Next Level Agents: The Kevin & Fred Show - Interviews with the best and brightest minds in the real estate industry

In this special episode, we’re featured on Chris Bowers’ podcast, agentXcel. In today’s show, Chris picks Fred’s brain and talks about his real estate journey, the pivotal decisions in building the business, his approach to leadership, and the thought process around building a business on your terms.    Chris Bowers is a Realtor®️, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.    In an industry with a whole lot of stage talk and training programs telling us exactly what to do, many agents fall into the trap of imitating someone else’s business without checking if it fits with who they are.    This is all about finding your path, emulating things from others but also figuring out what serves you the most. A big part of building a business on our own terms is a willingness to test out what the next step of leverage could look like, even if it looks different to the “industry standard”.    Guest Info   Chris Bowers is a Realtor®️, Investor and owner of the Bowers Team, and the host of The agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.    Follow @chris_bowersteam on Instagram  Listen to agentXcel on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.     CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s special episode, we sat down with the hosts of Thinking OTB, Steve Valentine and Bernie Espinosa. We’ve known Steve and Bernie for years, and it was awesome to be featured on their show, talking about our story, where the market’s at right now, and what agents need to be doing right now to set themselves up for real wealth.    Bernie is the Vice President of the sales division of Lawyers Title in Scottsdale, AZ. She brings a wealth of knowledge, not only in the title field but in the overall real estate industry.    Steve Valentine is the Founder and CEO Valentine Group. With more than 20 years of real estate experience, he’s fanatical about handcrafting the right strategy for each client using his toolbox of absurdly effective techniques.   With everything happening in the market, there’s a thick air of uncertainty, uneasiness and even pre-2008 panic among agents. The truth is, it’s too soon to tell what’s going to happen, and freaking out about it won’t get us in the mindset required to survive if the market does indeed hit a down-shift.    Remember: where there’s panic, there’s rash decisions and knee jerk reactions, not rational preparation.      Guest Info   Bernie is the Vice President of the sales division of Lawyers Title in Scottsdale, AZ. She brings a wealth of knowledge, not only in the title field but in the overall real estate industry.    Follow @bernzpix on Instagram.    Steve Valentine is the Founder and CEO Valentine Group. With more than 20 years of real estate experience, he’s fanatical about handcrafting the right strategy for each client using his toolbox of absurdly effective techniques.   Follow @stevedvalentine on Instagram.    Listen to Thinking Outside the Box on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.     CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

In today’s episode, we’re doing something a little different on the podcast. I’ve been attending and hosting masterminds for a while, and what I’m sensing from the entire industry is a sense of uneasiness and uncertainty around what’s going on in the market.    In market’s across the country, there’s been a cooling down from where we were last year, and the question on everyone’s mind is - are we headed for a downturn? This isn’t so different to the fear and uncertainty everyone felt in March and April 2020. My advice now is the same as my advice then - start preparing and tightening the belt now.    In the last episode with Chris Bowers and Dave Z, we talked a lot about the skills needed in a shifting and adapting market. Today, I’m going to piggyback off that conversation, and share 3 things you should be doing to prepare your business for a shift.   Read the article here.  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s episode, we’re rejoined by two previous guests, Chris Bowers and Dave Z. These guys are two of the best agents and leaders in the game, and when it comes to discussing how we can position ourselves for a shift in the market, I’m excited to pick their brains.    Chris Bowers is a Realtor®️, Investor, owner of the Bowers Team and host of the agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.    Dave Zajdzinski is the Team Owner at The Z Team brokered by eXp Realty. He brings 14+ years of real estate experience to home buyers and sellers throughout Arizona. He has helped hundreds of families meet their real estate goals and is consistently ranked as one of the top 1% realtors in the Valley and top 3% in the country. As a Certified Distressed Property Expert, (CDPE) Dave understands short sale, foreclosure transactions as well as traditional home sales. Dave utilizes a team approach to his real estate business operating with full time buyers agents, administrative and support staff to ensure every client receives the full attention they deserve when selling or buying one of their largest if not the largest asset they will own.    