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Before You Join a Real Estate Team, Listen to This: What No One Tells New Agents | All Roads LTR Podcast | Ep. 60
13 Plays12 days ago
Matt and Jen sit down for a straight-talk episode aimed at real estate professionals who are navigating their next move, whether that’s joining their first brokerage, switching teams, or trying to break out of a plateau.
They unpack the real differences between brokerages and teams, the critical early decisions that make or break an agent’s career, and why most agents unintentionally sabotage their growth by trying to do everything alone. They also share the mission, values, and philosophy behind the Matt Rhine Group, and why they’re now selectively looking for a small number of high-drive agents to join them in Maryland.
If you’ve ever wondered what questions to ask, what support you actually need, or how to recognize a team that genuinely invests in your long-term success—this episode is your roadmap.
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Transcript
AI's Impact on Real Estate
00:00:00
Speaker
The reality of where we stand with AI, specifically in real estate, as you look at this, if you're in the business and you're about to double down and go full in, if you just service leads and you're getting most of your opportunities online, for example, um you will be replaced.
00:00:19
Speaker
It'll have one-click buy buttons. This is coming, and if you don't think it's coming, do your research, it's coming. That's all they're trying to do is to cut out the agent.
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:35
Speaker
Hello, everyone. This is Matt Ryan on the next episode here of All Roads Lead to Real Estate. And so today I have a guest that is here. I asked her all of, i don't know, two hours ago to be ah a guest and join me today. And that is, of course, Jen Williams, our director of operations at the Matt Ryan Group. Thank you so much, Jen, for joining me. Thank you for having me.
00:00:57
Speaker
Well, I dragged her on here specifically so I don't talk into the abyss, ah which can occasionally happen, and lead myself astray. So she's going to keep me on the straight and narrow. So thank you, Jen.
00:01:09
Speaker
Gonna see my best.
Career Opportunities in Real Estate
00:01:10
Speaker
That's a challenge. He does that daily. So that's it's it's a joy and a pleasure, everybody. um But one of the things I wanted to do today, oftentimes I have a guest or I interview someone and about things I'm interested in or clients or a variety of things. That's why we kind of named it what we did. Right. So it's a we kind of beat around the bush a little bit in terms of real estate. But today,
00:01:31
Speaker
This one is more directed, I think, directly at a potential real estate professional or a real estate professional that's in the business that is considering either making a move, upgrading their opportunity.
00:01:45
Speaker
it It just is a natural progression, I think. I know, Jen, you've been in the business a while as well. It's, you know, one thing agents do is kind of move around. Isn't that about... They definitely do. They do. And so I'm sitting here thinking of what value can i can I say today or what can we do that might be useful to someone that's going through that journey. And i will say like it's real estate is brutal.
00:02:11
Speaker
And to not know exactly where you should be or where
Lessons from Experience vs. Coaching
00:02:15
Speaker
you should start, what questions should you be asking? it's challenging and so and then even as someone who owns a business that does this and jen is someone who's is trying to drive the growth within our own business it's it's a challenge to understand what people not only do they need what what value what service that we can provide that ups the game i have learned most of what i've learn learned in this business through trial and error um i've been coached i've had coaches
00:02:43
Speaker
But it's truly the mistakes I've made and the hard truths I had to learn that someone might have said to me, but I didn't really pay attention until it it hits you up against the head, honestly. And so I thought today's should be truly that and it should be Maybe one of the more useful podcasts I've ever done because it's almost as if you sat down and we were having a beer or, or well, Jen doesn't drink, so she's not having a beer with me. But yeah for those that might, um just what would we say if we were having a discussion
00:03:18
Speaker
about but maybe what I would have done now that I know what I know if I was in that position again, because everyone starts from somewhere, right? So nobody starts with 10 or 20 years experience, right? So you have to start somewhere and everyone's in a different position in their life. they're They're all going through, like we all have challenges, right? We all have financial challenges or we
Expansion and Mentorship in Maryland
00:03:40
Speaker
all have individual challenges. And so, um i don't know. So I'm very excited about this particular podcast, Jen, because I think ah we're able to offer some insights that I don't think most people get to hear.
00:03:54
Speaker
And I'm not, it's not a direct sales pitch, so to speak for me. So I want to be fully transparent as to what also our reason for doing this podcast is. And that's because we're in a position of growing our team here within Maryland And I have had a team for years, but it's really been an organic growth. It's like if someone knows me through ah somebody, maybe we'll have a conversation. And I honestly have never proactively reached out trying to find talent to join our team. And and Jen knows this because she works with me, but
00:04:29
Speaker
I've never done it because I needed an opportunity set and large enough and enough value that I felt comfortable saying i can bring you into the fold because that is a tremendous responsibility to allow someone in your world because you need to deliver. You need to give opportunities. You need to give to give mentorship. There's so many surrounding factors to do that effectively. And I will not personally in good conscience do it.
00:04:54
Speaker
if i didn't think i had the opportunity and so jen is here to assist me at delivering those goods so what i want to do is help educate and explain you could be anywhere in the country basically and and these these truths will be self-evident because anyone who's done it long enough will agree from with most most of these items But more specifically, if any of this rings true with you, give us a call, like follow up with us. We are in a position now where it's not a desire that we want to add a couple agents.
00:05:23
Speaker
Jen, what would you call it?
Criteria for New Agents
00:05:25
Speaker
Oh, it's it's definitely a must at this point. We're at a growth point and we we need agents and we want agents who want to grow. And it's pretty exciting, but it's definitely not just a we'll wait and see who comes along sort of deal. It is, and so that's different. That's different for every team, and it just the reality is if we don't have a, and I'm not looking for 25 people, we're looking for a couple people, but we have to have folks because the opportunities, if we don't, are gonna go and be squandered, and it's gonna cost the business money.
00:05:57
Speaker
And so finally we're in a position to offer enough value. I feel comfortable reaching out and saying, now's the time to reach out to us and to potentially grow your own business or get into the business.
00:06:08
Speaker
but I'll be very specific later in this podcast who we're looking for. um ah Just, i don't know, how do I say this politely? um Our opportunity set is so large, I can be very selective.
00:06:19
Speaker
yeah I think that's fair to say. It's very fair. You can join a brokerage and they'll take anybody off the street because that's the brokerage model. This is very different. This is a small team. We are the top producing Keller Williams team in the state of Maryland and DC for our size. So we're very high performing, so we're very um driven. So that's different. So we have different performance standards than most other places that you could possibly go.
00:06:44
Speaker
But um I just wanted to lay out the whole the whole situation, exactly what we're doing. But let's get back to the first portion, which is more about the industry and things to consider and what I would say, essentially, Jen, if I started in my real estate career tomorrow,
00:07:02
Speaker
What
Advice for New Agents: Teamwork and Support
00:07:03
Speaker
would I do? right Well, the honest truth is having reflected on this and having had a million conversations with people in to in in the world in which we live today, I would never, ever, ever do what I did in my career.
00:07:17
Speaker
and I know, Jen, your story. I know your story as well, but my story is that I i became a solo agent first. I did it with a second career, and I became a, salt just by myself, it's we refer to it as a solo agent. I got licensed, and then I i essentially immediately went to a 100% commission-based model brokerage,
00:07:40
Speaker
And I had no one to help me. No one was financially incentivized to help me. And so I had very, very minimal assistance. i didn't know what the heck I was doing, right? So I, but I i thought that was the right thing to do. I'll figure it out.
00:07:55
Speaker
And so it was exceptionally challenging and i didn't have any guidance in the matter. And so it's just like, oh, my God, if I would have known someone or if I had a podcast, I mean, the podcast weren't around 20 years ago. Let's be honest. so This wasn't a thing. I didn't have we have too much information these days as opposed to what I had, which is very little.
00:08:14
Speaker
And I didn't know anyone in the business. So I just had to figure it out. And I think there are way too many systems, models and opportunities out there where if you are a talent and I would like to say I was talent even back then.
00:08:27
Speaker
i I would immediately go and I would be interviewing and identifying opportunities where I could grow really quickly. And so what I had to do was learn and I had to write a lot of checks. So back in the day, I was writing thousands of dollars a month to be able to get different lead sources because I, to be honest, was too afraid to call friends and family. I just didn't have the confidence.
00:08:49
Speaker
And so I was ah spending, i think what I think it was $2,800 a month with postcards, which is ridiculous. Like that is not the first thing you should do people. Like the things I didn't know, i didn't know. i just, I was writing money because I thought I should.
00:09:02
Speaker
And I had a bankroll because I had a good job and I saved up all my money. And so I had all this money to start, which not everyone does. but I decided to deploy it in ways I thought was appropriate.
00:09:14
Speaker
And I had very little return on my investment and I didn't do any of the things I would tell someone to do today. And all of that was learned. And so I think I started the first couple years far slower than I should have.
00:09:27
Speaker
And so my suggestion to everyone is to to educate yourself. There's lots of resources. Certainly we're not the only opportunity. plenty of them. But figure out someone that you kind of mesh with that you think is a value to your world.
00:09:42
Speaker
How much can you grow? It's like your first couple years in the business, in my opinion, shouldn't be necessarily how much can I keep in my own individual pocket? I don't maximize everything.
00:09:54
Speaker
my income in the first two years, let's say, of the business. That is crazy thinking, in my opinion. In reality, you should maximize your experience, maximize your knowledge, create a real business.
00:10:05
Speaker
And I can tell you that most people don't treat real estate, and specifically as a realtor, as a profession. Jen, do you know what I'm talking about when I say that? Absolutely. most people come
Value of a Real Estate Database
00:10:17
Speaker
into it and then Instagram makes it look like you're going to make all the money tomorrow. And it's really a long haul of building a business, which most people don't understand. You just described like becoming a new agent for you. You were doing the things, but you didn't necessarily know what that meant to build a business. So if you could go back and give the ah year one in real estate, Matt, advice about building that business as a real estate agent, what would that look like?
00:10:42
Speaker
I would focus first on understanding the business aspects. I'd want to know what my margin should be. I need to know my income and expense expectations. I want to know what my profit ratio should be and what is the business. And I say, if I had to leave the business tomorrow, I decided I want to, I don't know, I want to be on the beach. I'm all done. I'm just, I want to pursue different opportunities.
00:11:05
Speaker
What do I actually have that's worth a nickel? And if you're listening out there and you have been in the business for even three minutes, you understand it's your database. Your database is your business, everybody. It's the systems that you've that you have that you could then sell to someone else that says, listen, I have X amount of people in my database.
00:11:24
Speaker
This is the number of transactions I can create through my database. And then there yeah are multiples that you can generate off of that to see what a fair market value would be of your business. So no one cares about my MacBook computer. That's not worth anything. Like no one wants my lease at my office. Like what value do we have? It's really that.
00:11:46
Speaker
And so that leads me to, okay, well, if that's what the value of the business is, are we doing anything to systemize that and to make that an actual business?
00:12:00
Speaker
And there are lots of, like, I don't know, even ChatGPT gets you crazy. I did a bunch of quarries before he started this. Even that screws it up so crazy, it gives a very definite answers, but it's the worst information you might have ever read.
00:12:14
Speaker
And so understanding what to do and and what not to do is what I'd want to learn. It's the things that like figure out what questions I should be asking. And if it was me, I would go out and I would be speaking to individual broker brokers brokers.
00:12:30
Speaker
And you got to talk to more than one. So you have to because everybody's perfect, right? Everybody knows the best agent in town. Everybody knows the best office in town. That's awesome. Let me talk to them. Be open-minded. Even if you're best friends in the business for 30 years, great.
00:12:45
Speaker
I can talk to them too, sure. But let me talk to other people and you'll figure it out. And then not only that, you have to be comfortable with the people. So even if they're fabulous, I know agents that I i admire their business.
00:12:58
Speaker
I don't want to work with those people every day. fair Right? And so you have to have the right mesh there and you don't know until you've been out
Benefits of Smaller Teams
00:13:05
Speaker
there a little bit. But I i think, you know, when you say, but like, what would I do?
00:13:10
Speaker
The only option I would consider is not a brokerage model, which is what I did, which is when I joined as an individual agent, I would join a team. And the team model wasn't nearly as prevalent 20 years ago. It's very prevalent now.
00:13:25
Speaker
And the differences in teams, everybody, is dramatic. You can have a team of one or two individuals that's tiny with no administrative support, or you can have these massive teams that have 30, 40, 50, even hundreds of agents, depending on the team. And they have a tremendous amount of um segregation of specialists.
00:13:45
Speaker
You have onboarding specialist. You have a coach. you And each of these has their pros and cons. The smaller teams, you get one-on-one time more off more often with what we call the rainmaker, the person that's doing all the business, which is kind of cool. Like that's a direct experience. You'll learn ah a lot of the salesmanship, so to speak, but you'll kind of not, if they're good, they're gonna be so busy, you don't get enough of their time potentially.
00:14:11
Speaker
And then the other side is if they're huge, you'll get none of that time typically, or if you do, it's in increments of five minutes. And they're like, it boy, is there a once like I can't say that there's one way is the only way.
00:14:24
Speaker
And especially if you're in different markets there, some teams are excellent and they have their stuff together and you'll know when you go walk in there and then others, they don't. So um personally, I would want something smaller, but not tiny.
00:14:40
Speaker
That would be me because if they're tiny, it's challenging to get enough time. If they're huge, that wouldn't be for me either. I left corporate America. I am not looking go to go back. I do not want our business, for example, to be massive. I don't want 500 agents. That's not my dreams.
00:14:53
Speaker
um That's the tremendous amount of headaches and so forth. It's a whole lot. It's a lot. um So i'd I'd say that would be how I would start. Let's back up a second though. And so you were talking about, you made the statement, you know, you'll walk in and you'll know that a team has it together. So there's tons of different ways that a team can be formed in real estate. You touched on the brokerage model, but how does somebody know when they're talking to a team or even a smaller brokerage that they would have it together? What should they be looking for? What questions should they ask? And it does it vary depending on the the individual agent's goals?
00:15:30
Speaker
Somewhat, the answer of course is always in the middle. So I think you can tell based on the ability to have systems in play. So I would wanna know what type of database system do you use?
00:15:44
Speaker
What type of, I refer to it as a touch program. How do we communicate with that database in a meaningful way? And I wanna know what leverage you have that I get to have value from.
00:15:57
Speaker
And that piece is so underrated and misunderstood because some agents believe, you know, especially if they're solo agents and they've done this forever, which by the way, was everybody at one point that. So agents have been doing it 50 years or 40 years. They think that is the only way to do it. And by the way, that's a legitimate way to do it. Plenty of people that I admire do it that way. But if you if you are like if you don't have a ah ah maid, you are the maid, like right? That's just the reality. like If you don't have support, you are the support. And so i the one way to think about it is if you want to double your income next year, do you have to double your efforts?
00:16:36
Speaker
Or is there leverage in play where you don't have to necessarily work twice the amount of hours to get twice the amount of income? And so thinking about the bigger picture, and that's by the way, when if you ever speak to me directly, I know how talent talks. I know how talent talent speaks. It is very different from somebody, like if you have to have me to be successful, to be honest, we're not a match, right? It's like talent knows that they'll be successful virtually anywhere they go. It's a matter of are you the right accelerant for them?
00:17:09
Speaker
And the reality is this business is not for everyone.
Challenges Faced by New Agents
00:17:12
Speaker
If you think it is, you have not done it long. yeah know the life i i i looked it up because I've heard statistics a billion times and I think I'm always wondering where in the world they pull these numbers from.
00:17:23
Speaker
But the National Association of Realtors, NAR as they're called, um released information, this was just, I think two years ago, that states that 75% of new real estate agents leave the industry within the first calendar year and 87% fail out of the business within five years.
00:17:41
Speaker
And so you'll hear versions of that statistic all the time. So I don't even know if those are, let's face it, like the exact number, but that's what that's what they say. um The reality is I know that the general gist of that is accurate.
00:17:55
Speaker
And we ask why, Jen, like why do people fail at that incredible rate? My experience, especially when I was working with new agents, is because they, one, don't have the support coming into it, right? Like a new agent, it's really hard to be a new part-time agent, and a lot of us did it,
00:18:13
Speaker
in reality, how part-time were we, right? Like we were putting real estate first. So, but it also comes back around you when you were talking about the doubling the income without doubling efforts, right? And look looking at how many solo agents that were in the business, and now it has shifted more to teams. We do often find that an agent who joins a team or is in a team like brokerage, which can be a little harder to find, they have a higher success rate. Yes.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah, if you have support in general, you're more likely to succeed. um That's facts. And I can tell you as someone who's started a team that probably shouldn't have started a team at the time in which they started the team because I did not have enough of the support mechanisms in play.
00:18:56
Speaker
I know the brokerage I'm with, I'll them right under the bus, Keller Williams, their playbook, is to grow immediately out of solo agent into team ownership. That's like the model they push down and just shove it down your throat. And so if you're if you're good, you think, okay, that's the next progression. I need to do that tomorrow. And you make a hire and you're like, I can barely afford this hire and I can barely afford someone to show up at all. And I'm like, I'm so grateful that anybody showed up at the time. I'm like, I didn't, my my threshold for talent was a little lower.
00:19:25
Speaker
And not only that, I also didn't know what to train them on. because what I was trying to teach them, I wasn't good at. i am not the best. You know this, you look at my desk. I'm not that organized.
00:19:35
Speaker
Like, I think I'm fantastic at what I'm good at. Like, I am a heck of a salesperson. Like, I've i've done that my whole life. I'm effective in that and that that portion of my job. Almost everything else is a train wreck.
00:19:48
Speaker
And it's like the most successful agents I know typically follow that path. And they're really good at an aspect of it, but theyre so they stink at everything else.
00:19:59
Speaker
And i consider myself a salesperson style of a realtor. But one of my best friends I went to college with, um his name is Mike, shout out Mike. um Mike is in Philly, he's a CPA.
00:20:11
Speaker
He is 100% smarter than I am. He is just such, um he worked for a big accounting firm. He approaches the same business that we're in. He eventually left, by the way, Ernst & Young, a big accounting firm, and he followed me into this crazy path. um He doesn't work with me directly, but he's in Philly in his own in his own right. But he approaches this so differently. He is not a salesman. He hates sales. He's like, it's but he's done very, very well. So there's a million ways to be successful at this, but he is the definition of talent.
00:20:43
Speaker
The guy is smart. He's extremely driven. Like if you want to be successful in this and it means enough to you to do it, the interesting and cool part is you can do it. And you can be so different. You can be like every walk of life can do it. And I refuse to listen to anyone that says that's not accurate.
00:21:01
Speaker
Your education level doesn't necessarily matter. Your looks don't matter. Like your age might be almost literally irrelevant. It's like, can you connect to someone? Are you genuine? And do you want to hustle and work?
00:21:11
Speaker
And honestly, if you have support around you, you will be successful. And like, that's why it's like, don't dare to dream, so to speak. But um I hope that answers the initial question there. It does. And the support piece, too, I know a lot of times to talk about training. So it goes beyond just how do I function as an agent, right? i think most realists, somebody gets into real estate and they hear training and they think, I'm going to learn how to show a house or write a contract. But there's really the business side of it. So even for an agent on a team, how much of that business side do they need to learn and how does it impact them if they don't?
00:21:49
Speaker
It's a fabulous question and um boy, are you well-spoken.
Early Career Focus for New Agents
00:21:53
Speaker
Look at this, goodness gracious, she needs to come more often. um I would say, i think you need to put blinders on initially. So I would wanna know the outline. I wanna know how the play is supposed to start, middle and end Like for example, I have no intention of quitting real estate anytime soon, but I know what the finish line could look like is is quite frankly, and we'll get into this eventually, as long as AI doesn't replace the vast majority of us,
00:22:19
Speaker
which we'll get into in a moment is something we, you you cannot ignore that part of our career in this industry, because it's coming. But I need to know what it all looks like. And then I need to put blinders on, which I did not used to do, um to say, okay, now that I know all the things, eventually I need to understand, what do I need to do in the first 30 days, 60 and 90 days? And then I can progress and kind of earn my my badge and my wings, so to speak, to continue growing.
00:22:47
Speaker
because I made so many excuses because I wanted to learn and I didn't want to do the job or make the calls that I was almost an expert at all these things. I was getting credentials. I was getting all these, you know, the letters behind my name.
00:23:01
Speaker
It is so not important to get 15 letters behind your name in the beginning it it's like it's irrelevant but i didn't know that i was terrified to make calls but i wanted to go to work so one for example i say it like i we had an article written about me last year um with real producers and i like i read it back after i did it you forget what you said when it gets printed and i just said i'm ah one of the hardest working sons of guns i know that's why i'm successful and it and it's like that is so shocking that people don't that like when i realized that's not the case and all by the way all that means you you show up and treat it like a job
00:23:36
Speaker
You go to work every day, and I know not everyone agrees with this, I go to an office every day. I enjoy the process of treating it like a real job, and not every day, especially in the beginning. You don't have an appointment every day, but you're getting your tail to the office, you're dressed, you're out of your out of your your habitat, so to speak, at home, and you are you're working.
00:23:56
Speaker
And then you need someone to say, this is what the accountability looks like for what you need to do this 30 days. And all you know newsflash, guys, it's going to be your database, entering that in, communicating what to communicate with them, and then the systems and the follow-up to put them in a path to trust you as a real estate professional.
00:24:15
Speaker
And the other statistic is doom and gloom is the first one as I gave you. um Everyone out there recognized, just so you know, it's right around 72% of people hire the very first real estate agent that they meet.
00:24:27
Speaker
So that should give everybody confidence that as good as I think I am at this business, if you meet them first, you can get hired first. That's facts. And I say that because there are people in our industry that I still look up to today, but when I was new, I was terrified of these people because I see their signs. I'm like, how in the hell do they have all these listings? Like, I oh i don't know how to do this. I can't get anyone to take me seriously.
00:24:51
Speaker
And I realized it took years and it's a database and it it it was not overnight. But guess what? I can now compete against them even then is with the base, just the basic, the fundamentals. And you like, should you can know the basics in six months for sure.
00:25:07
Speaker
And you can win against them. If you're, you know, if you are and have high integrity, you have the basics of the systems and the models around you and you get there first. Like that is all it takes. And you're going to beat out a whole lot of people.
00:25:21
Speaker
So Hopefully, does that make sense? I want to also add some of the positives here that it is very much an opportun so opportunistic. so The minority makes the majority of the income.
00:25:33
Speaker
That's facts. And that's open to everybody. It is. I do like that real estate is still that final frontier. There's so many things that you used to be able to go into and you can make a ton of money. And real estate is still one of those things that anybody can show up. Like you said, it doesn't matter what your background is, as long as you're willing to work hard. You also made it seem like it was really simple with these basic systems that we can come in. But you said some things about working the database, a 306090, which I definitely find important. I use this for myself and for our agents, for our team members. And then the accountability piece is really what I want to dive into because
00:26:11
Speaker
Accountability gets thrown around all the time. You can hear it in fitness. You can hear it in, you know, how are you eating your food? Did you you check in with your accountability partner today? But in real estate, it means a ah lot. And so how does accountability say for a solo agent then change for an agent who's on a team versus maybe an agent who and just is at a brokerage, right? Like what what's the difference in that for somebody and how does it impact their business?
Accountability Through Financial Challenges
00:26:39
Speaker
Well, I think most of us are most accountable through pain. So if you had two levers, one is pleasure, one is pain, um one is much stronger of a lever than the other. and i think we all know that it's pain.
00:26:52
Speaker
So when you're in a situation, for example, I got really good when my nice little nest egg started to disappear. And i that was a back against the wall moment for me. And another term I use with new agents is you need to burn all the bridges.
00:27:06
Speaker
You need to burn all the boats. There's one direction, it's that way. And when that happens, oftentimes it's through financial hardships, but it it could be anything. um you will That is when you're gonna be accountable truly, because I was terrified. And when I became terrified, do you know how many ah online courses I took?
00:27:24
Speaker
You know how much time I wasted on things that didn't matter? was zero. Because I immediately realized this is no joke. I will do anything. I will door knock. i will I will call those people I didn't now ever want to call because I thought I didn't know enough.
00:27:37
Speaker
And but mind you, that creates a cycle for me, and I think it does a lot of people, where you finally get into the activities that generate the income. and then you get some income and then you're you're servicing those opportunities, which by the way is the fun part of the business. Like that really is the awesome part. Many agents are good in front of a client and can service their needs and show them homes and do that part.
00:28:01
Speaker
But the the hardest part is to get the clients. And one of the sayings is like, you could be the best dentist in the world if you don't have any patients in the chair, you're not you're out of business.
00:28:12
Speaker
Like yeah it's no different in real estate. A lot of people can service. It's like, how do you get in front of people in such a way that you can convert them to a client? That's the hardest part. And one of the things I will credit Keller Williams with, and there's plenty of people that speak to this, but this is the first people that, in my opinion, introduced it to me. It was um the 20% rule of real estate.
00:28:34
Speaker
And Jen, I know we speak about this. It's understanding what is that in real estate? And in reality, it's it's servicing the clients, right? It's lead generation. It's servicing your database, and then it's actually out. It's negotiating contracts, showing homes, and build it. like That's basically it, guys. like Everything else on this list, am I forgetting any? I'm sitting here talking on a hot mic, so sometimes I forget, but it's it's only like three or four items.
00:29:00
Speaker
Everything else is the 80%. We refer that to that as non-income producing activities. It doesn't mean they're not important. Because once you have a pending contract and there's a lot of steps, for example, once someone finds a home, you get them under contract, you negotiated it, and now you have 30 days to settlement roughly.
00:29:19
Speaker
There's a lot of steps, but none of that is making you money. It's just, you need to do that to get paid for the work and that you've already put in. And so that's the that's the part of having a team that is why I will never do this by myself. I would leave the business because I love that part. It's like the rest of it takes a tremendous amount of, um I don't know, execution and organization and ah that can be levered with a really good organization.
00:29:47
Speaker
And to be honest, now there are certain brokerages that offer a version of that. but it's a very different version than certain
Risks of Managing Solo
00:29:54
Speaker
teams. And that's the part when I say you interview different opportunities and teams and brokerages, because that has been kind of melded together to a certain extent.
00:30:03
Speaker
And then it comes down to understanding what that looks like and what you think individually makes the most sense for you. And so that does that answer the the question? It does. And it it takes me to the next one. So a lot of times we'll have an agent who's either new to the business or somebody who's struggling a little bit, and now they want to do all the things because they don't want to spend a dollar on anything else. What's the hidden cost in that for somebody's business to actually grow if they're trying to do every single thing on their own?
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's it is, i will say in the very beginning, understanding all the steps is actually really helpful. um It's not gonna make instantaneous income, but it's like in property management, you know i I obviously have rentals as well. I've talked about that on this podcast many times. So I have a ah separate business that's that's property management and in my rental portfolio. I've managed all those properties at one point, or at least some of them, and I know the steps. So when I hired out and I have leverage, I know what they're doing. And if they do a poor job, I'm like, hey, that is screwed up.
00:31:05
Speaker
um So I think that's important. But when you're doing all of the things you do you are not focused on the 20% of items that are going to create opportunities for you to earn income.
00:31:16
Speaker
And what I know to be factually true is most people that start real estate do it with a very small amount of savings. It is rare that someone comes to us and they have hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in the bank and they're like, I don't need any money for the next couple of years, I can just learn.
00:31:33
Speaker
That's usually not true, right? Normally it's like, okay, I got enough for a few months or weeks. It's like tough. And trust me, don't you dare come and have a conversation unless you have a minimum of three to six months in savings. Don't anticipate having an income any income for the first three to six months.
00:31:49
Speaker
just to be safe. I'm telling you, because I know so many people, that's one of the reasons that the statistic exists. They come in thinking they earn income tomorrow. You do not. Even with the team, it takes a while. um You might have a closing the first month or two, but it's you don't bank on that.
00:32:04
Speaker
And you don't need the pressure in your life, trust me. Save and then get into the business. That's the first. But the operational ah cost or the hidden cost with doing everything yourself is that you're just gonna make so much less money And it's just unreal. It's like for me to do, for example, to handle all of the transactions, I think last year we closed 165 families, like that we closed all those transactions. If I did all the things for each of them, I would never have closed that many. It would have been impossible.
00:32:37
Speaker
um i'm And I'm not that good. So the quality of each of those experiences would have gone down. And that's that's on me. Now I say that because I know, I'm hearing some solo agents listening to this saying, I would never do that.
00:32:52
Speaker
It's not for everyone. So I would say that that, take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt, because if you if your preference is to have a smaller business, but touch every single piece of it, because you're the very best and you know you're the best and I could never trust any,
00:33:05
Speaker
know yourself well enough to know that's accurate for you. But for the vast majority of us, like I got into this business not just because I love real estate, which I do, but I also want a business and I want a life and I want to quality a quality of life and being around other people that are like-minded, that are motivated, that you get to impart wisdom to and you kind of grow collectively, that is vastly more exciting to me than just selling another house. Especially if you've done this for a while, like You know, it's, I've been to enough inspections. Like it's it's getting scary. That's how I know I'm getting old. I've been to so like a thousands of inspections it's at this point. It's like, there's only so much I learn individually in those aspects, but I have so much growth individually, personally, in front of fellow agents, in front of people that like, that I wanna, that's where my growth continues to to be, is in leadership. And it's it's really interesting. I wanna share that experience with others and that,
00:34:03
Speaker
I didn't think that way five years ago. And it's like the cool part about real estate is that you can, I say like in medical sales where I was previously, no none of my bosses could look at me in a straight face and say, I can help you double your income next year.
00:34:16
Speaker
It's impossible. the most li whaty I'm fighting for a three to 5% increase. And that only, i wouldn't be that motivated to get out of bed. And everybody we work with are independent contractors that are owners of their own business and that you need to learn to treat it as such.
00:34:34
Speaker
And you're only in relationship with that brokerage. That's why I was started off by a lot of realtors switch every couple of years. It's because you owe it to yourself to verify you're in the right position to continue your growth.
00:34:46
Speaker
And what you need today, let's say year one is very different from year three versus year five or year 10. And so you need to treat it differently, i think, at different stages of your life and career.
00:34:57
Speaker
Oh, that's fantastic. The part about every agent being an independent contractor, it comes up all the time because two two sides to it that we hear. One, independent contractor. Nobody can tell them what to do. They you know they can come and go as they please, which is very true. But then it takes to the other side of how many agents do you think are actually building businesses versus running around showing homes to people?
00:35:20
Speaker
I'd say maybe five to 10% is my, that would be my assumption, because if I go to these conferences and I'm sitting in the audience and they say, who here knows your profit margin for last year?
00:35:32
Speaker
Who here knows your cost of sale for last year? any of these Any of these topics, um understanding the structure of how to create an entity and pay yourself accordingly to to maximize the tax benefits that the IRS allows for our occupation,
00:35:46
Speaker
um any of these details, no one knows. and And to be honest, I never knew a lot of this stuff. This is because the reality is when you're drowning and or you're just starting, like you don't, that's why I said before, you don't want all of it's not important simultaneously, but you need to have the ability to get exposed to this that you're not gonna outgrow your situation in day one.
00:36:08
Speaker
And, you know, coming back to your options, the truth that sometimes people don't tell you because what we haven't gotten to is the cost associated, the real cost associated with choosing a brokerage or a team.
00:36:20
Speaker
It's how much of their money are they keeping? So if you have a sale, everybody needs to make money or it's not going to work. So if you're in what I used to be in 100% brokerage, I would have a flat fee associated with the transaction and they would have a flat fee each month.
00:36:37
Speaker
but then they would call themselves 100% commission. So outside of that, I got to keep the remaining portion, right? All of it. And the reality is how much value can that business try to impart to me?
00:36:49
Speaker
Because if I'm not paying them on that transaction, whether I do one or 100 next year, like, yeah, look, come on, let's all be smart guys. Like how much value can they truly provide? Like, can they give me coaching every single day?
00:37:02
Speaker
Like, are they gonna go through my leads and opportunities and one by one help me? Like, they're not incentivized. it's I would never ask, nor did I.
Evaluating Brokerage Value
00:37:10
Speaker
ask for any of that, because it would be wildly inappropriate. So it's like trying to recognize, okay, what are the opportunities and understanding the, that's why I say you need to know the profit and loss, because what agents typically don't understand is and at the average profit margin goal on an agent, any agent business is around 40%.
00:37:29
Speaker
That is historically, if you take, there's been lots of studies having done this and what they call the Bible of real estate. Gary Keller did it years ago and the percentages are going down, unfortunately, for brokerages and teams. But individual agents have actually kept pretty steady and individual agents and agents on teams, it's right around 40% should be your net profit.
00:37:50
Speaker
And so if you're if you're averaging 90% profit on your sales, i don't you don't have to tell me how large your business is, but I can tell you you're not making a million dollars a year in real estate. I just can i already know it.
00:38:02
Speaker
Like there is a limit to what you can make based on the percentage of profit you keep, facts. Like so if if I had my business coach sit down with me and I showed them 80% profit margin for last year, the first thing they would say is, Matt, you're running your business horribly.
00:38:18
Speaker
They would just know, it's like, well, that's counterintuitive. Isn't that good? You want, no, it's because clearly you're not growing or you're not paying your staff appropriately. Like if they're talent, they're gone, they're not staying. um If your agents are there and they're producing at a high level, but they're making nothing, if they're talent, they'll be gone.
00:38:35
Speaker
So it's like, you need a business model that everyone earns and everyone is successful together. And, um, That's why as an agent, you need to know what's realistic for me to take home.
00:38:47
Speaker
And then I always say the truth is every year, let's say, you have to have ah an honest conversation with your business partners, the team or the brokerage to say, is this still the right place for me? Because if you've grown a lot, you might need maybe less or maybe different things or maybe more things now that you're ready to expand.
00:39:03
Speaker
And that might reflect differently in your split structure because splits vary wildly, wildly whether it's 5% or 50% or theyre it it's all over the place.
00:39:14
Speaker
And so you truly need to figure out what value are you getting? Don't just say no based on split. Say, what am I getting for that? And if so, if there's enough value there, it's fantastic.
00:39:26
Speaker
um It could be. right But a lot of people, like I don't want to name the ah original brokerage I was with, um but they took 50% of my gross pay plus whatever I got left, whatever was left, that half, they took another 50% for my first five deals as a referral fee back to the quote unquote mentor who was in the business for a million years and didn't have time for me anyway.
00:39:50
Speaker
And I got nothing from it, but I didn't know any better. And so I was paying, I was left with nothing and those were my leads. I got zero opportunities provided to me. And so if I did it and I claim to be somewhat intelligent, guess what everybody, like I'm not the only one that gets suckered into this.
00:40:05
Speaker
And I'm just hopeful that things like this podcast and all the other podcasts or information out there, people can be more educated and demand better value for the dollar and their time, but recognize like don't expect amazing value if you pay nothing.
00:40:24
Speaker
Like you have to be able like the value chain has to go both directions. That's that's factual. Let's talk a little bit more about that, especially for the coaching piece that comes up all the time. a brand new agent and they hear things like my coach or my mentor, this person who's going to guide them through every step to be that powerhouse agent that everybody wants to be.
00:40:44
Speaker
And the other side is that a lot of people think, well, I just paid all of this money to get into real estate. Why do I have to pay this coach or a mentor to help me? And a lot of times it's like what you described where you hear the really tough story of, well, I paid all this money, but I didn't get the help. So how does a new agent or again, that agent who wants to grow, maybe they've been stagnant, maybe they didn't get the right support in the beginning. How do they navigate that conversation to know what good coaching and mentorship looks like?
00:41:11
Speaker
So that's really difficult. I'll be like transparent. It's very difficult when you're new to know that, but the reality, i and I don't know. The people that have been able to get through to me were people that I saw that were successful as agents. And boy, has that changed in recent years. The only people that could get through to me in my little brain when I started were other agents that did a ton of business.
00:41:35
Speaker
And I said, those are the only people I can learn from because they've already done 100 million plus in sales. Clearly they're they're the people I need to learn from. And I already admitted, I'll follow my own sword over and over again,
00:41:48
Speaker
ah Just because they can sell a lot of homes does not mean, once again, that they know anything about the business of real estate. it it could They're a heck of a salesperson, but they could be, like the term is they leave a lot of dead bodies along the road as they're selling all these homes.
00:42:03
Speaker
And you but you have to be very careful with who you take advice from, because everyone's quick to give it. We all want to sound smart. Look at me, I'm on a stupid podcast. I try to sound smart. So you have to be really careful to kind of, to go cut through it, to understand um just because they have sales behind them, that it's the advice you have to take.
00:42:20
Speaker
Now there's enough information in and out there that coaches, and I know you're a product productivity coach, you've been trained on this. They have to be trained in a system to be able to help someone to become productive. So your experience was as a productivity coach helping people establish themselves in the business Very few people have that experience. um And the truth is I don't, that has not been my experience. I've learned a lot of those things, um but I'm not foolish enough to say only listen to me. I know all the things. um I know portions of the job and yeah, listen to me in certain aspects. If you want to script practice with me, I can run circles around most, not everybody, but most. But if you want to do a lot of these other things, I'm going to,
00:43:05
Speaker
have to put you in the right step. Like your portion in our team is to help people with accountability directly. I'm not the person for that. Like you have patience, like you're a teacher, you're literally a school teacher. Like that, you have the patience and you want to nurture and care for people and,
00:43:22
Speaker
i'm a lot I'm a lot more type A. i'm i'm I'm not going to be able to do that for people, but I have these other qualities that in combination, in connection, you can you can all utilize together to get you where you have to go.
00:43:37
Speaker
So tell me the aspects of your question I didn't hit. So you you did hit it right where were talking about like, how do you figure out what the best coaching for somebody is when they're coming in? Because it is hard to figure that out. And you hear so many things. There's so many programs that are being sold. There's so many things to buy into and there isn't a one size fits all. So I really liked your answer. There's just not right. It's going to depend on the person and how,
00:44:00
Speaker
How does that coaching element change then for a solo agent to somebody who's joining a
Effective Coaching in Real Estate
00:44:07
Speaker
team? Is it different? is it Are there questions that somebody should ask of a team or well how would a solo agent find a way to grow their business?
00:44:16
Speaker
Yeah, i I'd wanna say, this is a good litmus test for most people that you're in potential relationship with. Figure out what questions they ask and you'll determine the quality of the person. And if they're asking great questions and it's focused more about your needs, the truth is when we try to find someone and through the quest of what I even admittedly said we're trying to do here is to find talent,
00:44:39
Speaker
My questions need to be how you need to be successful and what you want. And I'm gonna focus it all around you. And the reason that is, that is accurate. That's not like some salesmanship trickery. It's because if you're successful and we help and we feel that you're a match and we can help you based on your need set, you're going to stay. Like you're going to be successful if we think we can help. So it should truly be about your needs and your wants and your desires. And if it's all about how great they are the whole time, and you'll see most of the time it's, oh, look at us. Well, these are our stats and this is how good we are and us and us and us and we and we and we, if that's all you hear, it ain't, yeah I wouldn't go there.
00:45:18
Speaker
It's like your your success should be self-evident. I shouldn't be in this interview or quite frankly, interviewing you. Like the reality is whoever speaks to us, it's a two-way interview. Like if you're if it's only once again, beneficial to one party, it's a bad match.
00:45:33
Speaker
And that's the scary part about brokerages, no offense to the most of the brokerages that out there, like they hire anybody. They're new agents typically, and they'll take you because they're not paying you anything and they're giving you typically very little in value. And so they have people that can kind of give you a little couple minutes. like And so you get hired. I see people get all dressed up for these interviews and the brokerages. And I'm like, they're not giving you anything. Like come in there and demand to have a certain level of, um I don't know, like time and attention.
00:46:04
Speaker
And it better be about what you want. that that would be my That would be my two cents on how to verify, i don't know, who who could help you the most. No, that's awesome.
00:46:15
Speaker
That also is an easy connection into how you've structured the team, what the team's mission, vision, values, because that two-way street, how are we focusing on somebody else ties directly into how we focus as a team, which I think is important to talk about here because all teams are not going to have the same mission, vision, values, goals. Right. So when we're looking at something like how a team is set up, that business planning aspect, do we know what the margins are that you were talking about?
00:46:45
Speaker
ah How does that not only help support the agent, but why does that matter for you as the team leader?
The Role of Mission, Vision, and Values
00:46:52
Speaker
So the reality is the mission, vision, and values, and belief. This is something that everyone should take a moment to think on.
00:47:00
Speaker
And there are exercises to go through. If you just Google it, you'll see these exercises. You should try to figure out individually what yours happens to be. And it seems kind of silly if you're newer or if you, I don't know, if you're just in the grind, it's challenging because you're just trying to make money. You're trying to learn to make money. And then to stop and to put these things, they seem almost,
00:47:21
Speaker
um a little bit disingenuous or unrealistic, because that's like, yeah, that would be great, but, you know, and and once again, I'll be honest, I've i've created these that um'm ah I wanna share them, um which I've never shared out loud before, to be honest, outside of our team, and I did this,
00:47:37
Speaker
a while back without the capacity to deliver on most of it, because I'm, I was a very high producing, essentially solo agent with some administrative support with no capacity to truly deliver on it. I, and I'm finally thinking,
00:47:54
Speaker
Jesus, ah I'm in a position to create the systems and the processes to to deliver on what I'm about to share. And I recognize it's not a destination. There's not there's not a way to to like land and say, check I checked the box, I did it. Like finally, we're the perfect business, all done.
00:48:11
Speaker
Like it's more of a a consistent goal that you work towards. It's more of a North Star. And some of the best, like I just went to Disney World with my whole family last week. And if you stay at one of their premier resorts like we did, it's you look around and you say, they got it down. There's a reason why there's a cult following. There's a reason why people pay the money they pay for this experience. and And that is that will be, it's not it's not a maybe, it's that will be my next iteration of this business.
00:48:42
Speaker
Because if we get to what I'm about to describe, it it it actually will create the opportunities and the people that we're seeking will seek us. it It starts to work that way.
00:48:53
Speaker
And so, for example, the the mission that i that I created years ago that we're now in the process of actually legitimately systemizing is to delight our clients with an over-the-top real estate experience worthy of gushing over And that last little term is kind of old school. That's just my mother, my late mother. I just, that was something she would say. And the reality is if you create that type of experience and it's very much similar to let's say how the Disney process works and it will create repeat clients. It will like, if you focus on the needs of the client ahead of your own, it will create a business eventually for yourself.
00:49:32
Speaker
And I've done that in in many small ways, but we're finally in a position, because you have to have the financials, the time, the resources, you have to, it's ah that's a whole thing, especially when you're serving lots of folks. It is a job all to itself. And yes, that's Jen's main thing. That's why she's gonna cry under the table later, because that's a lot of work to to make that happen.
00:49:51
Speaker
But I am absolutely committed to doing that. And we want folks that when they hear that, it's not like a cringe. It's like, ah oh my God, if we could actually deliver that level of value, I want to be a part of it.
00:50:04
Speaker
um That's what you're looking for. And that's, by the way, why you need to say it out loud like we're doing now, because if that doesn't align with you, awesome. There's a million other places that will have different missions, so to speak.
00:50:16
Speaker
Our vision is to create massive opportunities through so through our success so we can change the lives of those we care about. And i grew up as a farmer without a whole lot of money. Like it's facts, like everyone knows that if they know me. it's like the what what I've been able to accomplish in real estate, like I've gone through my finance. I'm not like, I i became a multimillionaire in my thirties as a result of this business. It's not, you know, people hate talking about money because it's like dirty and you're not supposed to, and everybody hates people that are successful, but it's a matter of, do you help other people to also reach success? Like if you do that, I don't begrudge anyone their success.
00:50:55
Speaker
It's the, design that's how I view it. And I think the the opportunity I have isn't to necessarily continue to sell houses, but it's to do that. It's to create bigger opportunities that I could do myself and help other people to do the exact same for them.
00:51:10
Speaker
And I know that's one of the reasons why you're joining with me. It's because we actually get to make a business that's profitable, but guess what? We actually get to change people's lives. And as corny as that sounds, there's not a whole lot of businesses like that can do it the way that real estate can.
00:51:25
Speaker
And that's why I'm here. It's an amazing experience being able to do that. And it really does not happen in every industry. No, it's it's a feast or famine mentality. So if you're feasting, it's it's fantastic. um And so the values, I would refer to this as like some of the core things that come to mind when I see like the type of people we want in our world, in our orbit, because as you know, the people in your little orbit will affect your day to day and they will absolutely determine the level of ultimate success that you reach.
00:51:58
Speaker
And so the values that we collectively, well, this is actually came from me years ago, but I wanted to find someone that was passionate, ah extremely positive, a sense of community was important to them and commitment to constant learning and personal growth.
00:52:13
Speaker
And that last piece was just speaking to me. It's a commitment to constant learning and personal growth. that says no matter how good you are at what you're currently doing, we have to be growing. Like if you're not growing, you're dying. And that's why I don't know that's one of the reasons I'm transitioning into more of the leadership aspects, because that's that that is where I can grow the most as opposed to where I'm already exceptionally strong. And I feel like I'm I'm already there kind of. So it's just so that's me. I but that i don't want other people around us that feel the same way.
00:52:45
Speaker
and belief, we will make our greatest impact to change the lives of others through the world of real estate. We will profoundly impact our families' lives and the lives of the communities in which we serve through our passion.
00:52:56
Speaker
Our story will inspire others to do the same. And i don't know how you feel about that. I just, it sounds so corny. It's like when I wrote it, I felt it was corny.
00:53:07
Speaker
And the more we actually do our jobs, it's the more you see that that's actually real and it's possible. I love it. It's always one of those things when I'm listening to mission, vision, values, belief, and you can hear how genuine or not genuine it is because i think a lot of times we come in, we create a mission and we slap that same old thing on it that everybody else has because we just want to have one. And for me, when we first met and we talked about the client experience, the agent experience is something that we talk about a lot too for the agents on our team.
00:53:41
Speaker
oh the opportunity to change anybody's life in any way, shape or form, whether it's our clients or our agents, that's to me the legacy that I want to leave in the world, right? Like we can make money. We all like making money. I'll never take that away. And there has to be a second layer to it or it starts to feel a little bit meaningless. And so I know that people listen to it. They think that it's corny for me. It's exciting. it And it does give that guide. So we know what direction we're heading. If we're not sure what to do, here's here's the path that we laid out. This is where what we follow. Right.
00:54:14
Speaker
Yeah. And i think I think it's the responsibility. Like the thing I've always wanted to do is be a father. That was i've always that was my dream. Even when I was like younger, I knew i wanted to have like a family. It's a weird thing to say, but it's facts. Like it it it it's like so amazing. And now that I have three kids, it's...
00:54:31
Speaker
I don't wanna just give them anything, quite frankly. Like I don't have a dream to leave them all this money and just say, here you go, here's all this money that your dad worked his tail off to get. That's not my dream. My dream is to be able to make them a better version of what I was able to accomplish.
00:54:47
Speaker
And as a result, they should have opportunities I never had. But I want them to work exactly as hard as I did in the way that, it doesn't have to be this career necessarily, but it has to be in what fuels them. And like, that's how I think I'll be successful as a parent.
00:55:01
Speaker
And it's very similar to our real estate business in the sense that we get to impart that type, like they can be the any agent they wanna be. They could be totally different than me and totally different than you.
00:55:12
Speaker
But I think it's our job to empower them to be the best version of themselves and give them the tools. Cause they're out there. What, and by the way, nothing we teach is like only we figured out, nothing. Yeah, we definitely don't have the trademark on how to be successful in real estate. And no one does, but it's but there are so many clues. There's a path to follow. And that's why there's not just one team or one brokerage that can do it.
00:55:33
Speaker
um But it matters as to who they are and if you vibe with them and if you understand who they are um and you want to be a part of that. And so, you know, we're wrapping this up.
Future of AI in Real Estate
00:55:43
Speaker
I can talk for 10 hours about this because this is like...
00:55:45
Speaker
our main thing. um But one of the the sobering things to consider everybody is, and if you made it this far in it, you boy, you're you're committed because I keep running my mouth here, but um it's the reality of where we stand with AI and what this industry is going to look like in a few years.
00:56:03
Speaker
and I think the changes will be so profound, and it's not just our industry, it's all the industries, and but specifically in real estate, as you look at this, if you're in the business and you're about to double down and go full in,
00:56:18
Speaker
or if you're in it and you're trying to maybe expand, you have to write either big checks or change though the system you're in to basically give other people some of your money. So if you're making either of those investments, you have to recognize that artificial intelligence is coming and what that means to you if you're in the business is that if you just service leads and basically leave the dead bodies by the road, so to speak, and you're just on this burn and turn mentality and you're getting most of your opportunities online, for example, um you will be replaced.
00:56:57
Speaker
And I hate to say it, like I'm in the industry, like I don't wanna be replaced, but I recognize if I don't implement the things we've discussed today, not just as a talking point, but as a true North Star, ah we are in a position where our business will not be doubling again. Like I'm in a position where every year I've ever been in business, I've grown every year.
00:57:15
Speaker
And most of the time it's been doubling. And that is crazy to say out loud. And eventually that's not possible once you reach a certain level, like it just can't keep happening. Like Zillow won't double next year. Like that isn't possible, they're huge. But we still have that opportunity even as large as we are now.
00:57:31
Speaker
And recognizing that ah artificial intelligence is literally here. It can scan all of the images online. It's going to be creating suggestions for clients in ah in a instantaneous fashion. It will proactively be like a human chat bot, helping them every moment of every day, and they will understand their needs, their wishes. They'll get to know them personally, and this is happening. And then it's, how do you continue to be relevant?
00:57:59
Speaker
And you're gonna have like lots of experiences like the Zillows of the world. It'll have one click buy buttons. This is coming. And if you don't think it's coming, do your research. It's coming. That's all they're trying to do is to cut out the agent.
00:58:12
Speaker
Our commission income represents a tremendous pool of resource that everybody's attacking. And the truth is you only will be in business if you can prove that you deserve to be in business.
00:58:24
Speaker
And that comes down to relationships. It's the human element of this business. And that's why I say it's important to treat it differently than other times in history, because if you're not focused on that, which truly means you're focused on your 20% and the other 80% is executed exceptionally well, by the way, with you as an agent focused in the middle, no one else, that's your business. And if you wanna be in business in five, 10, or 15 years,
00:58:51
Speaker
I'm telling you, mark my words, I might be crazy, but I know I'm not on this. They're coming. And i my prediction is at least half of the agents will be gone in five to 10 years. I think it will be the mass exodus of all mass exodus. I know there's a crazy turnover annually with new agents. That's always been true. I think it's not just new agents that are gone. I think it's a ton of seasoned agents that are gone.
00:59:14
Speaker
And I think agents that have done business the same way they've done business for 30 or 40 years, are that that is gonna be the toughest for them. and it's coming. And so I think you need to partner and learn with people that focused on that reality and not hide from it.
00:59:31
Speaker
Incorporate AI into your workflow and and use it, and because you can't hide from it. And so you have to use it, because commission income will be going down. Facts, guys. You're going to have to do higher volume, and just because of the nature of commission compression. And so you're going to have to figure out how to deliver the same value and serve more clients, but still have the human element or else you're gone.
00:59:56
Speaker
And so that's something that we're, so that's why if you listen to our mission, vision, like if we actually deliver on that, we might still be in business. Like otherwise I know for a fact we're gone.
01:00:09
Speaker
Like I know i can't do this in 20 years. And I don't think any other seasoned agent 20 years ago would have ever even thought that to be true. Oh, absolutely not. Technology has advanced so much in the last 20 years. And looking at our our mission, vision, values, belief, how does an agent, just thinking about our experience right now of putting all of the things together, the many steps, the financial investments, lots of planning, and then the execution is just, it's going to take just as much, if not more time. Sure. How would a solo agent deliver on a client experience that's going to be better than what somebody feels like they could get for free basically by going to chat GPT.
01:00:49
Speaker
It's the human element. I will say the advantage if you're still small and you're doing all the things, it will feel very personal. And so that is the advantage is that it truly is just you or like you and your husband or wife or your friend. Like it's going to be so intimate that it could feel that way.
01:01:04
Speaker
But how in the world if you need to serve more people because of commission compression, if they can click the button for half of what you charge or less, a third of what you charge. How can you possibly say that you're potentially worth that in the future?
01:01:20
Speaker
I know what agents say, I know all the scripts, guys, I've already told you that, I know the scripts. um Some of those scripts don't are not gonna be pertinent um in a few years when it's not when it's not actually true, because AI is gonna be so good. Currently, Grok, the latest version of Grok, it is smarter than every PhD in every discipline currently, not in the future,
01:01:43
Speaker
currently, then in 2025. And so that's that will continue to be refined. And so that will be applied to every business metric, including ours. And so just knowing that it's like, do I wanna do all those things? Can I plan a party? Like, no, I would be horrible at that.
01:02:02
Speaker
um How valuable is it to to be able to add value and call someone from a place of, of value saying, hey, I would love, like you have to know who they are, right? And say, I know you have kids and I'd love to take you and the kids, like come with us, like join us for the, like we're doing a fall fest. Like you need to have that happen. And it's super challenging to do it all on your own because of how expensive this is.
01:02:28
Speaker
Who in the world has the money to do all this stuff? And I never did. And so it's like, we're in partnership with people that can do it. So once again, larger businesses can do this that have a track record that have a, that have a budget for this.
01:02:43
Speaker
And um that's why I said I would start in that fashion because you can leverage their previous success for your benefit. So like I said, whether it's without just somebody else, like it's,
01:02:55
Speaker
You have to do it and boy, like you can't wait a couple years. Like this is not the time to drag your feet out think about it in a couple years. You might be gone in a couple years. That's just, it's how I feel. It's the urgency that I feel. And that's why I wanna implement changes and and create the experience that we wanna create because I don't think we have a whole lot of time to sit there and think about it.
01:03:15
Speaker
Because if we don't mean something and we're just like, eh. Like most agents don't are never hired again. That's the wildest part. like and the statistics from National Association of Realtors is always around 91 to 93%, like anywhere, for I guess, take it from 89 to 93% of consumers surveyed appreciated the level of service their agent provided.
01:03:37
Speaker
And then you look at how many of them use that agent when they buy or sell next. And the statistic is silly low. And, Why is that? It's because nothing I just said is implemented.
01:03:48
Speaker
And once again, I'll follow my sword. I didn't have any of this stuff. I have pieces of it implemented, but it's never been what I've wanted. And I've never had the urgency to say it's a non-negotiable. It has to happen.
01:04:00
Speaker
Like I feel like right now. All right, so definitely we're running out of time. What would be one thing if you could impart on any agent or somebody who wants to be an agent that's listening that the one takeaway that no matter what they should hear from you?
01:04:16
Speaker
I think it's take the opportunity seriously. Don't just make a decision based on a single friend or family or or like I did, I took a class to get licensed and I just signed up with them because they hosted the licensing um class. And by the way, that's why a lot of them do that because they get agents to just sign up because they didn't know anyone else. That's what I did.
01:04:38
Speaker
And I just explained how that cost me a lot of money and it absolutely cost me time because ah i i just think if i was if I had joined an organization that taught me a lot of these things I'm discussing today five years earlier, i would have already been so much further in my journey than I am now.
01:04:57
Speaker
And so I just think you need to take it seriously, talk to people and recognize and know your self-worth if you know your talent Know your talent. you You don't owe anything to quite frankly anybody.
01:05:11
Speaker
And so you need to to be in conversation knowing that I bring a lot to the table. What are you guys able to bring? So if I deliver my half, what's your half? And then be open to pretty much, ah i don't know, a variety of situations. Don't just pigeonhole yourself.
01:05:26
Speaker
to even if you're considering calling us, like I want you to call us if you're in our area and your talent, like absolutely, like we're open-minded, but at the same time, I respect what talent says and um and that's who we wanna be in business with.
01:05:41
Speaker
So that would be my one thing and um i don't it's i still I'm still very hopeful. I wanna say as much as the doom and gloom, I just think if people bury their head in sand, like most people don't acknowledge the changing landscape It's crazy out there. It's going to get way crazier, and all of the money will go to a few.
01:06:00
Speaker
And it's a land grab, and if people don't recognize that it is, it's going to be that way in most industries, not just ours, and it's going be crazy. So I just know I want to be in the business for the long haul. This is not something that's like a casual...
01:06:15
Speaker
thing for me And so um make sure you're in conversations that address this head on. and um And that would be my words of wisdom. and And hopefully some folks out there that listen to this reach out and actually like getting conversation. And and I know I've been, i don't know, I've had a million conversations over the years, but very few times have I been willing and able to be able to embark on new relationships in a meaningful way like we're trying to do right now.
01:06:45
Speaker
It's definitely exciting. Anybody who is interested in talking to us, you can email me at jen at mattryangroup.com. You can email Matt at matt at mattryangroup.com. Feel free to reach out to our team. Even if you're not in the area, we love to network with other people. So we would love to hear from you, your thoughts, and good luck, agents. There's ah there's a lot going on out there. It's a lot. Buckle up, but have fun. It's still, it listen, it's still it's still great times. I think this will be looked upon much later as a land grab.
01:07:15
Speaker
So the opportunity is plentiful. So very optimistic. It's just one that, boy, I think for quite a few people that aren't really paying much attention to this, it's they're going to look up one day and go, oh my word.
01:07:28
Speaker
What just happened? What happened? um But that's it. So Jen, you did a heck of a job today. Look at this. You made your podcast debut. um How do you feel about it? it ah you you feel do you think?
01:07:40
Speaker
feel great are you what do you think um Yeah, no, it felt good. I definitely feel like I showed up on short notice. We made it happen. ah It's also, i think for me looking at it it, really shows how much we do talk about business. I know sometimes I feel like we have so much to do. We didn't get to all the conversations, but the fact that we can have a conversation that flows so easily about this, ah that part for me is probably the most exciting about it. So I definitely hope that
01:08:12
Speaker
that everybody else can hear the sincerity and how you explain things too awesome well thanks again for joining me and uh until next time everybody