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Key Factors RealEstateAF
Educational Podcast for Consumers, Mortgage & Real Estate Industry Professionals. We'll Talk About It All! Key Factors podcast, powered by https://ReviewMyMortgage.com . Your Host Mark Jones invites Industry Pros to help uncover & educate on the key factors of various topics. There’s something for everyone so let us be your guides and get educated. Subscribe & Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Facebook, Instagram, & all other podcasting platforms. Host : Mark A Jones Founder of ReviewMyMortgage.comProducing Branch MangerSr. Loan Officer. NMLS ID# 513437NMLS Consumer Access: http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Key Factors RealEstateAF
Mastering Real Estate: Balancing Business Planning with Personal Resilience
Unlock the secrets to a thriving real estate career as you gain firsthand insights from AJ Regattas, a veteran broker with over a decade of experience, and the dynamic Stephanie Aguillon, known for her bold transition from Hereford to San Antonio. Learn how these experts balance the unpredictable nature of the market with structured business planning, and explore how personal resilience can lead to professional breakthroughs. Their stories reveal the power of blending seasoned wisdom with fresh perspectives, providing an engaging and educational experience for anyone looking to elevate their real estate game.
In this episode, we dismantle the myth that talent alone is enough to succeed. Discover the critical role of structured business planning and goal-setting in transforming raw talent into sustained success. From setting realistic income goals to maintaining consistency during slow periods, we delve into the strategies that can keep your business thriving. Listen as AJ and Stephanie share their tactical approaches to balance, time management, and leveraging past experiences to refine future strategies. These insights serve as a masterclass on how to build a business that not only survives but flourishes in any market condition.
We also unravel the art of building a referral-based business through strategic networking and foundational activities. Find out why relying on familiar networks isn't enough and how engaging in activities like open houses and cold calling can expand your reach. AJ and Stephanie discuss the significance of creating systems, using tools like greatness trackers, and integrating personal beliefs into daily routines to enhance focus and motivation. By the end, you'll be equipped with practical, actionable advice to not only navigate the real estate landscape but to excel in it with passion and perseverance.
Key Factors Podcast is Powered by ReviewMyMortgage.com
Host: Mark Jones | Sr. Loan Officer | NMLS# 513437
If you would like to work with Mark on your next home purchase or as a partner visit iThink Mortgage.
A lot of people have been using the notepad.
Speaker 2:I like that angle better JC. I like that angle better that one.
Speaker 1:Further. You look good right there. Look at that. Both of y'all look good. Good luck, I look good. Step like I don't know about y'all. Hold on, how do I look? Let me activate the.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Put that one on. He's got his own little.
Speaker 1:Oh, you can't see me on the corner. I'm not seeing Like I'm on the lower corner here, like the guy behind the curtain. Yeah, well guys, what do you think about it? Awesome.
Speaker 3:This is so cool.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:The whole setup let's have at it. This is a vision I have Share your wealth, share your knowledge, share everything about now and going into the new year. Seriously. Like I said, mark, we pride ourselves on bringing professionals that give great advice. Fancy, yeah, this is super awesome. Sweet, there you go. That was happy, all right. Lady and gentlemen, I mean I have literally.
Speaker 2:I'm nervous, you'll be fine. You're going to realize, oh wow.
Speaker 4:That's it, we're done. You're nervous, but we've already started.
Speaker 1:Oh my God.
Speaker 4:We're already six and a half minutes into recording.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:JC. If you're ready, mark, go ahead and count us down AJ good, steph, good All four.
Speaker 1:good. All right, mark, here we go.
Speaker 4:Key Factors Podcast Real Estate AF coming at you in three, two one and welcome back to another episode of Key Factors Podcast Real Estate AF, where the AF stands for and finance, and I'm your host, mark Jones, and we are powered by ReviewMyMortgagecom, the largest index of mortgage programs in the nation, and, guys, we've been giving you a lot of great guests, a lot of great information about the future, what we believe is going to be taking place in real estate in the next four years mostly local in San Antonio, but as we lead into that, we can't forget the simple things that are most of the time overlooked by us producers, which is business planning. So today I brought along two guests that you may or may not be familiar with, but they're going to join me in this conversation talking about business planning, and hopefully you get plenty out of it. As always, please make sure to like and subscribe, share with a friend if you like what you're hearing. We are now at 15.8 thousand subscribers and climbing, so somehow, someway, you guys are tuning in. I like to say we're making mortgage and real estate sexy again. So, without further ado, I want to introduce my guests.
Speaker 4:First. I've got AJ Regattas. What's up, dude? How's it going man?
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me again, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And then I've got Stephanie. Stephanie, help me pronounce your last name Aguillon, aguillon.
Speaker 1:Yes, see, I can say it right. Yeah, see, I can say it right. And that one's for the Rasa.
Speaker 4:That goes back.
Speaker 2:That goes real back.
Speaker 4:So, guys, today, first off, I want to give you a moment to kind of tell us a bit about yourself. Aj, you've been on here before, but if you could just kick us off Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, aj Regattas been in business or real estate for 14 years. Now opened up a brokerage a couple. Two months from now will be four years. And yeah, just more on the leadership role of helping the agents putting out fires and doing business. Yes, sir.
Speaker 4:Yes, sir, good deal, and Stephanie, tell us about yourself. Ma'am, I want you to take a little bit longer than AJ did. He's been on here before and this, ladies and gentlemen, is her first podcast, so a big round of applause for that.
Speaker 3:Thank you, aj, for bringing me on. Yeah, so, stephanie Aguilon, I got into the business like you want, like the full blown draw now, let's go, let's do it. Okay, so I got in the business five years ago in November. So I actually my family has lived in San Antonio for the past 15 years and I just moved to San Antonio five years ago in November. I just hit five years and my brother has actually been in the business now for just as much as AJ 15 years, and so I came to San Antonio.
Speaker 3:I was going through divorce, a separation. I left my ex back, where we're from. It's a little baby town called Hereford, texas.
Speaker 4:So your exes still live in Texas?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yeah. So it's a big capital of the world, hereford, texas and there's literally more cows than there are people wow, well, that that is actually, I think, a fact it is a fact there's more cows you want to know another fun fact.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you want to know another fun fact and I did the research is the stupidest thing, but I'm going to say it anyway.
Speaker 2:Cows moo with accents you're lying there's like a te Texas moo.
Speaker 4:They're all around the world. Wow, I'm not joking when you guys get a chance.
Speaker 2:You're going to make me go in a rabbit hole now on YouTube.
Speaker 4:Everybody will Go ahead and fact check me on that. Guys, when you get a chance, jump into YouTube and type in cows that have accents, et cetera, and you'll get what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:Well, you do have access to chat GPT.
Speaker 3:That too, etc. And you'll. You'll get what I'm talking about. Well, you do have access to chat, gpt, but uh, yeah, stephanie, please continue. That is hilarious, I did not know that, but yeah, so I moved over here. My came with my, my immediate family mom, dad, brother and, um, my brother had been in the business for a long time. I was very heartbroken, depressed, like just all the emotions you can think of. I came out of a 13-year relationship with my ex, and so it was really challenging time for me. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't have no goals of anything whatsoever aside from just like surviving my day-to-day life and so I love this.
Speaker 4:Yeah, life's in shambles.
Speaker 3:And she was like I'm gonna get real estate god, my brother didn't make it seem like it was gonna be that big of a deal. He was just like no sister, you'll be great. So, like the first four months that I was in san antonio, I um, I was lost. I didn't know. I got a job at a bank because I was at a bank back home, and so my ex ended up getting this girl pregnant and that was right in the middle of covid.
Speaker 3:I was in a box. Essentially I felt like at a bank, because we were deemed essential, so we had to work and so nobody was going to the banks. It was dead silent. And I'm looking at this computer all day long, for nine hours a day, just thinking about my life and like gosh, what am I doing here? What am I doing here? And so my brother I might even get emotional because he's like my rock, right, like this dude is just sister. What do you need? What do you need for me in order for you to take this leap? He's like I will literally pay you what you're getting paid at the bank so you can quit your job and go full force and get your life.