In the space of just 3 months, the active inventory in Phoenix has doubled - a clear sign that the market has already started to shift, and that the conversations we’re having with clients have to shift just as fast. Whether inventory goes up or down dramatically, there’s a shift in skills and strategies required in order to survive and thrive. A market rebalancing was always inevitable, but the breakneck speed of the shift could be a huge challenge for agents, so we need to prepare.  Guest Info   Chris Bowers is a Realtor®️, Investor, owner of the Bowers Team and host of the agentXcel podcast. Chris has been in real estate for over 16 years, but he has been an entrepreneur since his teens. Today, Chris and his wife run a successful team selling over 140 units with half of those being Chris’ personal production. He has also built a solid rental portfolio that continues to grow to this day.  For more information send an email to chris@soldbybowers.com, and listen to agentXcel with Chris Bowers wherever you get your podcasts.  Dave Zajdzinski is the Team Owner at The Z Team brokered by eXp Realty. He brings 14+ years of real estate experience to home buyers and sellers throughout Arizona. He has helped hundreds of families meet their real estate goals and is consistently ranked as one of the top 1% realtors in the Valley and top 3% in the country. As a Certified Distressed Property Expert, (CDPE) Dave understands short sale, foreclosure transactions as well as traditional home sales. Dave utilizes a team approach to his real estate business operating with full time buyers agents, administrative and support staff to ensure every client receives the full attention they deserve when selling or buying one of their largest if not the largest asset they will own.    https://www.zteamaz.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-zajdzinski-8b26a18/   CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s episode, I’m rejoined by our good friend, business partner and owner of The Franklin Team, Andrew Franklin. Andrew runs a successful team that closed over 1700 transactions last year, and in addition to that, he has now built multiple ancillary businesses, including one that has caught up to the revenue of his sales team in 5 years. He’s going to share exactly how he did this.    Andrew Franklin is a real estate leader, entrepreneur and partner at The Franklin Team. The Franklin Team has decades of experience in the business and sells well over thirty times the number of homes than the average real estate agent! Andrew is owner and partner on The Franklin Team. He has been around residential real estate since he was a kid and learned early that putting clients' needs first is always smart business. The Franklin Team’s main objective is to efficiently deliver world class service with accuracy, integrity and professionalism. Andrew has also added investing, title and hard money lending to his business, by leveraging the success of his sales team and agents in his network.    How did Andrew Franklin create multiple streams of income, including a title operation that has caught up to his sales team’s revenue in less than 5 years? By tapping into the real estate ecosystem around him. If you run a real estate team, there’s a ton of lanes you can go into and make your world bigger, create ancillary revenue, and provide a better solution for the consumer.    We have the opportunity to tap into the ecosystem of relationships we all have as agents, and create a win through our own networks. Now more than ever, agents are putting huge deals together by simply collaborating with other agents and being in the right rooms.    Guest Info   Andrew Franklin is a real estate leader, entrepreneur and partner at The Franklin Team. The Franklin Team has decades of experience in the business and sells well over thirty times the number of homes than the average real estate agent! Andrew is owner and partner on The Franklin Team. He has been around residential real estate since he was a kid and learned early that putting clients' needs first is always smart business. The Franklin Team’s main objective is to efficiently deliver world class service with accuracy, integrity and professionalism. Andrew has also added investing, title and hard money lending to his business, by leveraging the success of his sales team and agents in his network.  Website: www.thefranklinteaminc.com/ Social media: https://www.facebook.com/thefranklinteamhouston/ CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s episode, I’m joined by the founder and CEO of Audience.co, Jesse Stein. Jesse Stein is the Founder & CEO of Audience.co. Audience.co grows your business faster with their personalized marketing platform, which features robotic handwritten notes written by a real pen. They combine the notes with precision-targeted lead generation and digital-marketing follow up. Before Audience.co, Jesse founded and ran sportsmemorabilia.com.    Handwritten notes are a great marketing channel to nurture relationships with our sphere, but the truth is the note is just a Trojan Horse. It’s the door opener, the thing that breaks the ice and removes the friction from our follow up.      