talking to them.

45:03
Lastly, the noise.

45:04
Yeah, and there is so much noise. And we always talk about with real estate, there are so many shiny things, okay, we have about a million CRMs, you could choose from we there are so many apps, and there’s so many different ways of marketing and things that you could or should or feel like I ought to be doing these things. And it is very hard to focus and to concentrate. One of the things that I love that you said was like, keep it simple first, and then you can maybe get fancy later. But you don’t want to jump to level 10. If you haven’t even completed level one successfully, like if, you know, level one is saying, I’m going to get at least 10 people on my database on my email list. So talking about keeping it simple, when there are so many shiny things, and you’re seeing all these other people on Instagram doing different things, then you feel like you should be doing all of them. But that’s impossible. So how do you resist the urge to do too much like just keep it simple? So

46:09
I think that when we try to complicate it or feel like we need to do all the things, it comes from desperation, what if I’m not successful, what will people think? So we really need to remember that when we tried to do all the things, we’re coming from a place of scarcity and fear, which serves no one. However, the people that are the most successful, they do take those baby steps each step of the way, they master this, they get instagram down just Instagram. And before they move on to tick tock or Facebook or anything else, they’re going to just get this really good for a few months. And then they’re going to figure out how to grow their email list. So they’re not going to go onto another social media platform, just grow my email list. When you’re more calculated like that, you start to see success so much faster. The biggest mistake I see new business owners making and this includes everybody starting out a real estate career, the biggest mistake is that they do a little of everything, but nothing with a full intention or focus. And that makes a huge difference. So it takes discipline, you got to wear your big girl pants here to say I don’t get to do everything just yet. I get to do everything down the road. But in this moment, one thing at a time, it makes a huge difference. Most people won’t do it this way. But the ones that are most successful will

47:25
do love it. Yes.

47:27
Are you ready to read? I don’t we we know your time is precious. And so we only had you until 10. And we know you’ve alive coming up soon. Yeah. So you got to get ready for your life. Good. Talk to you all day. And I would hold you hostage and just pick your brain. But we’re not going to do that. Do you want to read your quote that you’ve pulled from the book and closing? And then we’re going to ask Amy if she has a

47:46
toast? Okay, so you said we must unbox ourselves, we have to believe that we can do this. Even if we crash and burns, we can get ourselves back up. crashing and burning does not mean you are not worthy. I needed to hear this probably more than anyone because it that I even if it’s like the smallest mistake, I will punish myself like, in my mindset so hard. And it’s so so this book has really been helpful with my mindset in so many ways. But that was something that we thought would be the perfect ending. If you wanted to add any final thoughts to that topic. Yes.

48:26
I think there’s so much about this, am I worthy, am I enough wrapped up into everything related to being your own boss and starting your own thing. And so even if you start to feel like maybe I’m not worthy, maybe I’m not cut out to do this, I want you to give equal airtime to maybe I just might blow my own mind. Maybe this is my time, maybe this is going to work. And just make sure that you’re not giving just the negative all the attention. Let’s give equal airtime to what is possible. It’s all a mind game. 80% of entrepreneurship is how you think and how you feel. And the fact that you can change that at any given time. So focus on the mindset more than anything, I get into it a lot in the book, because it’s that important. But there’s also a step by step guide to grow that business. So go get your copy.

49:16
So good instead of useful and like real action oriented. So what exactly should we do? It’s all in the book. Amy, did you bring a toast for anyone? I don’t know if your team told you. At the end of every show we toast someone who either had a success or has helped you in your business or you know is important in your life. But who do you have someone you’d like to test today? I’m going to post

49:37
my husband who I dedicated the book to he always believed in me before I believed in myself as I was crashing and burning. He kept saying you got this. So I’m like no, I don’t. We said yes, you do. And so I wouldn’t be here today talking to you. If he didn’t believe in me. I think we all need to find at least one person and might not be the spouse but one person that believes in us just a little bit more And we believe in ourselves. So a big toast to my hunky husband hoping

50:04
cheers to Hobi Okay, we’re gonna take a picture and then we’re gonna let you go. So let me grab my lid. Okay, right here in front Did you like that? Yeah, okay. We’ll Alright, we’re gonna do one more. Okay, Amy, truly have your pee lady. Your people give it my people which is me. Really?

50:27
So I want to be in touch Brittany’s gonna reach out to you. I cannot wait to hear your story because I want to tell it in my September launch. Promotion if you guys are looking for it. We will be in touch. We’re happy to do it. Okay. Okay, bye.

50:46
Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode.

50:51
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

51:01
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