Speaker 4:He's like strong.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's like you're stuck, you're sad, like this is going to change your life. I promise you're going to be so good at it, you're going to love it. So I was just like, at that point, desperate, and so I was like I took a leap of faith and I said, all right, brother, if you can pay me what I'm getting paid, I will do it. And sure enough, he paid me for the first six weeks that I was getting my license. It took me six weeks to get it. I dove head first into it, and so our first deal that we got, he gave it to me, essentially so my brother would feed me my leads. When I first got into business, I was very fortunate, blessed, all the things.
Speaker 4:Well, I don't like the comment that he gave it to you At some point in your relationship with your brother. You earned that respect, to be able to have that, because I can tell you, being friends with having different circles of top producers, we don't give anybody shit. It's true, different circles of top producers, we don't give anybody shit. Just so you know. He trusted you or entrusted in you that you would at least do the best that you possibly could. Yeah, just so you know Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I thank you for saying that. You're absolutely right. And so he told me when we first had that first transaction. He said okay, sister, he's like when you're ready, he's like I'll continue to pay you on a salary you know. However, you need it whatever works for you. Essentially is what he told me he's like, but when you're ready to go commission-based, let me know and we'll do the switch. And so our first surprisingly enough, like our first transaction together was a $1.5 million listing and it was a big check. It was 25 of that is what he gave me, and I was like dang, you're like, it's like that huh luxury agent it was it was.
Speaker 3:It was absolutely insane. And so I was like, okay, brother, I'm good, like, take me off of the paycheck. Like I got this, like I was so hyped when I got into it, like we, I started with keller williams heritage okay, so that's where he was at at the time. And, um, you have to go through what's called ignite yeah and it's a six weeks training that you go through. You have to go through this course who is your?
Speaker 3:coach um, so there was a series of coaches, yeah um gosh, there were so many of them um brad burns is cool, dude, awesome, the one that actually like he lit a fire up my butt when I heard him talk.
Speaker 2:No wonder why you're a cold caller. Yeah, brad Burns is a big time cold caller.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so I heard him one day like on all of them were great, Like the panelists for Ignite was just awesome, Like I learned so much from them. And but when I heard him I was like, oh my gosh, mind blown Right.
Speaker 3:So at the time he was doing Fizbo's Okay, loan Right. So at the time he was doing Fizbo's and so I was, I remember, running to my brother and I was like dude, have you like? Have you ever done it? Oh, sister, like I've done everything under the sun with real estate Right. And he was just like but I'm not focused on that right now, bob I was like no brother, please Like, let's just do it.
Speaker 4:And he was just like.
Speaker 3:you know what sis Like if you're excited about it, you're pumped to, let's do it. And I have like a ton of energy when I'm excited about something, so I'm just like, all right, let's do it.
Speaker 2:So we couldn't tell. That's all the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I was super hype. I was like, yeah, brother, let's do it. And so we got a script. We used his script, bradburn script, and he's like, all right, I'm only going to do this for an hour, like we'll get it, and then you can start doing whatever with that first hour. The second call that picked up was that listing, and we went through the script, got it. They interviewed five other agents to do it and we ended up getting picked like siblings, I don't know. They loved us and so we got the listing and I was just like, dang, this is so crazy, Like I was hooked. I was hooked on the cause from day one.
Speaker 4:That's awesome.
Speaker 4:So that's been essentially what my business has been like since I got into the business, and then I've implemented other things, but yeah so which I'm going to go as far as to say that this market chatter that we're hearing about from the masses being that it's a tough market, rates are high, there's no buyers, there's no sellers, et cetera. I don't think that that's phasing you, because you were kind of cut from a cloth of grinding. Uh, to get your business, yeah, okay. Um, because we've got a lot of folks out there. Uh, as we already know, it's like 70, some odd 78% of realtors. Almost 80% of realtors fail after their first year, and then that number only increases second and third year.
Speaker 4:Um, you've already made it past that and have a great mentor by your side, and it leads me to being able to open up the conversation now to business planning. When you got into the business and I'm going to start with AJ first, let's ask this question, get it out of the way and'll answer it first have you completed your 2025 business plan? Me, no, I have not, not yet. Yes, you have, yes, complete sign till delivered yes, love it.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay, stephanie I'm in the middle of it. Okay.
Speaker 4:I've gone pretty far in it actually, okay, yeah, that's good so the reason why I asked that is most end up doing it around the 15th of December or so. They give themselves that leeway of let me plan, let me go back and look at what happened this year, et cetera. And then they complete their business plan. And I say most very liberally because it's really not most that even do a business plan. That's just factual.
Speaker 4:When I first got into the business, I went and I was talking to the loan officers today in our meeting I don't think I had a business plan until my fourth year into the business. I was running and gunning and just banking on my pure talent and energy and all of the things. And I told him I just kissed every hand and shook every baby or something like that, and the idea was you can only do that for so long until you realize, okay, I still want to grow, but I have no idea how to do it when I only have 24 hours in a day. And now, fast forward, I do a simple business plan for every single one of my businesses and it's religious. It's something that we have to live by. So, going down this first rabbit hole of business planning, I want to ask how you guys feel about business planning and how essential it is to your business in that case.
Speaker 2:Is it fun? No, I personally don't enjoy it when I do it, but it's. It's a necessity, right? It's something that has to be done, and for me at least, it's on a bigger scale. It's not so much of oh, how many homes am I going to sell next year, right? Um, and so I understand and identify that it's something that has to be done early on. Which is why? Because I'll be honest, I didn't start. I didn't start business planning even when I was in production, until about my fourth, maybe going into my fifth year of real estate.
Speaker 4:Yeah, right around the same time I did. At a certain point it's like, okay, I'm still getting the volume coming in because of all the shaking and movement that we're doing and shaking hands and all the things. But then it's like, oh wow, that person that is relying on me to continue to produce. I've got to continue to do that, but wait, where's the time?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, what did I do? Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. It's gotten a lot easier now Now that I transition over with the brokerage. It's gotten a lot easier now because year one, year two are the blueprint, right. And so with year one it's like, okay, I'm not going to do that again and then be careful with that. I screwed, I lost money on that, and so it's being able to identify what. What went wrong and how do we attack it this year in the first quarter, right. Like I always talk about what the agents um on record every year for the brokerage, january is our worst month, you know, and so it's. I think I was a little bit more stern with that message back in, I want to say in September, yeah as soon as I got here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was pretty stern so every now and then.
Speaker 2:I think that was her first meeting she sat in too, and I think that was her first meeting she sat in too.
Speaker 2:Every now and then I get fired up with our Monday meetings where it turns into like almost like a grill session.
Speaker 2:I'm not pointing out and calling anyone directly, but it's just I get very passionate, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So you know I was talking in September about. You know, every January, this is what our January looks like and it's unacceptable and we can't do this and we shouldn't be taking vacations in November and December. And so, man, I'll tell you I'm really looking forward to January, with that being said, because we've had a lot of agents that haven't let off the gas. I love that and and this is the first time with the brokerage that I've seen that in a October, november, december, um, where it's like I'm very optimistic about how January is going to turn out because, yeah, like I, the office hasn't been as quiet as it normally is, and you, given the seat and perspective on the bus at this point, can start to see and you've probably have already, but can see kind of writing on the wall to tell signs of, okay, it's not in the production, it's in the activities that are taking place that can lead to this and, matter of fact, if it continues, it will lead to this.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so what I'd love to? Well, before I ask how about you, stephanie? What, what, what are your thoughts on goal setting and building a business plan for yourself?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so same. I'm going into my fifth year and I did one last year, but I also I didn't take it as seriously. I kind of just brush it under the rug and like this year it's like all right, it's kind of like what you said, like just thinking back, okay, like how long can I keep going like this?
Speaker 3:You know like, yes, the grind is there and I'm at the office Monday through Friday 8 am. Like I'm on it, but I'm like I don't want to continue to do this. I'm like when's my next deal? When am I going to get this next? Like I need a plan I I can make more or do more with my time and just everything Right. So, yeah, I think it's very important and this is the first year I can say wholehearted like I'm actually invested into getting my business plan up and running and I even asked AJ a week ago maybe like I want to sit down, like, let's sit down with me so we can help, so you can help me do this, because I want to do it right.
Speaker 4:Well, hopefully from this discussion you'll be able to take some stuff back and incorporate it in the business plan that you've already started and will complete. But I want to start with the idea of balance. We talked about this on a previous episode recently with Jeff Ronnie, and we had Gilly here.
Speaker 1:Good and great, yeah, absolutely here and great, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And they shared transparently and we all kind of came to the conclusion that this idea of balance in the current state or journey or chapter or season that we're in in our lives is a bunch of bullshit, and that's the God honest truth. It's about priorities and where you want to fit those priorities into the accomplishments that you want, and there's going to be some things that are not necessarily going to go by the wayside but that will be neglected. Sacrifice, sacrifice Great way to put that. What are your thoughts on that? I mean, have you or do you still believe in balance?
Speaker 3:For me I find it very challenging to balance everything just because, like, I'm single with no kids, and so I'm like, what else am I gonna do with my time if I'm not grinding it out, you know?
Speaker 3:so for me it's like I'm glad you said it yeah, I just feel like no one's gonna do it for me and I want to live a life like worth living, right like I want to take vacations, I and I want to live a life like worth living, right, like I want to take vacations, I want to. I want to buy a bigger house. I want to do all these things and no one's going to do it for me. So I'm just like constantly thinking real estate, I got to do more, I got to do more, I got to do more. And so to balance, it would be very awesome, cause, like, so I can have like a okay, steph, you can like turn it off now you can go see a movie and not think of whatever else you have going on, like you can take that trip and not be anxious to get home because you got to go back to work. So that's kind of where I'm at with it.
Speaker 4:And my idea of balance that has been echoed and mirrored by others is I am working towards balance, but I don't deserve balance because I haven't done what I needed to do just yet in order to have it Now.
Speaker 4:everybody has different goals. There are plenty of folks that work W-2, hourly wage that, hey, you leave work and you get to turn it off. We don't have that and I'm not going to say it is a luxury because it's the life that we chose, right, yeah, and we choose it coherently to be able to go. Okay, I know that I'm not going to be able to do this, so that I can do this. It's the idea of doing what others won't do so that you can do what you others can't do later, that's right, and do what you others can't do later, that's right.
Speaker 4:So what I'd kind of like to do is maybe shape within your business that eventually will lead to a simple business plan, but there's got to be some key points within your business that you need to focus on. And the first thing what would you imagine? What do you guys think is the first thing? And it's not a wrong or right, it's just we're all going to try and come up with something. What is the first thing that we think we should focus on when creating a business plan?
Speaker 2:I would say the clear answer is GCI. Starting with your GCI, what's your GCI goal? Okay, right, because I think from there you'll be able to build down where like the roadmap. Right, that's your starting point.
Speaker 4:Give us the acronym. What is the GCI?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sorry. Gross commission income. There you go, your gross income. So, starting with your GCI, what's your goal for the year? Right Then breaking it down Okay, so what's my average based off of this year? What's my average commission check on a closing? Okay, so how many commission checks am I going to have to equate to hit that goal? And then it goes down from there. But I would say that's going to be probably your seed that you need to plant and figure out first. I hear agents will say, oh, I want to sell 100 homes this year and it's like, okay, but if you did 10 homes, how are we going to get you to 100?
Speaker 4:Where is that going to come from? What's going to?
Speaker 2:change. Are you coming across money that you're now going to be able to invest into buying leads or whatever? It may be right, right, so helping them, trying to understand like that clear picture of it's one thing to say. I want to make that, yep, how are we going to get to that, though?
Speaker 4:And I think you said what I wrote down just in a different way. Clear goes with it, but it's the vision You've got to us all. If we did what we were supposed to already, without even knowing it, what is the one thing? What is the best way to predict the future?
Speaker 3:Gosh track your habits.
Speaker 4:Okay, absolutely. And then what is that called? That you're looking back on?
Speaker 3:I don't know. I'm just thinking back to like because where AJ pointed out to go and get like, what's your goal? How much do you want to net?
Speaker 4:that year.
Speaker 3:So, like, I did it very opposite this year. So it's always been okay. I want to net this much, this is what I want to net, and I do my plan off of that. This year I did a little bit differently, I actually. So I bought a house two years ago Congrats and I have all these expenses that I need to pay to survive, Right.
Speaker 3:And then so I actually got all my bank statements and I checked to see, okay, where are my averages in the month? What am I spending this month? Where is it going toward? Which part of this is going towards my business? Which part of this is going towards my personal side? And I see, okay, like I spend a lot of money, how much of this like, so this is what I need to survive, how much do I want in order to live the life that I want to live? So now I can say, okay, well, I have this much, this is what I need to make. I need to make it, and then this is what I want. And then I combine that and this is what my goal is for the year. I want to pay these things off, do whatever I'm going to do, but this is what I need to make to live the life that I want to live.
Speaker 4:So would you say that a clear indicator of setting your goals, creating your vision, your outcomes, would be based off of history? See what I'm saying there.
Speaker 2:P&L too. There you go.
Speaker 4:So the best predictor of the future is looking back at the history of what you've done, the activities that you've done, the expenses that you've had, to be able to gauge what my next year's goal is going to be. So, for example, like AJ was saying, you've got an agent that wants to do 100 transactions. Well, you did 10 last year. So are we being realistic on that? Or what are you using to gauge this 100 on? Because typically we kind of go back to last year and what we did to go all right, I need to ratchet that up by at least 25%, because that's called growth.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:But how do I get there? And what you're talking about is the things that go into that. So, yes, you were on the money. In my opinion, on the next phase, which is looking back at history to determine, okay, what worked, what didn't work, what do I need to change. So, that being the case, I want to pause right there and ask you, guys, based on 2024, great for some people, not for others, mediocre for many others and good enough for others what types of things do you think you will incorporate, let go of, like technology? Will you incorporate, incorporate more technology? Will you incorporate some of the basics? What are some things that work for you in 2024? Um, you know what? Aj?
Speaker 2:so I think that, uh or not, I think mortgage, mortgage, what for the brokerage? Moving forward for 2025, looking at 2024 as P&Ls and engaging each quarter how we did, taking into consideration what was our net on agent growth, on production, you know, putting that all into factors and then incorporating it going into, for instance, the first quarter of the year. It's going to be more about doubling down on what we're already doing as a company.
Speaker 4:I like that.
Speaker 2:And then not only that, but also being more cautious on the agents that we bring on board. Very good, you know. Look, I was a new agent at one point too so.
Speaker 2:I get it, um, you know and I don't want to say that this is, uh, referencing anyone in our brokerage right now but I've noticed that, um, that I've had to adjust the questions that I ask or the type of questions that I asked ask in a, in a, in a sit down with an agent that's thinking about joining the brokerage, um, and then determining also are they the right fit for us? Great, question.
Speaker 2:Um and and and like. I'll be honest man, like what? And I'm going in a rabbit hole about this right now, but but one of the things that I I've adjusted this year on, when I sit down with an agent is um is always asking them have you interviewed other brokerages? And cause, I'll tell you, man, nine out of 10 times by the time I'm done with them. Um, they're like okay, I'm ready to join. Yeah, you know. And and I usually tell them now, not usually, I do tell them now.
Speaker 4:That was a mini flex everybody.
Speaker 1:No no it's just he's got that mouthpiece.
Speaker 2:It's just that I lay it all out there, you know, and I'm like this is what it is, and I'll even tell them straight up, like I'll be honest with you, I'm not going to follow up with you. Yeah, you know, this is what it is. If you like it, great. If you feel you're a better fit somewhere else, great, good luck, and we wish you the best. You know, but for me, why I don't do that, is because I don't want to feel like I had to persuade someone to join the brokerage. Absolutely, I will say I am that confident in knowing what we bring to the table as a company In regards to value Exactly.
Speaker 2:When it comes to the value proposition. So at that point, when we've laid it all out there and they maybe still don't see it, that's okay. It doesn't mean that they're wrong, that's right, you know. It just means that maybe we're not that niche that they're looking for, and that's okay too. But but what I was getting back point, to kind of answer your question is the adjustment I've made is um is at the end. If they haven't interviewed other brokerages, I'd tell them, go and interview a few others, at least three others, yeah. And if you still feel like we're the best fit, then great, we'd love to have you.
Speaker 4:And that's a smart move, but it would make me feel better, absolutely. It's a smart move because what it does is it brings all of the doubt to the forefront. There is no man. I woulda, coulda, shoulda, no, go do it now. Exactly, go do it now.
Speaker 2:And I'll tell you, man, our retention with our seasoned agents is amazing. That's awesome. It's. A bulk of our brokerage is, I would say, the year you know two to we got agents 20 plus years. You know this. The bulk of our brokerage is seasoned agents, um, but I would say at least one third is new agents, fresh out of school, absolutely so yeah, okay.
Speaker 4:Now how about you? Anything that you would add? Remove uh from your business that you experienced in 2024 thus far?
Speaker 3:I would definitely add what I'm planning to incorporate in 2025 is really owning in on my SOI, so my sphere of influence, and so that's big because, as I looked over this past year, a lot of my business came from referrals and so in my head I'm thinking like shoot, I'm on the cause, I'm calling expireds visibles, like that's what I do. And when I look back I'm just like dang, I have a lot of referrals Like how can I make this into next year's?
Speaker 1:to where.
Speaker 3:I'm feeding into the people who are actually giving me referrals, so that's definitely something that I plan to implement in 2025. That I didn't. I love on everybody, just in general, which is why, I feel like I get my referrals, but I want to do excuse me, I want to do it better. I want to be yeah, very intentional about doing that.
Speaker 4:That's very good. No, absolutely so. Thus far, we've got in our outline. We start with our vision, what you want? Or you're probably sandbagging or underselling yourself, setting yourself up for success when, yeah, we want to be successful, but we also want to be pushed a little bit, and the only people that can push us is our mentors and, most importantly, ourselves. Right?
Speaker 4:The next thing is we're utilizing history to gauge all of these tasks, incorporated things, things that we're letting go of, things that we're trying to do next year that we didn't do in this year. So the next thing, in my opinion, opinion that we consider is the outside forces. Uh, what type of outside forces that you're not in control of? Uh, that could come about. You can only kind of gauge so much of that, but there are some things that you can go. Okay, I can probably not step on that landmine, because I foresee this happening. Things like the market, we can't gauge it. It is what it is. We were talking about it earlier in the meeting and it was like okay, I want to predict the market. Well, you are the best predictor because it's determined based on the things that you do each day no matter what the market is.
Speaker 4:We've got plenty of realtors, lenders, leaving the business because it's tough. Good For us folks that stick around and know how to get down to business, back to the basics, focus on our business plans. We're all saying hooray to that to be honest.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, and I'll just say that's why, like man, I stopped going to the annual forecast, like years ago, because and don't get me wrong I'm not walking around in the office parading like oh, don't go to that. You know we have agents, especially our newer agents. They get excited about that when it comes up, um, and I know there's a lot of effort that's put into that event. So I don't want to. I don't want to. You know, down talk on what our, our border.
Speaker 2:You know our board for San Antonio does. But at the same time it's like dude. I've been in this business long enough. I don't need you to tell me what my business is going to look like next year, absolutely Like. You don't know me. You don't know my work ethic, you don't know my people's work ethic. We control the market regardless of who's in office, regardless of you. Know what Joe Schmo, with the degree in economics, has to say.
Speaker 4:That's right. That's right. What Economics? Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. At the end of the day, it's a guess based on statistics and whatever the data that they have at the time.
Speaker 4:But it goes back to kind of what we were talking about in my office earlier. The agents, being newer into the industry, have to experience that on their own to determine if that is something that they get value out of or not. Some may go to mix and mingle and show their face. Some may go to listen to the data. Most of the time people are on their phones anyway, so social media reels. It's like did you hear what he said? But look, I'm here.
Speaker 2:You know, it's funny though man is, I have a habit of getting on our agents, and especially our newer agents, and I say it straight up, man. I'm like look, we're not a brokerage that's looking for a headcount, right? I'm not looking for first choice to be the biggest brokerage in town. That's not my goal, right.
Speaker 4:So, with that being said, that goal is clear and concise.
Speaker 2:And I tell them look, if you're just looking somewhere to park your license, you can go to.
Speaker 4:XYZ yeah.
Speaker 2:Like they're. They're the ones that'll brag about how many agents they have. I like that they used XYZ yeah.
Speaker 1:Be careful Cause cause I always get stuck. I always get crap from my friends and these other brokerages, but um but even I caught it but?
Speaker 2:but with that being said, you know I I will say like I am the type that likes to hold my people accountable, and I love to be held accountable, I let my people hold me accountable, yes, sir, but at the same time, it's like I've I've scared away agents that have joined us, brand new agents that have joined us, where I'll be like dude, we've had six trainings in the past two weeks. You haven't been to any of them, but you're at a freaking luxury open house mixer mixer like, get your ass over here to the office, you know.
Speaker 2:And then they get you know like no one wants to be micromanaged, especially brand new agents. And so then they end up taking off. I'm like, cool, we don't need you then. But how?
Speaker 4:true is that statement right there? I mean same thing with loan officers. It's like guys, my first year I went to all the mixers. We went to all of the things Absolutely. And then you realize, wait a minute, that's the same group that was at the last mixer. And then they start coming out with technology and you can look up the number and you go well, wait a minute, why aren't they doing any business? It's because they're at all the mixers.
Speaker 2:They're a great socialite, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4:So, engaging that piece, we have to look at not only the outside forces but the challenges that took place in the prior year For sure. What are some challenges that you guys went through in 2024? And it doesn't have to be that you're going to incorporate. I just want to talk about some challenges that you had.
Speaker 3:Dang. What are some challenges that I have?
Speaker 2:The NARS settlement was a little challenge.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Not as big as we thought it would. Be Correct, it was a little challenge.
Speaker 3:It definitely was. Having that conversation with my new buyers was a little bit different, but other than that, I guess that's probably the biggest challenge I had this year. It ties back into like what y'all are talking about, Like we can't dictate what the market's going to do. We can only dictate what we are, what we're doing. And last year this is like my record year.
Speaker 4:I love it.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so everybody talks about like going, like the brokerages and this and that or the other, and I'm just like the brokerage doesn't make you, like the brokerage doesn't make you. What you put in on a daily, like you said, is what's going to make you, if you're going to make it in this business or not?
Speaker 4:Yep, Right. So, being that this was your, your, your best year thus far, I want to ask a question. This is super side note from what we're discussing here, but a tiny inclination of of a prediction that I have. I would go as far as to say that you're helping a ton of people that could not qualify or could not get into a house from 2020, 2021, 2022.
Speaker 3:Is that pretty?
Speaker 4:accurate. Yeah, and the reason why I say that is the high rates, the higher prices, this payment affordability, all that stuff is coming from people that have already purchased and would love to purchase a new, but they're using all these other things as excuses when it's just the mindset of I need to adjust my payment expectations, I need to adjust my budget expectations, whereas the folks that through 2020 through 2022, could not throw their hat in the ring with all the frenzy that was going on.
Speaker 2:They were like man.
Speaker 4:all this stuff has happened and I wish I could qualify. Maybe at the time they were working on their credit, filing their taxes the right way. Whatever the case may be, right now they're the folks that need the most help and are willing to take the help to get into the home and it doesn't have to be the home of their dreams. They want to start building some equity. They get that concept, would you?
Speaker 3:agree. Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with that.
Speaker 4:Very cool.
Speaker 3:Okay, Well, confirmation Well yeah, I mean it's just like what I said. Like a big chunk of my business this year was referral. I mean referrals and it's people who have had problems or whatever in the past. That pipeline, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4:And being that I'm jumping, I have jumped back into production. That's what I'm seeing. We used to have kind of a rule, unsaid spoken trend it's 80 20. And a lot of people use the 80, 20 rule for many things, but in this case it's 80% of your deal should be clean, go through no problems. 20% You're going to have to drag that son of a gun across the finish line. In my opinion, the last year, almost two years, it's flipped about 80% of the deals. We're having to drag them across the finish line, and it's not that they're unwilling, it's just tough situations Borrowers, credit, income snags, all kinds of things.
Speaker 4:Now, mind you, there are still deals that, hey, they fly through, but they're few and far in between right now, because those folks they probably already purchased or they're scaring themselves out of purchasing, if that makes sense, yeah, okay. So back to the business planning side of things. I've got some things to throw up here. Boop, boop, boop. Let me go through this right quick. You know what? Before I do that, let me show you guys, this thing here. Let's see if I can pull it up.
Speaker 2:Yep Right here Boop.
Speaker 4:There it is. Let's make it bigger Boom. So I listened to Patrick Bet-David PBD podcast quite often I think he's a bad ass.
Speaker 2:His voice just keeps me tuned in bro, absolutely man.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and I'm like, ooh, he pronounced that funny, but the idea is he is a, in my opinion, a business legend and he's on the rise still, and he himself believes in a business plan every year and turns it into a simple business plan. I watched his last one Planning for 2025, business Planning and see, these are the steps that he's putting on here in regards to what you should focus on, so I'm just going to run through these and we'll talk about some of them. The first one he talks about is alliances and what he means by that, and it is followed up with a statement of the following you are one relationship away from changing your life. I believe that, and that is so impactful if you've ever experienced it, because, like, for example, back in the day, aj and I used to do business together running and gunning.
Speaker 4:I met him at a Chili's.
Speaker 1:It was like holy cow.
Speaker 4:And you never knew what was going to happen in that interaction that day, in meeting him, meeting me, me meeting him. To be honest, it's just like that with anything you never know when that next handshake, that person that you meet is going to add so much value to your business and your life. That holy cow. Now person that you meet is going to add so much value to your business and your life, that holy cow. Now. All these other doors are opening up. So, taking that into consideration, focusing on some alliances that you could seek out within the industry and it doesn't have to be competitors, it doesn't have to be friends. For example, for you, an alliance is with AJ.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Would you agree?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So you depend upon him to continue to provide the trainings, to be there to back you up when certain things happen, et cetera. And the next one is enable. What things are we being enabled by that are allowing us to do what we need to do? Uh, whether that my example kids. I've got two of them, luckily. I've got an awesome wife that's able to do a lot of the stuff with the kids to keep this thing going. Now, mind you, she's, I don't know, freak of nature. She's running marathons, taking care of the kids, running an insurance business and still doing real estate. So can women run the world?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Freaking lutely, just not that one. Okay, so sequencing, I'm going to skip that Urgency. Urgency is something that I think we overlook because we think everything can be done in stride when it has a lot to do with our priorities. The phrase that comes to mind when I talk about this is I hear it all the time You're too busy, you're too busy. Do you get that ever?
Speaker 2:In my personal life Absolutely, but not with my family. I prioritize.
Speaker 4:That's the word I was looking for is no, I'm not too busy, I prioritize.
Speaker 3:I absolutely love that word. When it came into flourishing in my life, I was like dang, it really does mean a lot. Where are your priorities, that's right. You're going to do what your priority is, what is most?
Speaker 4:important to move the needle to accomplish these goals, because in these you've got your action items that you can do, your tasks that need to be done and the frequency in which they need to be done in order to hit those outcomes. Hit those outcomes, but that outcome being, more times than not, a monetary goal that we need to hit, you've got to have some prioritization to go along with it, or else you're just flying by the seat of your pants again right For sure.
Speaker 4:So, going through this, I think the most important one on here is this next one self-awareness. A lot of folks are in denial, lying to themselves, faking the funk, whatever you want to call it. But I think the more EQ you can have and this is not something that's inherent, it is developed as time goes on the more interactions you have, the more shit that hits the fan. You're able to kind of go, oh wow, I didn't think I could get through that, but I did. Now I'm a bit stronger because of it. That teaches you a lot about yourself, yeah. And then it goes into the realistic expectations that you set for yourself in setting those goals.
Speaker 4:How are you going to go from 10 to 100? You're not very self-aware, are you? I mean you can say that straight up, right, yeah. Self-aware are you? I mean you can say that straight up, right, yeah, yeah. Ultra proactive I'll skip that one New ways of thinking. This is kind of along the lines of what we were talking about a moment ago of incorporating new things or seeing what wasn't working, what was working and doubling down and also looking at things from different lenses. Perspective is huge when it comes to building your business plan, because if you're just utilizing your lens, you're going to miss a lot of holes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I recommend anyone out there that will complete a business plan have your mentor, have your coach, have your friend that will give you honest feedback, review it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So that you've got somebody, like you said, not necessarily an accountability partner, but somebody that can check you, somebody that can say, hey, hey, you think that's realistic, you're really going to get that much business from one open house per week. That's it, okay cool. That's kind of the new way of thinking. Wartime and peacetime. I'll skip that Pivot and adjustments. This I want to hone in shortly, because there's a lot of folks out there that will make these business plans and they will adjust their goals or they'll make the business plan and, like you said in the beginning so thank you for being honest you make your business plan and that's that. You don't even look back at it. I did it. It's in my head. I know what I need to be made along the way to continue to reach those goals.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean, have you guys had to? Make any kind of adjustments throughout.
Speaker 2:So I was actually chatting with her about this last week. So one thing that I do with a lot of our top producers in the office they all have their own individual office, sure, so I have a habit of just popping in there and I'll just be like I have an idea my ADHD, right.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, hey guys, why don't we try this? And what about doing this? And she'll be on a call and I'm like I'm just pacing, waiting for her to get off of her, because she cold calls all the time. So I'm just like I'm listening to her call, I'm waiting, I with you.
Speaker 2:But one of the things that I was saying was so kind of touching on what you're talking about right now. As long as the goals are realistic, right, we're talking about the 10 to 100. But if they're realistic goals, then what about if we, instead of changing our goals every quarter, what about, instead of changing our goals every quarter, we adjust how we're going to achieve those goals, right, okay, and so what I mean by that is the thing that I was talking to her about yesterday or last week, and yesterday I brought it up in the meeting was, you know, like she mentioned, she's referral-based. Right, if we're referral-based and let's say, your goal is 30 transactions for the year, right, and let's say, your goal is 30 transactions for the year, right, if we're going to identify that our strong side is referral-based, we also need to go even further and figure out, with those referrals.
Speaker 2:Where are they coming from specifically right? Are they current client referrals? Are they past client referrals? Are they personal friend referrals? Are they your VIP list sending you referrals? Because, again, if, if, if, if my goal is to do 15 transactions every quarter after that first quarter, I need to be sitting down and analyzing how did the first quarter go, if I'm on pace or if I'm exceeding my pace and I'm tracking all my referrals and where they're specifically coming from. Well, maybe now I get to focus on my weakness. Maybe my weakness is my personal friends. They're not sending me that many referrals this quarter.
Speaker 2:I need to double down on that. But let's say at the end of that first quarter if I haven't hit goal or if I'm behind on that goal, then I need to double down on what my strengths are. If my strengths are current client referrals, then I need to double down on that to get to my goal.
Speaker 4:So I can get back on pace.
Speaker 2:That's right and so, yeah, I think it's just more of again, as long as you're setting realistic, achievable goals maybe not changing the goal, but changing what you're doing to hit that goal.
Speaker 4:I love it Absolutely, yes, absolutely. In addition, I'll add to it increasing or adjusting the frequency in which you do it, and the data itself tells you which one you should focus on to be able to adjust. I'm going to ask you a question, Stephanie your referral based?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Why are you referral based at this point in your career? Um gosh if you don't know, I'll tell you my relationships with my, my clients.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day Like, oh yeah, I yeah. You don't know, I'll tell you my relationships with my clients. At the end of the day, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:You want to tell me what it was. It wasn't that you busted your ass to meet with a bunch of people and make those phone calls and burn up the phones to establish that book of business, that referral base. Because a lot of folks will say, yeah, I'm referral base, okay, but you're still not producing at the level that you want to be. So therefore, did you really build your referral base large enough, ie do enough needle moving activities, the tasks up front, that established that referral pace business? You don't jump into the business and go. I'm going to sell every fricking cousin, aunt, uncle, brother, sister. Notice the sphere that I'm talking about a home, including friends. It's not possible. Here's a nugget for you guys, and I say it all the time. So this is the time to say it If we only did business with the people that we knew, we'd all be broke. Yeah, just so you know.
Speaker 3:And I had to grind it out Like I didn't know anybody here.
Speaker 4:That's the point that I'm making.
Speaker 3:Exactly Like I was doing all the activities Like you said. It's crazy that you'd say that, because I'm like dang, like it's true, like a lot of my referrals are from past clients that I worked throughout these past four years to get. And how did I get them? Open houses, code calling, door knocking, like all of the things that you know the basics of real estate, but yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 4:I'm still living on my referral business right now. I haven't had the time, unfortunately, to get back out there and shake new hands with agents. Back in the day I would have already met you type concept. Does that make sense? But it goes to show that I put in the legwork up front, just like you did, to be able to, only five years into, the business say I'm referral based. Yeah, oh, then you must've busted your ass, yeah, yeah, that's what that tells me.
Speaker 2:Well, what's really neat, too, is I get to see firsthand in the office with a lot of the agents a lot of our agents are referral based and getting to see individually with their personality, their, their characteristics, their, their behavior, patterns, their you know just who they are as people right and and being able to identify like there's no secret as to why that person's referral base and her too, like she's very passionate.
Speaker 2:I can tell I have even I love it it was funny because, because her and I have known each other for years and but, and even then, before she came onto the brokerage, she was already working at our office, hanging out at our office and she had asked and I was like yeah, of course, as long as you don't recruit agents like I'm good, I'm good through osmosis right there.
Speaker 2:But. But then she came on board and I know we had a little bit of a headbutt on a on a specific scenario, and I was just like dang man. This, the first thing that stood out to me, is like she's so passionate about her people about taking care of her people, and I know it sounds very cliche, but that's not the reality for most real estate agents.
Speaker 4:You're correct.
Speaker 2:But the reality for most real estate agents, especially in this type of environment, is I just got to survive, so it becomes transactional. That's right Versus no. I want to do the right thing because I care about these people.
Speaker 4:And I'm glad you mentioned that, because on the lending side we've been seeing a lot of that from the agents.
Speaker 4:And it's not necessarily all the agent's fault, because if you haven't done business planning, if you haven't busted your ass to understand that it's really not the market, it's me. Yeah, you do tend to lean towards a transactional way of doing business because you're just trying to survive at this point. It's tough, I understand it, don't get me wrong. But at a certain point that individual lending side, real estate side you're going to have to kind of stick your heels in the ground, create you a business plan, start tracking your activities, start tracking where your lead sources are coming from, put it into a business plan and make adjustments.
Speaker 2:For sure, every year so far with the brokerage, it's, it's been growth, whether it be headcount, whether it be volume, whether it be units sold, whether it be revenue, like every year, has been growth. So to say like, oh man, and we were chatting about it earlier, you know it's been a challenging year. It has been a challenging year. I can, I can acknowledge that. Are we experiencing that as a company? Not so so much. I might be seeing it in individual agents, but a lot of our agents, like her, are having their best year ever, you know. And so it's hard to say, oh, this market is tough and this is a tough year, and it's, it's a challenging year, but it's not tough or it's not. It's not a failure for everybody, it's not a it's not. You're not chalking it up as an L for everybody, you know. So you know that's.
Speaker 4:That's a great observation, especially from a mentor that is in the business, and a lot of times we get so caught up in the business that we don't notice things like that and it's like constant grind, grind, grind, when at this point, yeah, it's still grind, grind, grind. But I appreciate you. I appreciate you for continuing to do the things that it took to get you here For sure, for continuing to do the things that it took to get you here For sure. And I think that's being overlooked in our market is the idea. I've had tons of experts on this podcast and a lot of the same conversations are had and especially about this market, tend to lead back towards we're going back to the basics. But when you talk to a newer agent, they never even had time to establish what the basics were. It was like next, next, next, and now it's like, hey, guys got to go back to the basics. And they go yeah, what? What are the basics?
Speaker 2:Well, you know what's really cool too. Another little metric that I started paying attention to, that I've been monitoring, is again going back to the brokerage. Um, our first year, the rookie of the year what their volume looked like versus every year after that, what that rookie of the year has looked like for the company.
Speaker 2:And it's like man. Every year that thing's gone up and it's like these. I can't say, oh, we're recruiting talent Cause these are our first year agents that I'm referring to that win this award in the company and I'm just like man, even this year our rookie it's a battle. Right now we got two agents that are battling it out for rookie of the year and they know of each other right away. They know of each other and they're constantly texting like so how am I looking? How close are we? And it's like I can't tell you anymore. But to see where their mind is at is completely different than what you see from a normal first year agent. Their mind isn't oh, the market or oh, it's tough.
Speaker 2:Their mind is I'm working on my next deal, I'm going to go get my next deal, I'm going to do this and I'm just like okay, I see you. Yeah, they left the excuses at the door.
Speaker 4:One thing I want to challenge you to do, and I don't know if they're going to watch this or not, or listen to this, because we are on Spotify, apple podcast, all the others. I was handed something that is still on my desk today and I don't know if you knew this or not, but one of my older mentors the first year in the business I was about six months in uh, old John Garbo so if you're out there, john shout out walked in my office and he slapped a brass number two on my desk and they told me about the, the lion and the gazelle talking about you're either going to wake up every morning and be chased or you're going to be chasing someone Right. And that number two is so significant because it's just about a mindset yeah, you think you're the best. Guess what? There's always somebody better. Yeah, so if you are the leader, well, you've got nobody to chase. And it begins to kind of give you this false reality of I'm going to be the best until somebody passes you up. Why? Because they were number two.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So my challenge to you is to get them something that reminds them that, hey, no matter what, you're still number two.
Speaker 2:It's so funny you say that, because even with our top agents, they're the ones that I tend to hold the most accountable, and and and what I love is they accept that they embrace that, right. But, um, I was just chatting with one of my producers yesterday and, uh, and, and I told her I was like, finally, you're going to get recognized for agent of the month. It was her first time this year, you know and she's just like, oh, it's okay, I'm pretty sure I got agent of the year you know in the bag.
Speaker 2:And I'm like don't be so confident I was like don't be so confident, Cause we just brought on some fresh talent that's looking really good. And she's just like really Well, what is their numbers looking like? I'm like I can't tell you that that's you'll find out you know and so, but it's, it's, you're right, it's it.
Speaker 2:For me, one of the one of the I don't want to say challenges, but things that I also look at there's so many, so many things on the spectrum that I'm checking out, paying attention to is where can I, where can I get that next talent acquisition? You know, like, who's going to be that next talent with the right mindset that I can bring into this brokerage to help continue leveling up our producers? That we have that's right, you know is I want, I don't want them to get settled or content with where they're at, and I need to continue to keep making sure that we're we're seeking I don't want to say recruiting, but but just trying to discover or spotlight that next talent opportunity.
Speaker 4:That's right, and Jeff Garza, a good friend, had him on the podcast always and he mentioned something that resonated, and it was you never know who the next rock star is going to be. It's hard to judge everything from an interview.
Speaker 2:Like you say you interview them. You say hey, go interview other people, you know, after 30 days, after 30 days of them being with you. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4:But but he he's saying that, no, he doesn't take everybody, but there is a level of we got to give them a shot because they could damn well be the next rock star that you didn't know it.
Speaker 4:Maybe they don't interview well, or what have you, and they've got this outstanding work ethic or this stockpile of leads and referral. You don't know, and to those listening out there, you could be the next rock star. I mean, it really is about your actions and what you do in order to lay the foundation for what the future looks like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, for sure, Absolutely, I agree with that.
Speaker 4:So back to this business planning we've got, starting with the income goal. I always say give me one or two personal two. Business One needs to have a dollar amount attached to it. We do that based on history data that we have available. And then you're looking at your outside forces. You're looking at the data that we have available, Um, and then you're looking at your outside forces, You're looking at the things that you can incorporate. What are you going to double down on that kind of stuff? And then it kind of goes into this road of what activities can I define as needle moving activities, critical success factors, money-making moves Um, you can call them whatever you want to call them, but they're tasks that I need to do. Needle moving activities, critical success factors, money making moves you can call them whatever you want to call them, but they're tasks that I need to do daily, weekly, multiple times, et cetera, in order for this number that I put on the board to make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Right, and that has a lot to do with what you were talking about in the beginning of reverse engineering when I was younger and, like I said, I did not get into business planning.
Speaker 4:until my fourth year in the business it was like, okay, I've got to do something. And when I met with my coach she introduced the focus funnel and we went through that and that helped me determine what things that I do that need to be done, what can be delegated, what can be automated, what can be just eliminated from my process altogether. But it was something that came natural to me because when I was younger I used I was the guy that when I was young I would take the remote control car and take it apart.
Speaker 2:No, and then?
Speaker 4:put it back together. But I took it apart because I wanted to see how it worked. Like how the heck is this thing? Like really this wire here, connects with it.
Speaker 4:Oh, there's the mechanics. And wait, I can pop that wheel off and on concept and it's almost the same thing that you have to do with your business. You've got this number on the board. That's hopefully 25% more than the last year's number. If not, then you've got a reason as to why it's not. But you've got to reverse engineer it. You've got to back into that number. How did you get to the previous year? If it's your first year, then by all means I totally get it.
Speaker 2:It's tough to create a business plan on hopes and prayers, yeah, especially because you don't know what your strengths and weaknesses are just yet Good point, yeah.
Speaker 4:So when doing this, stephanie, what Did you determine are some tasks that you need to do? We'll call them non-negotiables. I've got to do these in order for me to even get close to my goal this year is tracking my numbers.
Speaker 3:That is so crucial in my business, like how many conversations do I have to have in order to meet my goals? And am I having these conversations on a daily basis and literally tracking it daily, and then looking back at the week like where are my numbers at and how many do I have to have by the end of the week? Like, oh, I didn't. And there's a saying what you erase, you must replace.
Speaker 3:And so if I didn't hit my numbers for Monday and Tuesday, well shit, guess what? Now you got to do it on Wednesday and Thursday and now you got to double down, like tracking. It is just, it's so important in the business. So I think that would be something that I would do and obviously, like the regular, I treat my business as a eight to five type of job. Like I want to be on the clock at 8 am, yeah, and I get to the office like at 737.
Speaker 2:Like you hear her and you hear her. That's awesome yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm at the. I'm at the office super early. I want to make sure that I'm settled, so I'm hopping on the calls right at 8 am and I do that for the hours that I'm in a prospect and then whatever else I have coming up next, then I do that. But that's a daily activity, that's just. It's a non-negotiable for me.
Speaker 4:So, safe to say, non-negotiables get to the office on time, no matter what Right. And then, within that time that you're at the office, what are some tasks that you do? Or, aj, what are some tasks that you coach the agents on to do to be successful in this business? Well, I haven't done it.
Speaker 2:I haven't done it recently, so I don't want to say something I'd be lying about.
Speaker 2:But I know what I would do is just remind them of that schedule blocking. Okay. So like, for instance, are people that like to get calls in the morning? We have there's about what, maybe five, six of y'all now in the office early making calls, and so, um it's, it's just coming down to that schedule blocking to make sure, like, hey, for the next two hours I'm not taking any calls, I'm just making calls. I'm not responding to emails, I'm, you know, I'm just making calls, calls, calls, calls.
Speaker 2:So that you can get that part out of the way, and then the rest of your day is follow-ups, emails whatever, putting out fires, whatever.
Speaker 4:And I agree with that. That is. That's something that a lot of folks talk about time blocking but they don't tend to actually do it because they haven't figured out what we're time blocking for. I know I've got a time block to make calls, but when I'm making those calls, how many calls do I need to make? And that's kind of what you're trying to figure out here as you roll into. This next chapter of your career is tracking those things and going okay, now that I've made 10 calls, my goal was 12, but I've already got this done. I've already gotten a hold of these, this amount of people. Well, are you going to sell yourself short? Are you going to knock those calls out so that you can go? I can truly gauge that this 12 amount of calls per day is going to feed me for X amount. What have you Does?
Speaker 3:that make sense Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. So the tasks, that and I am a firm believer that, once you come up with your tasks, your non-negotiables for the year, that is what's going to help allow you to set your calendar. We were talking about scheduling and time blocking and calendar earlier today and it's like how can you create the perfect week If you don't know what your perfect week, what you want it to look like? Right, but you have to take those tasks and put them within your week, that, throwing the balance out the window, pulling priorities into the equation and going, okay, how much time do I need to spend on this so that I can still have some bit of a, an actual life outside?
Speaker 2:of this. Yeah, does that make sense? Yeah, for sure. One of the things. It's been a minute since I've I've showed it to the agents.
Speaker 2:Um, but when I was in production, the thing that, like it was, it was like my daily Bible man, like it was the greatness tracker greatness tracker the greatness tracker was the thing that kept me on pace every single day, to know if I made enough phone calls, to know if I, if I uh took, got enough leads that day, you know. So the greatness tracker was kind of what kept me, especially with my ADHD. Yes, sir, like that thing was what kept me on track, that's right, so yeah that's right. Yeah, it's been a minute since I pulled that thing up.
Speaker 4:And then the. I think the last piece that kind of goes along with the um, the non-negotiables, is creating systems. Once you've got the non-negotiables, you are now able to gauge what you need to rev up or down or adjust or make modifications to. But you don't change those tasks, you change how you go about it, you change the frequency in which you do it. Change how you go about it, you change the frequency in which you do it. But then that allows you to be able to gauge, uh, uh, what this calendar, what this day looks like, uh, as a whole in itself yeah, and then you get to determine was today a slam dunk was today was today an l and that was something with the greatness tracker that I would you know, there would be my days where I had, you know, zeros.
Speaker 2:I had a what do you call it? A egg, a.
Speaker 4:There you go.
Speaker 2:I'd have a goose egg and I'm like, ah, all right, but you know what? Tomorrow's a new day. I'm just going to double up tomorrow. You know it was a motivating that little form right there was. It did so much magic for me.
Speaker 4:Isn't that weird?
Speaker 2:It's so weird how just that piece of paper was able because it's just right in front of you, you see it, you're tracking it every day and it was almost like a light bulb for me, man, when I started implementing that form. I don't know, eight, 12, nine, maybe nine years ago I started implementing that form To once think that I was a one deal a month agent to one deal, a to two, to where it's like, man, that greatness tracker sometimes would have two or three deals a week on escrow and it's like that's what took me to that 10 deals a month type of agent. So that little form can do so much for your mindset, like it helps a lot.
Speaker 4:And I think the more time that you spend in developing your business plan, that you spend in developing your business plan, the more you can, number one, stand behind it, but the more it actually becomes a promise, a contract, a commitment to yourself. Because if you are doing a business plan because your coach, mentor, boss said I need you to do a business plan, I can pretty much guarantee that you're not going to take it as seriously, you're not going to treat it and get the feeling that you get when you utilize it. It's going to be a task that you just do and that task ends up rolling into February and March and never to be seen again until December rolls around, time to business plan.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what happened to me. Like well, like my brother was just like all right, we're doing a business plan. I'm just like okay, like it didn't come. This is the first year it's coming for me.
Speaker 4:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Like to actually set this plan in motion, like, okay, this is my business now. I ventured off by myself, so I'm not I've gotten the business. I was with my brother. He held me, you know, under his wing, and so this year we went, we separated, and it's been a huge eye-opener to me to be at First Choice for one, like making that decision to come over here and not being with my brother, and then, like now, taking my business serious and it and I took it's going to take it to the next level I already know by having this business plan set in place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, you know, one thing that I think helps with the business planning too and you you kind of touched on it as obviously making your two business goals, two personal goals for the year is the vision boards. Bro, yes, sir, Like, and, and to double down on the vision boards like you have one vision board at your desk and you have one vision board at home, Absolutely. And I tell the agents to this day, my vision board it's not so much, it's more of an affirmation board that I have in my restroom, of all places.
Speaker 4:But that's where I spend a lot of my time in the morning getting ready, right, you know.
Speaker 2:And so what I love is my affirmation board of every year. The agents give me a big old thank you card with all of them putting cool little notes on it and happy birthday and this and that, and it's there every morning on my on my mirror, and and to see that as that reminder to get my mind right, or to to to remind me of why I'm looking forward to today, or whatever it may be that gets my mind right Seeing all those I mean there's a bunch of them on there and it's just it gets me going.
Speaker 4:Then and I think that was my energy drink at a certain point and this isn't everybody, but like for me, being ADD, ADHD, I used to do the vision boards and then it was like you know what? I'm just going to make everything a vision board. So as you look around, you've got crushing it mindset. I will not, I refuse to be average. It's just you walk into my office, it's the same concept. I'm in the bathroom, I'm coming for everything that they said I couldn't have. With lipstick writing Phone number.
Speaker 3:That's funny. I have that same thing too around. It's not a vision board or anything, but I'm very into my walk with Christ Right, and so in every single bathroom mirror, everything I have a scripture written down, as I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me and my blessings are on the way.
Speaker 3:And so, like I read that thing, that's like the first thing I see in the morning when I go to the bathroom, like I see it on a daily basis, and it just reminds me like I got today because God got to me. So it gets my mind right every single day.
Speaker 4:I have Isaiah 41 10 on my arm.
Speaker 3:Fear not, for I am with you Same concept right there yeah. Getting that mindset right. It's spending time in scripture just in general in the mornings like that, just it helps me get my day going Like it's just, it's number one, like I got all my scripture you know too, yeah, of course, but I think the message in this small conversation that we're having is find whatever works for you, and if it works for you, who's to tell you to change it?
Speaker 4:Who's to tell you to be anything in regards to it? It works for you? Oh well, I listen to motivational videos every morning. Okay, that works for you. I'm going to go read my Bible and do my thing, absolutely. But I think the key is to find something that motivates you, that you can do consistently. That adds to this business planning and it becomes a task that's non-negotiable, because I've already gone through it and I've done it without it and with it, and I'm a little bit better with it.
Speaker 3:Oh, I love that. You know, I love that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so, jc, how are we doing on time?
Speaker 1:We are 117 and 20 seconds. I love it. Okay, it didn't even feel like that, I know.
Speaker 4:It was like you're going to blink and it's going to be done. Oh my gosh, like there's still so much. I want to say that's awesome. Well, guys, um, right now what I want to do is just pop some of these on the screen for you, because I've got plenty of them, and I'm going to put them in the description of the YouTube version of this Bunch of different one-page business plans. Oh, that's somebody I don't care to listen to. One-page business plan. Here's the one from PBD where he talks about your finance, your family, your health, spiritual personal development and business. But find what works for you in regards to a simple business plan. Now, mind you, as your business gets larger and larger and there becomes more nuances to it, then it will evolve. That's what I'm going to call it evolving. I'll also put this link in the description and this kind of goes through an outline of creating a true business plan confidential agreement. Why would you do that? Because you're giving out your secrets to what it takes to accomplish your goals.
Speaker 4:Executive summary business focuses. What is my mission statement? For us, it's more so. A value proposition, business details, professional support, personal profile, those types of things, your aims and objectives, market research. Have you looked at the data? Let's see here. Then you've got your swap message. What is your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? Notice the threats are there. What's your marketing plan? These things you can go down rabbit holes in order to come up with your business plan, but what I recommend is, if you utilize this first, then grab all of the important pieces and put it on something like this to where you can actually utilize it every single day. Hang it somewhere where you can see, even if it's in the bathroom, because we know we all do it at least once a day hopefully After Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:I was like I'm worried, man, only once I'm worried I ate too much. Only once, Three or four times man, step up your game, guys Healthy.
Speaker 4:So that being the case, guys, I think there was a lot discussed in this episode here. I'll start with you, AJ. Is there anything that you'd like to tell the folks out there that can bring this thing home for?
Speaker 2:you. Yeah, man, I would say just to really focus on creating that business goal and that personal goal. And the reason why I had said yes to the business plan already is I've always, ever since doing business planning, I've always aimed for completing the business plan by the end of the third quarter. I love that, so that you can put them into place in the fourth quarter and you can start seeing results in January. That's right, you know, and so so I would say you know, granted, we're already past that, but let's get it going now, that's right. I would say you know, granted, we're already past that, but let's get it going now, that's right. And, more importantly, just figure out why you're wanting to achieve this business plan.
Speaker 2:Like what? Yeah, identify what your why and is your why big enough?
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:Right, because if you don't have that, why identified which most of us have, a why we just don't really speak it into existence, of reality, of like? Oh, this is why I'm actually doing this.
Speaker 4:Yeah Well, I love that you say that it makes sure it's big enough, because going back to the idea of your goal should scare the piss out of you a little bit. Why?
Speaker 2:Because of your why you know, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I love that, yeah.
Speaker 4:Okay, anything else? No, that's pretty much it. Um, stephanie, your first time on a podcast. I think you crushed it, ma'am. Thanks Truly. Do you have anything to tell our viewers, our listeners out there?
Speaker 3:I just get serious about your business plan. You know it's so important and you have to do it. For you, your why has to be big enough and really like, get fired up. Like it it's exciting. It's exciting to do this and watch your goals flourish at the end of the year and if not, like it's a big slap in the face like dang, where were you this year? You know what do you need to do to get where you want to be. And also, I've been dying to freaking say this aj has been like super phenomenal I'm not kidding.
Speaker 3:The day that he um, he came into my office and me and my partner, we have a board where we write all our leads and stuff, and so I have my my leads of my hot leads and who I need to keep track with and stuff. And on the side I started writing down like where they came from. Was it an open house? Was it a referral? Was it where it was coming from? And AJ's looking at this and he's like dang, this is awesome. And then he gave me that whole. You know, I would challenge you to dig deeper.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I'm not kidding you, I get fired up. He left the office and I was like, oh AJ, like you're so awesome, you didn't even realize how pumped I get about like dang, like I need to own in on these things dang like I need to own in on these things like where is it coming from? Was it a past client? Was it a like, a family member, a friend, like all of these? I was like dude, that is so player.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, dude and honestly like that's the stuff that fuels me. When I'm able to, like you know, chime in and and give some, some, some whether it be advice, feedback, whatever it may be with our producers, like that that gets me going, me going, man, cause it's I'm always looking for and then talk to the agents about it in the office is is I try my best to not leave any conversation without feeling like I added some value in the conversation.
Speaker 2:And it's just already programmed in my brain. You know whether it's a personal call, whether it's a business call, whether it's a call from one of the agents.
Speaker 4:It's like I'm ending this conversation where I feel confident that I was able to put some value into this conversation, absolutely so that one day you can look back in a presentation that was given by someone else and go. I just said that we talked about that earlier. But the idea behind this business planning, guys, is I'm going to go as far as to say it is essential to the future growth. In whatever business aspect you're taking your career Whether you are a self-employed car washer all the way to the point that you are a top producing real estate agent in this great city of San Antonio you're going to have to have something that has checks and balances For sure Holding yourself accountable, making sure that the goals scare you a little bit, making sure that they're measurable and making sure that you're doing it for the right reason. That why it's super important.
Speaker 4:For those of you that heard this episode and are still kind of like I don't know about this business planning thing Um, every year I do a few classes in January about business planning and it's called better late than never, simple business plan and and every year it's packed house. Um, so be on the lookout for those invites. Love to have more. Join those so that we can continue to grow that good word of how we do what we do. Everybody likes to wonder well, how did you get to where you are? I'm like pull up a seat.
Speaker 4:It's going to be a while and it's going to hurt. Guys, I want to thank you both for joining this. I want to thank you for also being transparent, um, with the journeys that you've been on, uh, because it's not easy to to to lay it out there. A lot of people, oh, what are? What are they going to think about me? Really like this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, appreciate it, man, thank you.
Speaker 4:Let's see here, guys. Uh, if you are getting something out of this, if you are hearing something that maybe doesn't make quite good sense, reach out, uh, put something in the comments there. Um, we definitely will. Uh get back to you on that. Um, like I said, we're continuing to grow, making real estate and mortgage sexy again somehow some way um, we're bringing sexy back, amen, amen, um.
Speaker 4:So, that being the case, guys, uh, please make sure to like, subscribe, share with a friend. Uh, we will continue to provide you with transparent, uh, expert feedback and journeys, uh from the experts, just like we had today. Um, I appreciate you, guys for tuning in until the next one. Catch you later.