Guest Info   Jesse Stein is the Founder & CEO of Audience.co. Audience.co grows your business faster with their personalized marketing platform, which features robotic handwritten notes written by a real pen. They combine the notes with precision-targeted lead generation and digital-marketing follow up. Before Audience.co, Jesse founded and ran sportsmemorabilia.com.    To book a demo go to https://www.audience.co/.    CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s episode, I’m joined by real estate team leader, co-founder and co-CEO of Place Inc, Chris Suarez. With over 1000 agents/teams on the platform, and a billion dollar valuation, Place is focused on not only plugging small holes by solving singular problems but facilitating consumer decisions at all points of the transaction and for the whole life cycle of homeownership.    Chris Suarez is the co-founder and co-CEO of PLACE Inc., a full service real estate and technology platform that partners with the top 1% of agents and teams by helping expand their profitability, value proposition to the consumer, and grow their unique local brand, all without having to leave the brokerage where they are currently affiliated Chris is passionate about coaching and speaking and leads a number of coaching and consulting programs. You will also find Chris speaking at industry events across the globe.   Prior to PLACE Inc., Chris founded and served as the CEO of Xperience Real Estate, one of the top real estate expansion organizations in the US. Chris has been recognized as an Inman Innovator, RISMedia Real Estate Newsmaker and maintains a presence on the Real Trends "The Thousand". In addition to his real estate team, Chris owns and operates five real estate brokerages in the United States. Chris’ personal mission is to build “xperiential” lives through real estate. Chris lives this mission through travel and by creating lifetime “xperiences” with his wife and two daughters.   This problem trickles down to how we treat our clients, why they aren’t loyal to us and why so many tech companies have been able to disrupt parts of the transaction. According to Place Inc’s co-founder and co-CEO, Chris Suarez - this problem comes from us not trusting our model enough to be consistent with it. If we trusted our business models and showed up consistently, we would not only have more stability, we could blow disruptors out of the water with solutions that make the whole cycle of homeownership a thousand times better.    Guest Info   Chris Suarez is the co-founder and co-CEO of PLACE Inc., a full service real estate and technology platform that partners with the top 1% of agents and teams by helping expand their profitability, value proposition to the consumer, and grow their unique local brand, all without having to leave the brokerage where they are currently affiliated Chris is passionate about coaching and speaking and leads a number of coaching and consulting programs. You will also find Chris speaking at industry events across the globe.   Prior to PLACE Inc., Chris founded and served as the CEO of Xperience Real Estate, one of the top real estate expansion organizations in the US. Chris has been recognized as an Inman Innovator, RISMedia Real Estate Newsmaker and maintains a presence on the Real Trends "The Thousand". In addition to his real estate team, Chris owns and operates five real estate brokerages in the United States. Chris’ personal mission is to build “xperiential” lives through real estate. Chris lives this mission through travel and by creating lifetime “xperiences” with his wife and two daughters.   For more information, go to https://place.com/ or connect Chris on LinkedIn and Facebook.  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

In today’s episode, I’m joined by real estate entrepreneur, leader and ISA expert Aleta Reynolds. Since working in the same brokerage with us years ago, Aleta has built a vast array of experience in the industry. She has always had a knack for being at the forefront of solving the big problems real estate agents and organizations face. After growing a 3000-client ISA business, Aleta is now leading the real estate industry into the brave new world of DeFi Asset Tokenization.    Aleta Reynolds is the founder of ISA University and Director of Sales at Terra Mint. She is a nationally recognized leader and entrepreneur in Real Estate and DeFi Asset Tokenization. After 17 years in the industry, her first love and foundation for her speaking career will always be Lead Conversion; Dialing for Dollars. Aleta’s current focus is bringing Real Estate to the Crypto space offering modern solutions to our archaic centralized systems.    The big craze in real estate right now is buying property with crypto in place of traditional financing, and the massive opportunities it offers. What if we could tokenize real estate, and allow people to maintain ownership while still extracting their equity? It’s like owning your property and selling stocks in it at the same time. This is what Terra Mint is making possible, and it not only gives the consumer one more valuable option, it also gives us another path to wealth as agents.      