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Sleeping in His Car After the Crash — Then He Became the #1 Agent in Alabama | Ricky Carruth
61 Plays2 months ago
What separates the top 10% of real estate agents from everyone else — and why is that gap about to get even wider?
In this episode of All Roads Lead to Real Estate, Maryland real estate expert Matt Rhine sits down with Ricky Carruth — former #1 RE/MAX agent in Alabama, real estate coach, and one of the most followed voices in the industry — for a raw, honest conversation about what it actually takes to build a real estate business that lasts.
Ricky lost everything in the 2008 housing market crash. He was sleeping in his car. Most people would have quit. Instead, he came back and built a multi-million dollar real estate business from scratch — and now he coaches agents across the country to do the same.
In this conversation, you'll learn:
→ Why the rise of AI and market shifts are creating massive opportunity for adaptable agents
|→ The mindset shift that separates top producers from agents who burn out
→ Why unique perspective beats high production value in social media content — every time
→ How to build consistency, handle online criticism, and stay in the game long-term
→ What Ricky looks for when spotting opportunity in a changing real estate market
Whether you're a new agent struggling with consistency or a seasoned producer rethinking your brand, this episode is the clarity check you didn't know you needed.
🏡 Serving Baltimore, Towson, Harford County, and surrounding Maryland communities 📍 Matt Rhine Group | Keller Williams Legacy | mattrhinegroup.com
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Transcript
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode is sponsored by First Home Mortgage.
00:00:08
Speaker
Even though i was sleeping in my car, I was one of the happiest people on earth. So it wasn't like I was desperate and I was making five grand a month. I was making five grand a month with zero bills at all. When we start thinking about AI, what level of fear is appropriate?
00:00:22
Speaker
Over the next 10 years, agents are going to make more money than they've ever made. We're going to have more transactions at higher prices and less agents.
00:00:36
Speaker
All right. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the next episode of All Roads Lead to Real Estate. I'm your host, Matt Rine, and I have a special guest today, and I'm actually going to turn my hearing my ears up a little bit so I can actually hear myself.
00:00:49
Speaker
But um I have a gentleman named Ricky Carruth. And Ricky, first all, thank you for joining me. And um can you hear me okay, by the way? Yeah. Yeah. excellent. We were having some technical difficulties earlier.
00:01:01
Speaker
But Ricky, I must give you a compliment to start this. As I was getting ready to leave to come here today, so a gentleman named Matt Musso on my sales team said, who in the world do you have on your podcast today? He saw it. And so I want to give you ah a shout out from Marilyn. So someone on my team immediately recognized your name and said, you have a celebrity joining you today. So I just want you to know you're doing quite well on the Internet. You're you're doing ah doing big things, my friend.
00:01:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's always cool, man, when ah somebody's you know somebody on somebody's team recognizes me. so Yes, you've managed to to kind of be a little bit everywhere. I've made it.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yes, you've officially made it when you've managed to to be recognized here in Maryland. um but Ricky, I want to give a little bit about your background for those folks that might not be super familiar with you, but you have done a tremendous amount as a solo agent in real estate. From my understanding, you've done well over 1,000 deals yourself, ah probably what over 100 homes a year it was your production. um and so and You're still your coaching. like This is the new avenue, it seems like your your path forward, it appears, and this is what I want to get into. You've coached over 100,000 agents worldwide on your platform through through ah your various coaching programs. and and you have This is what shocked me, over 600 million social media views at this point and growing.
00:02:23
Speaker
It's just such impressive statistics. and especially We're going to get through a little bit about your background, but boy, you've managed to to start young and kind of you failed, and just like most of us do at some point. and Then you get back on it and and manage to reach this level of success. so Congratulations on all of that.
00:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's just fun, bro. You know, i don't I don't do anything for money anymore. I grew up poor. And so that was kind of the chip chip on the shoulder. But you make it, you realize it doesn't mean nothing. Your life doesn't change. The year I made a million bucks in 2017, I was like, well, like I'm working harder now, not less.
00:03:01
Speaker
And so you kind of realize money is really not the end all be all. And um you got to have something that fires you up past past. I mean, until you become financially free, you know, it is about the money. But then once you become financially free, it's like, OK, you know, you got to have something that really fires you up. So it's just fun to me at this point. Nothing that I do anymore is for money. It's just to ah I'm just having fun serving people, building, inspiring, um you know, leaving something, man, leaving something behind. Well, that's interesting you phrase it that way, because I think i think money means everything ah to most of us until you reach a certain level of comfort, and then your needs kind of transition. and I think we're about the same age, and we started roughly the same time. and so
00:03:45
Speaker
It's interesting. I think you're just much further along this path than I am, so I want to give you a tremendous amount of credit. It's a reality check over here um as to as the what you've been able to accomplish. so um and And another compliment, I just looked at your social feeds.
00:04:00
Speaker
Boy, you're doing something right. um Are you doing all this production? I just have to start there. just It looks so amazing. It looks as good as anything in terms of content and production that I see out there. Do you have a whole company that assists you to do this? Yeah. No, I um actually do it all myself, actually. I have a guy in India.
00:04:20
Speaker
think he's in India. um He edits like a couple a couple of the clips, but if you notice, and you're talking about just my content, um I'm just assuming here, but if you notice, so there's two types of content. There's really low effort content and there's really high effort content, really high produced, really thought out, really edited really well, probably... you know had a team of people working on the idea and the post-production, et cetera. And there's really two sides of the spectrum here, right? Low effort content, high effort content. And that's like like low effort is about 5% that does well and about 5% of the high effort content does really well. And everything else is kind of in the middle.
00:04:58
Speaker
And it's 90% that's like content that's okay, that really just doesn't get in hardly any engagement. And people are like, oh like why it my content? I'm just getting shadow banned or something. It's like, no, your content's just not good.
00:05:11
Speaker
and you have to develop this skill of and understanding how to create great content. What is great content? Viral content to me is is content that someone has never seen or heard before.
00:05:26
Speaker
So they see for the first time and it's something they've seen never seen or heard before and they're like what is this? It's something new. I have to watch it. That's why you see the animal videos go viral. And in my case,
00:05:37
Speaker
I create... The point I'm trying to get to is that I create very low effort content. A lot of my content is just... I i i record right off Instagram, right? Right onto the until my phone with me saying my opinions into into the phone and then letting and then doing the caption on Instagram and like posting it, right? yeah And it goes viral.
00:05:58
Speaker
And the reason being is because I say things in a way that nobody's really ever heard before, right? And and that's really... the overarching skill people need to develop if they really want to get great at social is understanding you can't just regurgitate some stuff you've heard because when people see it they're like yeah i've heard that 15 times right there's nothing new going on here and so yeah i have done really well but i've i've been creating content for 10 years now and i've i have thousands have like 2 000 videos on youtube and i have i've posted like 6 000 times on instagram And so, you know, with that many repetitions, if you're paying attention and you're doing your job, which is to optimize the process, I'll tell something else. People do hire companies to help them. I've never found one that does anything good, right? I never found a company that just like,
00:06:51
Speaker
Makes their brand, makes people's brands. like you You can hire people in-house. like You can take like ah like a head of brand from a Gary Vee or a Cardone and hire them and like you know expand your brand.
00:07:02
Speaker
But in terms of the third-party companies, I've never really found one like that actually expands someone's brand. I think that's a trap you get into. I, on the other hand, am a practitioner. Like I am actually creating the content and watching the the data analytics and figuring out what works and doesn't work so that I can create more of what works.
00:07:24
Speaker
And so that's all it is, man. It's just, are you willing to put the work in to optimize? And that's just something like going back to my original statement. I just love this stuff, man. i just i have um It's fun to me.
00:07:36
Speaker
well for When you want to have fun at something like this, I will say, these are thoughts and as I continue my process. because i'm a I'm a real estate agent. That's what I am. right and so I'm going through this process, I think probably where you have been many years ago, where yeah it's almost nerve-wracking to have an opinion. so how do you I know you're a coach now, so how do you get someone comfortable with having an opinion? Because anything you say... and I saw you just had something... i mean, you do news topics, right? Talking about so the war that we're currently in. and It's just any opinion that you have, someone out there, no matter what it is, is going to disagree with you, and sometimes disagree with you in a very strong fashion. Does that ever go through your mind that you're just going to get blown up over your opinion? Or do you have to just mentally get past that and say, I'm just going to put out the way I'm thinking as if you were in my living room right now and that's it?
00:08:25
Speaker
Well, you get to a point where you don't care. you know like i know who I am so well that I don't care what anybody thinks about me. And so I know what my intentions are to the world. I know my intentions are good. i know I'm here to help. I know I'm here to serve. I know I'm here i'm not here to tell somebody. you know When I tell people, like go buy a home, um like give me a time in history, it wasn't a good time to buy a home for 10 years.
00:08:48
Speaker
you know like If you buy home, like there's never been a 10 year period where you buy a home and 10 years later, it's not worth more money. Um, and so, and I tell people that aren't going to live somewhere for five or 10 years, like go rent for a year or two. Like, like, and again, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to create propaganda so that home prices go up because I own a bunch of homes. I don't care yeah if people knew how much money I would make. If when home prices go down, they would quit praying for home prices to go down because people don't do not like to see people making money. So to your point, yes. Like, I don't know the last, like,
00:09:22
Speaker
three or four viral posts that i did over the past week or so got so much hate like ridiculous amounts of hate and um you get to a point where you just don't care because you realize all of those comments really help your case so here's here's something for people to think about if they're going through this the the haters are really loud The people that love you are really quiet.
00:09:50
Speaker
And so for every hater that you have, every hate comment that you see on your on your post, I guarantee there are probably a thousand people per hate comment that love you so much. you don't you just But they're not they're just quietly watching. you know And they they maybe didn't even like they maybe didn even even hit the like button, but they just loved what you just said, but you'll never know it because i'm never going to say anything. So what you got to realize, and and this is what I learned as an agent filtering through the population to find clients is that 20 to 30% of the population, regardless of who you are, is going to love you forever.
00:10:29
Speaker
And the 70% who don't either don't like you or they have another agent or they have another thing or they just are distracted by something else, right? But 20 to 30% of the population are going to love you. it's just um It becomes a game of can you stomach the 70% who don't like you?
00:10:46
Speaker
to get to the 20 to 30 percent who do and 20 30 is a big big number so then it's just a game of how many how many people can you get in front of to grow that 20 to 30 percent to the moon so yeah it's uh again it's fun yeah Well, it's fun because I think you have that perspective. and I would say, just having spoken to here for 10 minutes, I think you have clarity on who you are, and and I think that's why you're able to reach people. and It's probably meaningful and and impactful, because most of the people that I talk to that are afraid to get started... so As a coach, like you know one of the first questions I'd have is, I've had people come to me asking for coaching. and I have my head down in production, and I just um i don't want to keep my yeah my eyes off the prize, so to speak. And as someone that is now coaching, i mean is it is it really difficult at this point to try to do all the things? Or have you have you started to identify that your strength or your passion is now going to be social media, coaching, growing that side of the business? Or you still want to be in production individually? or No, no, no. I sold my last listing in 22. Okay. right So, I started the coaching.
00:11:57
Speaker
And that was basically the beginning of the first year made a million bucks. And, you know, think about the path, right? So I get in, you know, to I made a meal before I'm 23. I lose it all in the crash. I go back to roofing houses, worked on an oil rig, was sleeping in my car. I come back. So I get the business for three years. I come back in 2008.
00:12:15
Speaker
I work my way to the top. Six years later, I sell 100 properties. So imagine this, dude, like a lot of coaches, you know, and then like kudos to them. Like I'm not talking down on them Right. But it's just a fact. A lot of coaches that coach agents and and even like other industries stuff, they'll come in, they've had a license for two years, they've sold 19 properties and they're selling courses for 500 bucks or something. Right. And like, go like, like I'm like, I support you. I'm not talking down on you for that. But I am saying, yeah,
00:12:45
Speaker
That's not how I did it. Like I came in, i made a mill, I lost a mill, came back, made it to the top. Number one in my entire MLS for eight years in a row. Number one Remax agent in the state of Alabama.
00:12:57
Speaker
Three years of selling 100 properties, right? After all that, three consecutive years before I even thought about trying to teach somebody something. And so um in 16, I started coaching and um did it for free for seven years, totally free.
00:13:12
Speaker
and um And five years into it in 22, that's when I retired from sales because let's face it, man, when you get to a million bucks as an agent, you're a very high demand it's a very high demand career. You're getting pulled all over the place. You really...
00:13:28
Speaker
Even if you have a team, it's still not, I mean, I i dabbled in that for a second. it's not It's not what it's all cracked up to be. And I wanted to spend more with my daughter. My daughter's six years old. When she was two, whenever I retired from sales, she was like one or two.
00:13:43
Speaker
And like, I didn't have to, dude. I made $10 million dollars as an agent, you know, and I invested very wisely. Like I did not have to do that anymore. And we're not going to live, but for so long. So I retired from sales. So I could work right here in my home office, creating content, coaching agents, inspiring the world and actually have a bigger, you know, create a bigger impact than just being an eight. Like,
00:14:05
Speaker
I'm doing more with less. like as an As an agent, I'm helping homeowners around here locally. As a coach, from the comfort of my own home, I'm able to literally impact millions of people around the world. so i' been like Through my life, I've really um tried to find ways I could hack the system in a way that I could do more in less time, do do do more,
00:14:27
Speaker
period You know, it was like when i got a license, you know, I went to two four different colleges in two years, failed a history class. And I was like, okay, I can either like keep going, keep doing the college thing for 10 years and become a doctor or lawyer, or I can just take one class and become an agent and have the exact same opportunities. dingd Ding, ding, ding. I think I'll go with this route. So I just, I've always kind of tried to make the decisions to go bigger, faster. And this becoming a coach. Now, a lot of agents who get to a mill, they want to do what I did.
00:14:56
Speaker
They want to build this big brand and start coaching and like build a personal brand. Dude, I own pieces of of companies ah you know that reached out to me and said, listen, well you can have equity.
00:15:07
Speaker
um Just be a part of what we're doing. like Those companies are collectively worth 300 million right now and growing um because I have a brand. right you know And so the brand, dude, building a brand,
00:15:19
Speaker
um it's the gift that keeps on giving man i went down to one of my coaches so i spent a lot of money on coaches myself i've hit 10 cities this year already conferences kickoff conferences for brokers i spoke at r4 for remax i spoke at the ah agency summit or the forum down in fort lauderdale homes of idaho carolina one cic i did i did 10 of them uh this year already and um And like, as I'm traveling, right? And as I'm as i'm like as i'm going around all these conferences, I'm thinking to myself like, okay. And I go down to see one of my coaches. And as I'm going down there, this dude calls me He's like, I see you're coming down here. Like I have this podcast, like in Tampa, you know, would you come on? Like I speak to like kids like that are thinking about going to college. I'm like, absolutely, i'm going to do that. he's like, you can stay in my condo while you're down here. It's a million dollar condo downtown um Tampa.
00:16:16
Speaker
It's like, here I am staying in this million dollar condo that his real estate agent like literally stuffed with like food. Like it was crazy how much stuff was in there because the real estate agent follows the real estate agent follows me. He's like, oh, where Ricky's coming. So he stuffed this refrigerator and stuff. So like I'm telling you, like because I had a brand, I literally got to stay in ah a dude's condo that's literally worth like $100 million. dollar This dude, I did not realize it. This dude is a baller. You just said $100 million dollar condo.
00:16:43
Speaker
No, no. It's a million dollar condo. The dude's worth like a hundred mil. It was a million dollar condo. The dude's worth like a hundred mil. Got it. That makes sense. Like he pulls up in this Rolls Royce SUV.
00:16:54
Speaker
And I was like, and I i looked over, I was like, cause he said gonna pick me up. I looked over. And I looked away because I was like, yeah, whatever, like that's some real crazy rich guy. And the window rolled in. He's like, Rick. I was like, oh, my gosh, we're fix I'm fixing to hop in this thing. And um my point I'm trying to make is that having a brand, building a brand, has helped me build a multi multi-million dollar real estate coaching business. It's it's helped me gain equity in these companies. It was given to me to help consult and grow these brands. And it's a gift that keeps on giving, man. Like people, when you do good into the world, man, when you do good and you help people and your tensions are real behind what you're doing,
00:17:41
Speaker
It's amazing the things that just come to you, you know, and the life that you you start to live. But it all starts with you. Like, it you have to be that person. You know, that's the thing about social. I think it it exaggerates who we really are.
00:17:57
Speaker
If we're inconsistent, like people... Say, I'm going to go to the gym, and then they don't. People say, I'm going to make calls, and they don't make calls. They say they're going to eat a salad. I need salad. And, you know, I'm going to post on social. They don't post on social. Like, social exposes who you are. If you're a dependable, consistent, hardworking, honest person, it'll show up you can go to my social media and see it. You can see they're posting consistently, which means they're consistent, dependable. You can see what they're talking about. You can back those facts up. like You can literally see who they are. And that's what's super interesting. So I think people just see my profile and they're like, that's a hardworking, honest, professional, dependable, consistent person. And that's somebody we can get behind. you know So I think that's how people should use social.
00:18:42
Speaker
like This is an extension of who I am. um and let And let whoever you are like become the person, of course. But then once you become the person, then let it shine.
00:18:53
Speaker
Well, it is um it's refreshing to hear all of that, and I can tell you speak on it a lot because you're so eloquent in the way you just laid it out there. and It sounds so straightforward, I wouldn't correct anything you just said, but what I would say, as someone who has also had many coaches,
00:19:09
Speaker
Saying it, and I understand it, I know enough I would say at this point in my career I could probably at least fake being a good coach. um However, it I don't do half the things you just said because of the you know the the demons that lie within my head. and I want to know, when you deal with folks at different production levels, I'm sure you've helped agents that haven't sold a home. that Are they getting into the business? You've probably helped people at middle tiers of production and then probably folks at the very top.
00:19:35
Speaker
And what are the consistencies you see between the mindset? Because I think most of it, if not all of it, maybe even starts in... I don't know if it ends in the mindset, but it's certainly... That's where it all begins. um Do you see commonalities between people that you just can speak to and just go, that's going to be challenging for that person to ever make it in this business?
00:19:54
Speaker
Does that make sense? Are there commonalities when you... Yeah. Like the themes now that you're really You know, there's really not. There's really not. Right. and And I know that's not the answer you're looking for, but it's the truth. And here here here it is.
00:20:05
Speaker
I stopped trying to figure out who's going to win and not a long time ago because there would be agents that would come to the business and I would talk to them. and I'd be like, oh, my gosh, they are going to crush it. Right. Like this is like...
00:20:17
Speaker
Like they got, they got it all. They like the part, they found the part, all of it, everything, dude, like their background, like who they know, like what they're saying and what they, what they understand. And I'm like, they're going to crush it. And they come in and they sell one property in nine months and quit. I've seen it so many times. And then you have people, we literally had this dude start one time and, uh, you know, that movie, honey, I shrunk the kids. Oh yeah. It's a good one.
00:20:45
Speaker
So this dude came in and looked just like the dad. Sure. You know, and like he came in and i was, and like goofy, like, I like just from head to toe, just everything personally. I was like, this dude is never going to sell anything.
00:21:01
Speaker
Never going to sell anything. You know, you know, that guy came in and listed 30 properties in his first month, month.
00:21:13
Speaker
It was for sale by owners. He listed every single for sale by owner and literally got it for the right commission. I'm like, what is what did he what did he tell them? like What is he doing over there? And now he's one of the biggest commercial brokers. um you know this was This was like 15 years ago or something. Now he's one of the biggest commercial brokers. He became one of the biggest commercial brokers pretty shortly after he got out of residential and started doing commercial. But but like my point is, is like I've seen some of the like most promising people fall on their face and the most...
00:21:44
Speaker
ah unsuspecting, you know, winners come in and just absolutely crush it. And it got to a point where I was like, you know what? I'm not even going to try to call it anymore. Like I literally cannot tell you because I've seen it. I've seen the story over and over and over again. And I've never been able to like, yeah, I get it right sometimes, but like, That's just because I got lucky. I'm telling you, like there's not and that's this is what's so crazy about real estate and why so many agents fail in this business, because there is this little bit of an it factor and nobody really knows what it is, you know, and like you could have it all and still come in and fall on your face. And then you could come in and honestly,
00:22:22
Speaker
For me personally, it was a matter of I knew for a fact 1 million percent that I was going to crush it. It was never like a split second doubt in my mind whatsoever for even a moment. And like it took me 17, 15 years to get to a million bucks a year.
00:22:42
Speaker
Like I lost everything in the middle of all that. I was sleeping in my car. I came back in 2008, you know, climb my way back to the top, you know, six years of really grinding my face off 50 hours a week and all that stuff without social media, without Zillow, without Facebook, without DocuSign.
00:23:02
Speaker
We have DocuSign. We had a fax all our time. Like, We barely desperation or is that out of confidence though? Cause you're in your twenties at that point, right? Confidence, confidence, you know, like there was a, there was a, there was a part of desperation as far as like, I never want to be poor. Cause like I grew up poor. Right. So I had that chip on my shoulder, but it wasn't ever like desperation. Cause it's not like, even when I was sleeping in my car, dude, I was one of the happiest people on earth because the thing is, is that I knew i was so
00:23:33
Speaker
i want to I want to say, because I don't like to brag and stuff, I want to say, i want to use the words like I was wise beyond my years kind of thing, because when that happened, and i'm just this is just the dead honest truth,
00:23:46
Speaker
I knew that that was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me because there were guys and girls that were 40s, 50s, and 60s right next to me who were doing all the same stuff I was doing, who lost everything in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and I was in my mid-20s.
00:24:06
Speaker
And at the time, i was ah bright enough. I'm definitely not the brightest crayon in the box, but I was bright enough to recognize the fact that I was starting over in my 20s instead of my 50s and that this moment was going to teach me what I needed to learn to make sure I didn't lose any everything in my 50s and that I could build a moat, like a financial moat around my life in a way where I would never not be free. So like I knew and I thank God every day. That that during the moment, I was one of the happiest people on earth because of the anticipation of what I knew was going to come to my life out of that moment. you know so um i mean that i wasn't like it said So it wasn't desperation. Even though I was sleeping in my car, I was one of the happiest people on earth. So it wasn't like I was desperate because i was i went and worked on an oil rig.
00:25:05
Speaker
rig in Mississippi every other week and I was making five grand a month. So every other week I would drive to Mississippi, live on an oil rig, which is cool because a place to live. And then on the one weeks off, I would come home and whatever. And I was making five grand a month. I was making five grand a month with zero bills at all. And so it's not like I was like desperate. I just knew I was destined to, I'll give you something. When I was 10 years old,
00:25:31
Speaker
You'll love this. i had a premonition that I would kind of like remove myself from society and like spend time developing myself into the something great, become really great at something, take that something and make a lot of money doing it and then turn around like this is a three phase thing, right? Learn something, make a lot of money doing it. and and like, like, like learn it by myself, you know, or like or like, you know, study, but like focusing on me being kind of greedy, like how can I learn how to do stuff? And then being greedy with how can I make a lot of money with doing that, then take all the money that I made and turn around and help people and change the world.
00:26:13
Speaker
And I thought about this when I was 10 years old. And what's really cool about it is I didn't know, like, dude, when I graduated high school, I had a football scholarship to us to a college named Missouri Valley. in the middle of Missouri, NAIA school. And i didn't know what I wanted to do.
00:26:30
Speaker
I like started studying business classes. was like, don't know what I want to do. And I went to four different colleges in two years, didn't know what I wanted to do. Then I just was like, okay, I'll do real estate. Okay. Like, okay. You twisted my arm life. I'll, I'll do the real estate thing.
00:26:43
Speaker
And I didn't know that's what I want to do. So like when I'm 10 years old with this premonition, like I didn't know what it was going to be. didn't know it was going to be real estate. And what's funnier is I realized once I made a million bucks in a year as an agent, I made it to the top of the mountain, number one in the state.
00:26:59
Speaker
I looked back down from the mountain and I saw all these struggling agents. I was like, oh, okay, God. I thought my calling was to help people buy and sell real estate.
00:27:10
Speaker
But now I realize is to help all these struggling agents get where I'm at and sidestep all the mistakes I made, et cetera, et cetera. And so at that moment, I realized, like I thought my life was being a real estate agent, but then I realized being a real estate agent was just a setup to build credibility, to actually be able to impact the world through coaching agents. And what's even crazier is that the little old real estate coaching company that I have,
00:27:39
Speaker
we We are impacting billions of people, billions, over the next several hundred years, indirectly, indirectly, indirectly through the agents that we help get to 100,000 a month. right They provide a better life for their kids who provide a better life for their kids.
00:27:56
Speaker
And indirectly through their clients that they that they communicate with and the way we teach them how to communicate that impacts the clients in a way that they raise their kids better who raise their kids better.
00:28:07
Speaker
right And you think about the the spider web right of of impact, um that the positive impact that we're making on the world, it's something really special.
00:28:19
Speaker
Well, i I have to ask you, as someone who's clearly thought about that, and i'm certain I'm certain of it that you're doing just that, but how do you foresee the agents you're trying to coach and help go through that path and build them up to $100,000 in a month, which is an incredible goal that anybody could have of income in this business, considering the average agent in the country makes about $18,000 a year. um so It's challenging to to think about that from a a newer agent's perspective. but but What about AI? that's I am consumed with it.
00:28:51
Speaker
But see, I give out awards, right? I gave out 12 of these last year, their first $100,000 a month, right? Check that out. I have $25,000, $50,000, $200,000, and $500,000 a month. Last year, we gave a $200,000 a month award out. that's incredible. The thing is, is that when agents come into the business, and this is why another thing that I've done recently I was named the chief ambassador of the American Real Estate Association.
00:29:18
Speaker
And my my goal with that is really simple. I want to hit agents in the pre licensing stage before they even get licensed to help them learn what to expect when they get into the business from the business perspective of the industry um outside of the definitions they learn in pre license outside of the Civil Rights Act and how to figure out how many square feet are in a acre. What all the things that they learn.
00:29:45
Speaker
which is needed and helpful, but we're not teaching them how to run business. And so, you know, yes, when you say, you know, like the average income of an agent is whatever it is and a hundred thousand is looks like whatever. no, no, no. no It's taking it out of context. Anybody can build their business, their real estate business to up to a hundred thousand dollars a month. Anybody. It's so easy. The problem is, and the why a lot of people don't do it is because it takes so long and they're not willing to do the little things every day that compound into the $100,000 months. um But it is very simple. So that's something I try to, I don't try, i do ah relay that to the students. um In a way, and articulate it in a way that they do understand how simple this really is. And that the hundred thousand a month is arbitrary. It literally means nothing.
00:30:42
Speaker
Like that's not really the goal. Cause here's the thing, man, money is so beneath us. When you, when you reach that level, you realize money didn't really mean as much as you thought it was, it thought it did.
00:30:54
Speaker
right And this whole time you were chasing something, money, which is so beneath you, and you kind of start to have an icky feeling, honestly, tell you the truth. But then you got to have something that fires you up even more, you know which which is where the philanthropy and the charity work and the coaching agents and all these other things kind of come in and into answer mind. But no, I just want to you know make a point. like Well, i mean Gary Keller has the same, similar philosophy. It's very, very simple. It's not that it's easy. That's his philosophy. it's It's very simple. It's very straightforward. You can discuss it, but it's not easy because of repetition. I know Keller, I don't know how much you yeah you've interacted with him or listened to his stuff, but Gary's been promoting and been a coach for many years, obviously. and so He describes consistency in real estate as exceptionally boring. It's routine-based.
00:31:45
Speaker
describes it as the reason most folks fail. It's not that it's not something that they can't do. It's that it's really difficult to wake up and hit repeat and be consistent. And that's really, really difficult.
00:31:57
Speaker
i I think what makes it difficult, and this is where I come in and can kind of finish that idea. And that is that most people can't do the day to day because they don't have clarity that the day to day that they're engaging in is going to get them where they want to be. Yeah.
00:32:13
Speaker
I give agents real clarity on what they're doing day to day is going to get them where they want to be if they keep doing it. And because they have clarity that it's going to get them to the top of the mountain, that's what keeps them in the game longer. And if you don't provide agents that clarity, this is when they start jumping around from thing to thing to thing. And then they get lost in the shuffle. They they become a master of nothing. And they end up quitting the business because their bills pile up. Right. Right. But yeah, the clarity on what you're doing day to day is going to get you where you want to be in the next three to five years is literally the the key to the castle. Right.
00:32:49
Speaker
Well, explain this. This is what i was alluding to because I think you probably have a very good perspective on this, or I would assume you do because of all the people you interact with. What have you heard? What would you say? How would you help someone like myself kind of not jump off the bridge here? When we start thinking about AI and how AI is going to revolutionize ah most industries, right certainly ah ours in real estate is not immune from this.
00:33:14
Speaker
so What have you seen and heard from others that are at the top of the food chain here that are probably in these boardrooms, making these conversations having these conversations and making decisions? are you know What level of fear is appropriate?
00:33:28
Speaker
and Then how does someone prepare themselves, whether they already have a million dollar business or they're starting? like What do you tell people when they have these fears or if they bring them up? or Is it not something you talk about on a consistent basis yet? i go I'm going to go back to something that you asked me earlier about this. What's the common theme or what's the common characteristic of these top producers versus the low producers? And I do want to i do want to ah say something to that, and that is this.
00:33:54
Speaker
Over the next 10 years, agents are going to make more money than they've ever made. We're going to have more transactions at higher prices and less agents. Okay, the gap between agents that are selling and not selling is going to continue to get worse and worse and worse. 71% of agents right now don't have a listing. They're not doing any deals.
00:34:13
Speaker
10 years ago, 82% of agents had at least two listings. Right. Right. It's crazy how how the direction of this is going. So yeah I say all that to say this, the top 10%
00:34:26
Speaker
are going to be the ones who make all this money. We have more Gen Z. The 30 something year olds are are ah like almost unprecedented. We haven't seen it since the baby boomers like 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago. Okay. As far as how many 30 something year olds are in the country right now, dying to own a home, by the way, 90 something percent say they want to own a home.
00:34:45
Speaker
Wow. okay The sellers that are sitting on low rates that haven't sold yet that want to, they just can't quite pull the trigger on higher rates, um they want to sell. the the The sheer existence of homes in America is at an all-time high. We just hit 31 consecutive months of year-over-year home prices. okay Dude, all of this is lining up perfectly for more transactions over the next 10 years at higher prices. And by the way, commissions aren't going to go down. They haven't went down in 24 years that I've been in the business.
00:35:15
Speaker
They haven't went down the two years since the lawsuit was settled. They've done nothing to go up. yeah Yeah, they went up. NAR just announced it was higher this year than last. Yes. And so you're fact checking me. And then on top of that...
00:35:29
Speaker
With there being fewer active agents in the future, I believe those agents are going to be able to demand more. i think I think commissions actually have a chance to go higher for the more professional agents. Okay.
00:35:40
Speaker
So with all that being said, i think i don't know what the agent count's going to do. We may still be sitting around 2 million licensed agents, especially if the bear to entry is one class. you know I think you'll always have a lot of agents.
00:35:51
Speaker
But the agents who are actually selling, I think are that number is going to continue to dwindle. Which means that all this money that agents are going to make, there's going to be more commissions paid off than ever, are going to go to the top 10%. So to go back to your question about, you know, what do you see across the board with people who are crushing it versus not crushing it? What is the one thing?
00:36:10
Speaker
i I do want to mention this, that I believe that top 10% have this internal instinct and ability to visualize and spot opportunities regardless of anything happening in the market.
00:36:25
Speaker
I think that's the difference in the 90% who literally will not sell anything over the next decade and the 10% who will make more like, like there's going to be a bigger commission pool and fewer agents. Like I want you to visualize this, right? yeah The income per active agent is going to be insane over the next decade. Okay. and And I'm coming back to the AI. I'm just, I'm just, this is a long winded, have to, I have to paint this picture for you. Yeah.
00:36:58
Speaker
I have to paint this thing for you. So, um, so there's going to be fewer agents, you know, yeah active agents, you know making all the money and those top 10% have this ability, this instinct to be able to visualize these opportunities. So for example, like, um, you know,
00:37:15
Speaker
like I have the ability. like like you know when When new construction started buying you know rates, you know buying down rates for customers and paying closing costs, and now you can literally get a new new home for less than an existing home?
00:37:28
Speaker
Are you freaking kidding me? Dude, if yeah if I were still selling, there's no way. You would have to fight me to get me away from the phone, and you would lose because i would do everything I could do to get the message to the existing homeowners that, do you know you could be in a brand new home for cheaper than what you could sell your home? home for with the rate buy downs closing costs appliances home or like builder warranties and all these things do you realize this sir Like, let's do this. Let's make this happen. um it's just It's just spotting opportunities, right? It's like spotting the opportunity of realizing that real estate is one class versus being a doctor or lawyer for 10 years. It's spotting opportunities. And AI is an opportunity. And so i don't think AI is a thing like, oh, God, I'm going to get replaced. Like, I need to go learn AI or like it's over. No, no, no, no, no.
00:38:18
Speaker
It should happen organically. Like, like a, yeah like you need a, like people are using AI for this. Okay. I'll use AI for that. Okay. Like, like I messed around with AI and I see it can do X, Y, Z. I'm going to use it for ABC.
00:38:31
Speaker
You know, it's like, just let it organically happen. Like, you don't have to force yourself to like, feel like you're going to be extinct because you're not trying to like figure out AI today. Okay. If you're a top 10% instinctively looking and finding opportunities to be more efficient, to do more in less time, to be the number one agent in your market, then you don't have to worry about AI because you will organically figure out where it fits in the puzzle of your business model.
00:39:00
Speaker
Right? So, um yeah. i mean I think- That's an interesting perspective. What what about the big portals? the The folks that have the eyeballs, that have the views, that have the clicks? They are controlling certain certain areas, specifically in Maryland. ah that they There's like these wars, these brokerage wars, if you will, and these portal wars. That's just a war for buyers.
00:39:23
Speaker
Correct. It's a buyer war. Something that I'm not building my business around. Again, Instinctively finding opportunities to be more efficient, right?
00:39:34
Speaker
why would i Why would I fight tooth and nail over prospects who are gonna make me drive them around for 10 days straight? Why wouldn't I focus my business model around property owners that I've developed relationships with that no one can stop me from talking to, by the way?
00:39:51
Speaker
No portal can stop me from talking to them. no ah No network, no brokerage, no laws. No one can stop me from talking to as many property owners as I want to build as many relationships as I want so I can build my business as big as I want.
00:40:07
Speaker
And so, yeah, that what you're talking about, I think, is... um
00:40:14
Speaker
Let's see, how can I put this? they're just they're just They're fighting over something that they don't even realize is basically worth nothing. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah, they're fighting over something that is basically worth nothing. you know It's almost like any business should be trying to identify the greatest CEOs, the greatest business people, the greatest entrepreneurs, the greatest agents. They identify the one problem in their business that temporarily will solve all the other problems in their business once it's solved.
00:40:42
Speaker
And... A lot of agents will will be working on four or five problems instead of the one, none of which, once they're solved, will fix any of the other problems in the business. And now we're right where we are.
00:40:53
Speaker
And I think that's exactly what's happening with whatever you're talking about in terms of these portal wars happening or fighting over eyeballs. I think that um they're they're literally trying to solve a problem that, once it's fixed, doesn't solve any problems in their business.
00:41:09
Speaker
Right. The problem in their business right now is that they're not running efficiently and they have to have a lot of manpower to show all the properties because they're running at a very buyer heavy business when they should be in an 80 20 listing heavy business. wow And I'm not a listing agent. I'm a real estate agent who helps anyone buy or sell real estate. But I am saying you get to choose your business model. If you get to choose, why wouldn't you choose to have a listing heavy business and not not not going after listings per se, but just focusing on prospecting property owners who buy and sell, who by the way, are the highest quality buyers. Listen, you want the highest quality buyers?
00:41:44
Speaker
You want the highest quality buyers? You know you want all these eyeballs online? so You want the highest quality buyers? Property owners are the highest quality buyers. They already know what they want. They're educated. you don't have to do anything. They just need somebody to help process the deal for them, negotiate it, get it done. They already know all the stuff. You don't have to tell them anything. They know what to expect. They've already been there, done that. They're very easy to work with and super efficient. Right. So why why what why wouldn't I want those clients instead of fighting over the literal crumbs?
00:42:14
Speaker
i'm i'm I'm literally fighting fighting over crumbs. It doesn't make any sense to me, but there again, I'm i'm a different animal. right i build off efficiency I feed off of efficiency, off of growth.
00:42:29
Speaker
um there's no There's no ego, there's no, ah you know, none of that happening here. I'm just trying to serve people and build a really big business. And I think that what you're talking about is a good way to build Not necessarily small business, because they probably have really big businesses, but man, do they have a lot of expenses. i bet their margins are you know single digits. Mark Fletcher, margins are tough, but the the leads, obviously, most of these leads that are bought and sold, the vast majority are all on the buyer side.
00:43:01
Speaker
That's typically what what I see. and The listing businesses are much more challenging to build. and You just mentioned a word called prospecting. I don't think people understand what that word is. Do you have to define that word for people? because i think that can't. I can't define it. So lead gen, agents think lead gen, the purpose of lead gen is to get data.
00:43:20
Speaker
It's not. The purpose of lead gen is to create a conversation with the exact people you want to do business with at the velocity that you want to build your business. enough conversations you can be your business at the velocity you desire. If your lead gen activity is not creating real conversations with the prospects you want to do business with, then you need to tweak it or get rid of it.
00:43:39
Speaker
Only one or two options there. right And then the actual prospecting, talking, the conversation, people think that the purpose of that conversation is to set an appointment or to close a deal or to handle objections or to get them to do something. No, it's not.
00:43:54
Speaker
The purpose of that conversation is simply to get your prospect to feel comfortable enough with you to tell you everything they want to do, they want to do, and why they want to do it so that you can just simply help them do it. Your job isn't to sell homes.
00:44:09
Speaker
Your job is to help people do whatever it is they want to already do for their reasons. Your job is to actually figure out what that is. You can help them do it regardless if it's to sell in five years. Right. or sell next week, or buy in a year, or or help their cousin do this, or whatever the case may be. And that's kind of the problem that agents run into. They think that lead gen is just to collect data, and they think that prospecting is to set appointments, when in fact those are the exact ways to get prospects to run, not walk, run away from you and ghost you forever.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah. Got it. How do you go through? so If someone is inspired by this, which I actually am as well, how do they go about learning your way of your philosophy, whether they're new, whether they're experienced? Is it is it through your program on Zero to Diamond? Is that is that the best way? how How do people get started? Zero to Diamond.com is good.
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah. Zero to Diamond.com is good. I've got a um i've got ah a masterclass there, how to get to 100,000 a month. They can go to zero to diamond.com. There's a mat. There's a hundred thousand dollar a month masterclass they can watch. Right. And if they were inspired by that, they can set up a call to take a look at the the coaching program. Yeah, absolutely. So do you do one-on-one coaching group coaching? What are your, what are your different routes? It's a mix. okay So what I did with the coaching program is i combined every every aspect of a coaching program. So everybody wants one-on-one, they want group, they want community, they want in-person. So part of it is you come to where I live in Orange Beach, Alabama, and I do in-person workshops for the anybody in the coaching program. We have a back-end, we have all the replays, we have all the the systems, so the d CTD system. right So man, I have ah like a guy joined two weeks ago, Daniel. And two weeks ago, here he's already had eight owners call him, reaching out to him, and he has two two appointments. And this was Monday when I talked to him, so I'm sure he got got a listing or of that. But he's been in the program two weeks, and we've already had inbound sellers calling him. Not off ads, not off social media. We don't do any of that stuff. we do i do I do preach organic social.
00:46:17
Speaker
And I do preach like ads, running ads like ah around listings and things like that. Like I think all that is super beneficial, but that's not like how I get leads. That's just marketing, right? That's just, again, just collecting data. Lead gen is creating conversations. And so what we do is we make the exact people you want to do business with call you.
00:46:37
Speaker
So you like you you come in and like hate cold calls or whatever. It doesn't matter. Like what we do works for everyone across the board. So, um, so yeah, um, there was something you said earlier and then I lost it in the middle of the answer, the last answer.
00:46:53
Speaker
And I thought, man, I really want to say this, but then I kind of got lost in translation translation there, but, um, I'm sure it'll hit me or. Yeah. It was about prospecting. You said something right before you said, you have to describe prospecting to people.
00:47:07
Speaker
Well, I just wanted you to like go down that rabbit hole because a lot of agents have a challenge. This is the folks that I talk to, which is far fewer than yours, but I talk to people that are that are very much... I refer to them as marketing-based, which is they put their stuff out there, but they're not actively doing anything.
00:47:22
Speaker
My understanding of prospecting is when you have an involvement where you are picking up the phone, rather than I'm waiting to receive a call. and it's like There's been coaches that say, you know your phone actually does outbound phone calls too, right? It doesn't just ring. and um i don't know if that's a consistent challenge you have. It sounds like your model very much preaches an action, which is something that you can own and and do yourself as an agent, rather the way we do it, man, it doesn't matter what the market's doing. right we're not We're not dependent on Zillow or Facebook or YouTube or even team leaders. or We're not depending on anybody to give us leads, how many leads we want, at the price we want it, who the leads are. When you're doing inbound, you're right. You just sit there and you get inbound calls. It's ah no work up front.
00:48:08
Speaker
But you're paying the most amount of money for the lowest quality leads. That's why i don't understand the guys fighting over that stuff up there because it's the most expensive leads for the lowest quality. If someone else dictates your business, they can turn it off at some point. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. But when you build it, when you build it through outbound, right, you control who you're calling, who the who the who the clients are going to be, how many you get and what the price is and what's cool. and But there's a lot of work up front.
00:48:34
Speaker
So that's the difference. People don't do it There's a lot of work up front. But what if there was a way to combine the best of both worlds where there's no work up front, but you get the highest quality leads, exactly who you want, um you know, for the price that you want, the cheapest price. yeah That's what I created.
00:48:49
Speaker
Right. That's what I created. And we do that through a lot of different, like a couple different, um, you know, avenues. Right. So, um, again, it's just like hacking the system. How can we be more efficient? How can we, how can I create something that everybody can do? Right. Um, but my point was with the coaching program was to have every single aspect of a coaching program somebody would want, put it all in one package and then charge less than a commission for it.
00:49:14
Speaker
Right. And so that that's what I did. Well, that's brilliant. I wish I had gone into coaching earlier in my career. I did not. I refused. I knew i knew so much, right? I was in my 20s. Me too. But one ah that was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made. Exactly.
00:49:29
Speaker
because now Because now I have three coaches. I've paid like 300 grand in coaching fees over the last two years. And it's changed my entire life. Yeah. And not all coaches are the same. it's That's the fact. you have to I think you have to... Most have some version of value, but you have to connect to the coach to want to listen to their brand. Because I could listen to you and probably continue to be more successful and learn and grow.
00:49:51
Speaker
But if you ah there's a million coaches, right? You just have to find the one that speaks to you. yeah that that you feel inspired by, that you feel you know a little bit of you resonates with that what they're saying. and I think it's going through that experience. and It's like a therapist. If you had a therapist that was horrible, you're go to say, therapy sucks. right and You get a great therapist one day, and it cycles through with you, it'll change your life.
00:50:12
Speaker
Right. Right. That's absolutely true. You're going to have coaching programs that are duds for you. Yes. And the same coaching program helped people make millions. Right. You know, and then the next program you do, there were people that it didn't work for, but then you make millions off of that one. So you're absolutely right. It's a crap shoot sometimes. And that's why you just go with your gut with the coach that you feel like you resonate the best with, and then let the chips fall. Like if it ends up being a dud, it isn't being a dud. Right. Trust me. I've spent,
00:50:43
Speaker
The money I've spent on dud coaching programs is probably absurd, but but I'm net positive though right because of the massive amount of value I've gotten from the winners.
00:50:54
Speaker
right so yeah and One thing I'd say, based on the model you just presented, and I'm sure you've heard this, and what is crazy to me, I'm getting calls for AI companies that are AI voice related. Have you ever heard these folks yet?
00:51:08
Speaker
that make calls, and they're all and they're not quite but they're almost indistinguishable from a human. yeah and I think in two years, they will probably be as good or better than a human, is my concern. and Then, that's your prospecting, and then you get that into a massive billion-dollar company that's competing against a little agent in whatever state or town you're in. That is one of the concerns that I've heard consistently from people that are reading up on this stuff. that what's the confusion What's the concern, though?
00:51:36
Speaker
well Well, there could be 10,000 AI bots that... you know I know Elon is doing a bot right now. He wants to replace all telemarketers and all inbound... like If you call a Verizon or Comcast or any of these companies, within two years, he wants to replace all of them. so Anyone that's virtual, if you're using a mouse or a phone or a keyboard, he wants to replace you. yeah and so that If that's the the truth, then that can concern most people, because what we do is face-to-face oftentimes. um but what but But I mean, walk me through the concern though. Like how like what's the concern?
00:52:11
Speaker
Are you talking about for agents are you talking about for unemployment with all these people being unemployed? When I think about it, well, I think everyone's going to be affected, but I think as an agent, when I think about people that are prospecting based, anything, but our competition will no longer be another agent in my city or town doing the activities you just suggested. I might be going against an Amazon or a Zillow or these other large multi-billion dollar platforms. yeah but Here's the thing though, right? The people that are worried about that will be the 90% who are not selling anything.
00:52:49
Speaker
that That's the difference. The people that are worried about this, the agents that are worried about this, that's a surefire sign that you're not you're not you're probably not gonna be in that top 10%. The are thinking about this like,
00:53:02
Speaker
That doesn't matter because that's the way I look at it. right like i could like i could send out I could send out a mass mailer to to to the entire market and say, hey, if you get them if you get a call from an agent, ask them if they're AI. First first question, ask them if they're AI. right and If they say yes, just hang up on them.
00:53:23
Speaker
yeah I could send out a mailer and say, here's what you do when an agent calls you. Question number one, ask if they're AI. If yes, step two, hang up. And just make it funny. Put out put out content about it, et cetera. And say, hey, listen. win that And then the step three, call me. So step one, ask them if they're AI. Step two, hang up. Step three, call this number. And it's me.
00:53:46
Speaker
Right? So like dude, I just came up with that off the top of my head. Two seconds in. yeah There's so many things that I would do to take advantage of that situation when 90% of agents are going to think like you just said and literally run for the hills and wonder, what am I going to do?
00:54:04
Speaker
Yeah. The top 10%, again, have an instinct around where's the opportunity within this right that I can take advantage. Right. And that's just that's just who I am. And so that's what I'm telling you. then This is why I said it.
00:54:20
Speaker
90% do not have that instinct and they will be gone. Right. And the 10% who do, dude, like get me in a room. Like I literally came up with that in 60 seconds. Get me in a room and let's spit ball for like an hour or two, bro.
00:54:34
Speaker
Like we'll literally take over the whole freaking market with the ideas that will come out of that. Well, that's the opportunity that we all have in front of us to take it and run with it. um I think we all need the help. I'm going to end it on that. I don't want keep you hostage here too long, but Ricky, this has been enlightening, I would say. like your brand of enthusiasm and confidence, and I encourage everybody to check you out. Zero to Diamond sounds like great program. I love the fact you have ton of coaching for free that's available. So it's not all behind a paywall. So you can certainly get to hear Ricky and his point of view and be inspired and learn and all that. And I guess take it from there in the event that you want to deepen the learning opportunity, right?
00:55:15
Speaker
That's it, man. That's it, man. I appreciate you having me on. And I answer all my Instagram messages personally as well. So if anybody needs anything or has a question or anything I can do to help, you know, anybody, feel free to reach out there as well. All right. Well, thank you, Ricky, so much for joining me. And I will look forward to checking out your content on on a consistent basis.
00:55:35
Speaker
So I appreciate you.
00:55:39
Speaker
And big thank you to our sponsor, First Home Mortgage. You can check them out at firsthome.com.