Guest Info   Aleta Reynolds is the founder of ISA University and Director of Sales at Terra Mind. She is a nationally recognized leader and entrepreneur in Real Estate & DeFi Asset Tokenization. After 17 yrs in the industry, her first love and foundation for her speaking career will always be Lead Conversion; Dialing for Dollars. Aleta’s current focus is bringing Real Estate to the Crypto space offering modern solutions to our archaic centralized systems. Her hope is to bring her message to the masses while cultivating relationships with a common drive.    For more information, visit https://terramint.com/. To get 50% off all events at ISA University use the code FUTURELEGENDS at https://isauniversityonline.com/.    CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s episode, I’m rejoined by my good friend, Chris Heller. As a business owner, investor, successful agent, and leader with decades of success running massive companies, it’s always great to pick Chris’ brain and get his take on the market and the industry as a whole. Chris has now added author to his list of achievements, and today he tells us about how the book came to be, and the impact he hopes it can have.    Chris Heller is a real estate industry leader, agent, Chief Real Estate Officer of OJO Labs and the author of Dominant Thoughts. Formerly the CEO of Keller Williams, Chris Heller earned his real estate license when he was 20 years old and went on to build one of the most successful real estate teams in the United States. From his selection as Rookie of the Year in 1989 to being the top-producing agent in San Diego County and the #1 Keller Williams associate in all of North America, Heller has earned the respect of colleagues and clients for the results he delivers. Under Heller’s leadership, the Chris Heller Real Estate Team has sold more than 100 homes a year for almost three decades.    People write books because there’s something they want to share with the world, and for Chris, it was the simple but highly effective lessons that shaped his successful career. The sign of a good book is one you want to share with friends, peers, and colleagues, it’s something you give to people you care about. Considering how much Chris has contributed to the real estate industry, it’s no surprise that he’s sharing his wisdom with all of us. We sat down with Chris to find out how the book came to be.    Guest Info   Chris Heller is a real estate industry leader, agent, Chief Real Estate Officer of OJO Labs and the author of Dominant Thoughts. Formerly the CEO of Keller Williams, Chris Heller earned his real estate license when he was 20 years old and went on to build one of the most successful real estate teams in the United States. From his selection as Rookie of the Year in 1989 to being the top-producing agent in San Diego County and the #1 Keller Williams associate in all of North America, Heller has earned the respect of colleagues and clients for the results he delivers. Under Heller’s leadership, the Chris Heller Real Estate Team has sold more than 100 homes a year for almost three decades.    To get your copy of the book, head over to https://dominantthoughts.com/.  CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla  

In today’s episode, we’re rejoined by Vyral Marketing founder, real estate investor and our good friend, Frank Klesitz. To many people Frank is just a marketing guy, but when you get around him, you’ll find out just how impressive his mind is. He brings a ton of high-level value to the real estate community, and not only do you want to be a Vyral customer for their amazing service, you want to be in Frank’s world and benefit from how he thinks.    Frank is the CEO and founder of Vyral Marketing, and an intellectually curious artist with experience in business, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, and real estate. He started Vyral Marketing in 2009 after successfully implementing their marketing plan for a real estate agent in Omaha, NE. Frank also runs Katy and Frank Home Buyers with his wife. It’s an acquisition and property management business buying houses in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas and Oklahoma.    The truth about real estate (and any business for that matter) is that there’s more value in marketing what we do than in actually doing what we do. Becoming better sales and marketing practitioners is the key to becoming more profitable, but the problem is, most of us go about marketing to get clients the wrong way - we take the rookie approach when there’s a sure-fire way to win customers.    Guest Info   Frank is the CEO and founder of Vyral Marketing, and an intellectually curious artist with experience in business, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, and real estate. He started Vyral Marketing in 2009 after successfully implementing their marketing plan for a real estate agent in Omaha, NE. Frank also runs Katy and Frank Home Buyers with his wife. It’s an acquisition and property management business buying houses in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas and Oklahoma.    Resources   https://www.getvyral.com/   https://www.getvyral.com/recruiting https://thegaryhalbertletter.com/   https://www.whosmailingwhat.com/   CTA   ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla