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

In today’s episode, my good friend Kenny Klaus returns to talk about what’s going on with iBuyers right now. The last time he was on the show, he talked about how iBuyers have impacted what we do everyday as agents, and he implored us to get used to iBuyers because they aren’t going anywhere.    Then the last year and a half happened, it started to feel like the iBuyer conversation was dead and buried. Should iBuyers still concern us?    Yes, now more than ever, in fact. 2020 has further shifted the consumer’s behavior and by extension, what they expect of us as agents. We have to run at the iBuyer conversation, not away from it, and make it a part of what we offer.    Kenny Klaus is the Team Leader at the Kenny Klaus Team Real Estate Solutions and co-founder of iRealEstate Pro. With 20 years in the industry, Kenny is recognized nationally for his excellent track record and expertise.   If your strategy is to badmouth iBuyers, rather than present them as an option, it’s going to backfire horribly. As agents, we have been very comfortable for a long time, and now it’s time for us to step up our game, get better at our craft and be more neutral about iBuyers, not dead-set against them. There’s so much that technology is bringing to the market that a lot of agents believe won’t last, but if we’re not adapting, we’re the ones who will get left out in the cold.    Guest Info   Kenny Klaus is the Team Leader at the Kenny Klaus Team Real Estate Solutions and co-founder of iRealEstate Pro. With 20 years in the industry, Kenny is recognized nationally for his excellent track record and expertise.  

In today’s episode, I sat down with Trainual’s Chris Ronzio. As a super happy customer of Trainual, I’m excited to put Chris in the hot seat, hear the backstory of his company, from starting out as a one-man operation, to the mind blowing growth to 10,000 companies in 183 countries in 3 years!    Chris Ronzio is the founder and CEO of Trainual, a leading SaaS company that helps businesses automate their onboarding and training by documenting every process, policy, and procedure in one simple system. Chris is also the host of the “Process Makes Perfect” podcast, author of “The Business Playbook,” and Inc. Magazine contributor with a column called “The Process Playbook.” With Trainual, Chris is on a mission to make small business easier by helping business leaders find the time to do more of what they love and providing a way to document and delegate what they do.   In the early phase of a business, you could be forgiven for not having your policies, operations, process and best practices documented, but as you grow, bring people on and scale, your business can’t just exist and run in your brain, on a piece of paper or an Excel spreadsheet. Having a structured training manual that your team can easily access is the difference between having a business that feels organized, not messy. At some point, it becomes necessary to “get your business out of your brain” to keep growing it.    Guest Info   Chris Ronzio is the founder and CEO of Trainual, a leading SaaS company that helps businesses automate their onboarding and training by documenting every process, policy, and procedure in one simple system. Chris is also the host of the “Process Makes Perfect” podcast, author of “The Business Playbook,” and Inc. Magazine contributor with a column called “The Process Playbook.” With Trainual, Chris is on a mission to make small business easier by helping business leaders find the time to do more of what they love and providing a way to document and delegate what they do.   For more information, visit https://trainual.com/ and follow @chrisronzio on Instagram.    Buy Chris’ new book The Business Playbook: How to Document and Delegate What You Do So Your Company Can Grow Beyond You here.   

In today’s episode, I’m joined by my good friend, Templeton Walker. He’s an awesome entrepreneur and a man I’ve learned so much from because of how he has built his life and his businesses. Templeton Walker is an investor, entrepreneur, and Realtor. Starting as just a single agent, to then a top team leader, to business owner, Templeton now runs 5 vertically integrated, stabilized companies and he achieved massive financial freedom at age 30.    Being a Realtor is great, but until we start thinking like investors, and taking advantage of our earning potential, we’re going to be stuck on a really nice hamster wheel (but a hamster wheel nonetheless). Most agents are going to be stuck on this wheel because of how we think of the flow of money.   In real estate, we have the cheat code for financial freedom, only if we completely flip the financial script, and use the money we earn to create an infinite cycle of cash flow.  By “rat-holing” his money, and pouring it into cash flowing assets, Templeton now gets to have fun, be a beacon for opportunity and execute on a really big vision.    Guest Info   Templeton Walker is an investor, entrepreneur, and Realtor. Starting as just a single agent, to then a top team leader, to business owner, Templeton now runs 5 vertically integrated, stabilized companies and he achieved massive financial freedom by age 30.    To find out more about Templeton’s life and all his ventures follow him on Instagram.     Books Mentioned    Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz   Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki

In today’s episode, we’re joined by mega-flipper, real estate investor, flipper, influential female leader, and entrepreneurial badass, Leka Devatha. After moving from India, Leka hit the ground running in real estate, and today she works on some of the most exciting 7-figure flips in the Seattle market. You don’t get big results like that without a huge intention and drive behind it. After being told that flipping isn’t a “woman’s game” and that she wouldn’t be able to succeed, Leka now inspires and encourages others to chase their real estate dreams.    Leka is a real estate developer and broker based in Seattle, WA. She is the President of Rehabit Homes, Inc. a company focused on residential redevelopment. She has spearheaded hundreds of transactions, developing over $50M in real estate. Leka brings 8 years of experience in construction management and redesign.   Leka has been featured on numerous podcasts and other media including Business Insider and BiggerPockets. She is a chapter contributor in the recently published book 'The Only Woman in The Room'. In an effort to give back to the community, she hosts a popular virtual networking mixer, 'Real Estate At Work' featuring prominent speakers from the industry. Leka moved to the U.S. from India 14 years ago. Prior to investing in real estate, she worked at Nordstrom Corporate in merchandise strategy and financial planning.   Thousands of people have been told that they don’t belong in real estate investing because of who they are, how they look or where they come from. Leka’s story is a huge inspiration for anyone who has ever been underestimated, laughed off, rejected or told “no” when they try to go after their dreams.      Guest Info   Leka is a real estate developer and broker based in Seattle, WA. She is the President of Rehabit Homes, Inc. a company focused on residential redevelopment. She has spearheaded hundreds of transactions, developing over $50M in real estate. Leka brings 8 years of experience in construction management and redesign.   Leka has been featured on numerous podcasts and other media including Business Insider and BiggerPockets. She is a chapter contributor in the recently published book 'The Only Woman in The Room'. In an effort to give back to the community, she hosts a popular virtual networking mixer, 'Real Estate At Work' featuring prominent speakers from the industry.   Leka moved to the U.S. from India 14 years ago. Prior to investing in real estate, she worked at Nordstrom Corporate in merchandise strategy and financial planning.   For more information visit https://www.rehabithomes.com/ and to find out about the Virtual Meetup Real Estate At Work go to https://www.meetup.com/RealEstateAtWork/.   Follow Leka on Instagram, LinkedIn and subscribe on YouTube.  

In today’s episode, I’m joined by commercial real estate broker and Director of Operations at eXp Commercial, Stephanie Gilezan. Stephanie is leading the charge in making eXp Commercial a formidable part of the business, and a leading brand in commercial real estate as a whole. Stephanie has had an impressive real estate career,  and she also has buckets of determination and passion when it comes to changing what commercial real estate looks like.    Stephanie Gilezan is the Director of Operations at eXp Commercial, and a Real Estate Broker specializing in Land Development Sales, Industrial, Conversions, Business Brokerage, and listing and selling Commercial Real Estate as well as Property asset liquidations and bank negotiations. As the Director of eXp Commercial Brokerage Operations, Stephanie is managing the operations of all 50 states of eXp Commercial Brokerage and the countries eXp continues to open.    In the last 6 weeks, there’s been over $2 billion in referrals from eXp Realty to eXp Commercial, with more referrals than agents to service them. This shows the untapped potential of this part of the brokerage, and a ton of opportunities not just for commercial agents, but for everyone who is a part of eXp.    Guest Info   Stephanie Gilezan is the Director of Operations at eXp Commercial, and a Real Estate Broker specializing in Land Development Sales, Industrial, Conversions, Business Brokerage, and listing and selling Commercial Real Estate as well as Property asset liquidations and bank negotiations. As the Director of eXp Commercial Brokerage Operations, Stephanie is managing the operations of all 50 states of eXp Commercial Brokerage and the countries eXp continues to open.    For more information, connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn and follow her on Instagram.   

On today’s episode, I’m joined by real estate rockstar, CEO, mentor and podcast host, Laurie Finklestein Reader. With 24 years in the business, Laurie has seen markets and models come and go. On top of her passion and expertise in real estate, she leads with authenticity and being herself, and that’s why she has won the hearts and minds of her clients and peers in the industry.    Laurie is a real estate rockstar, mentor and podcast host and the CEO of Laurie Reader Real Estate. She grew up in South Florida in a family dedicated to the real estate business. As a Multi-Million Dollar Top Producer, Laurie and her team are responsible for over $319.25 Million in real estate sales annually and have been recognized in the Top 1/2 of 1% of all Realtors in the Nation! In 2020, Laurie and her team helped over 965 families with their real estate needs. Laurie's success is due to her commitment to the enhancement of the real estate profession, client service, and the community. Her business experience & technical knowledge can now better serve your real estate needs. As a full-time, dedicated real estate professional, Laurie understands the unique challenges that face both buyers and sellers in our market, and knows how to overcome them.   Working in real estate affords us the privilege of choosing the relationship we want with our businesses, and being our authentic selves. There isn’t just one way to skin a cat in this industry. You don’t have to be a suit and tie agent if you don’t want to, and you don’t have to choose a model you don’t gel with. Ultimately, you have the freedom to build a thriving business around not just around a model or a vision, but what makes you unique.  Guest Info   Laurie is a real estate rockstar, mentor and podcast host and the CEO of Laurie Reader Real Estate. She grew up in South Florida in a family dedicated to the real estate business. As a Multi-Million Dollar Top Producer, Laurie and her team are responsible for over $319.25 Million in real estate sales annually and have been recognized in the Top 1/2 of 1% of all Realtors in the Nation! In 2020, Laurie and her team helped over 965 families with their real estate needs. Laurie's success is due to her commitment to the enhancement of the real estate profession, client service, and the community. Her business experience & technical knowledge can now better serve your real estate needs. As a full-time, dedicated real estate professional, Laurie understands the unique challenges that face both buyers and sellers in our market, and knows how to overcome them.   Watch the Laurie Reader Table Talk on YouTube. Follow Laurie on Instagram and LinkedIn 

On today’s episode of the Kevin and Fred show, we’re joined by globally-renowned profit coach and author, Susie Carder. After her own success in business, building a salon to the top 1% of the nation in profitability, Susie is putting her unique expertise to good use, to help business owners scale to $10 million. Today, she helps her clients build up their hustle muscle, make their money duplicatable, and focus their energy and efforts in the most productive areas of the business.  Susie Carder is an author, entrepreneur, investor, business consultant and profit coach. A self-made millionaire, she started with one salon and health spa, and built it into one of the most successful businesses in the country. She then founded and sold three profitable companies, the last of which sold for eight figures to Cengage. Susie soon became passionate about helping other business owners achieve what came naturally to her – growth and sustainability. As she led business after business to success, the true test of her talents came unexpectedly. A serious car accident threatened Susie’s life and instantly took her away from her business. As she took time off for surgery and healing, something incredible happened behind the scenes. Not only did her business stay afloat, it expanded tenfold. The systems she created enabled her staff to carry on without her. Susie’s calling became crystal clear: Bring this level of freedom to others.   Susie has guided hundreds of companies to develop personalized operation systems in finance, sales, and marketing. An international speaker, Susie’s spit-fire personality, sharp wit, and heart-warming stories are beautifully woven in with her decades of business knowledge to educate and compel audiences toward financial freedom.  Susie is currently consultant of Lisa Nichols’ Motivating the Masses, a global transformation and training company, and author of nine books and multiple training programs. Her Best-Selling book, Living Proof (co-authored with Lisa Nichols) and Power Your Profits: How to Take Your Business From $10,000 to $10 Million, is available today.  88% of small businesses in this country make less than $100k a year, only 2.5% are doing $500k and over, while only $1.7% are hitting the million dollar mark. The recipe for success is simple, and the business owners that follow it can predict their profits and duplicate their results.  To get a free copy of Susie’s book Power Your Profits: How to Take Your Business from $10,000 to $10,000,000, go to https://www.poweryourprofitsbook.com/ebook.  To get Susie’s $100k consulting script go to page 199 of the book. 

On today’s episode of the Kevin and Fred Show, our good friend Chris Jones returns! He joins us once again to catch up on what Guerilla Realty has been up to, and to drop some gems on the marketing strategies every agent should be implementing right now. He gives us golden nuggets on creating superior CMAs, flipping FSBOs and how to become a true market expert.    Chris Jones is the co-founder and CEO of Guerilla Realty. With his brother, Levi, Chris tests hundreds of formulas to grow a real estate business. Then they take the most effective strategies and turn them into step-by-step instructions for agents to implement.    At some point, every Realtor realizes that getting consistent clients is difficult. Even the best agents eventually run out of people they know to sell real estate to, and the only action you can take is building up the marketing piece to create a reliable pipeline of deals.    Real estate is the greatest business on earth, and when we stack marketing, relationships, negotiation, and market expertise on top of our sales skills, we won’t have to rely on hustle to keep creating momentum. Chris shares the top tactics any agent can implement starting right now.      Links    If you missed Chris’ first appearance on the show, get it here.    Website: https://www.guerillarealty.com/.    To access Guerilla Realty’s easy spreadsheet calculators for CMAs, days on market, business planning and more visit https://nerdsheets.com/.    For Pipeline Pro Tools visit https://www.pipelineprotools.com/.    Chris’ favorite item for under $200 https://fromourplace.com/products/always-essential-cooking-pan.  The Bulletproof CMA calculator 

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by performance coach and creator of the STARS framework, Gregg Sugerman. He has worked with business owners across multiple industries, and that affords him the insight of not looking at real estate through a single lens. Because of his insight, he knows that entrepreneurs across the board struggle with the same things. Managing time and focusing on your highest dollar-productive activities is a constant struggle for business owners.    Gregg Sugerman is a performance coach and consulting strategist for Real Estate agents and Team Leaders. He helps real estate agents and team leaders better manage their time, teams, & focus, so they’re more productive (and more profitable).   Human beings do building habits all wrong - we try to take on too much too fast, and hope willpower and discipline will carry us through. But unless you have the willpower of a Navy Seal, your discipline will eventually run out.    Performance coach Gregg Sugerman has the formula for turning any productive activity into a habit, and the secret is to start out with something that’s so simple, and small that you can’t fail.    He calls it the STARS Framework: Small Tiny and Really Simple. Willpower is a finite resource. When you put habits in place, you circumvent all of that. Guest Info   Gregg Sugerman is a performance coach and consulting strategist for Real Estate agents and Team Leaders. He helps real estate agents and team leaders better manage their time, teams, & focus, so they’re more productive (and more profitable). For more information and to sign up for his FREE On-Demand Class, Common Sense Productivity for Real Estate Agents and Team Leaders visit https://greggsugerman.com/. 

In today’s episode of the Kevin and Fresh Show, we’re joined by real estate agent, leader, and media powerhouse, Laura Stewart. On this show, we love to spotlight people, systems, approaches and ideas that aren’t spotlighted enough in our industry, and Laura’s story and journey in real estate fits right in. With a relentless commitment to providing white-glove customer service, producing content, and improving herself every single day, this episode is packed with leadership insights on running a top sales organization.    Laura Stewart is a Realtor, podcast co-host, blogger, and the VP of Sales & Marketing at the REC Canada, the number 2 sales team in the country. After receiving an undergraduate degree from the University of Guelph (Bachelor of Applied Science), Laura moved to Toronto and began working for high-net-worth clients through a personal concierge company that specialized in household needs, design and travel. From there, she continued her passion for the luxury industry and joined the buying team at Holt Renfrew and HBC Corporate offices. Wanting to take her career to the next level, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration, specializing in Marketing Communications, from the world-renowned Schulich School of Business. Today, Laura serves as a partner in one of Canada’s top real estate sales organizations, using her marketing background to run a well-known real estate brand.    Many people know what they want, but can’t go after it because they are afraid they don’t know enough, whether it’s content creation, hiring, delegating or leading. Ultimately, getting into action is the only way to get over that fear and that learning curve. Laura shares how important this approach has been to her own massive growth and success, in real estate and beyond.    For more information visit https://www.reccanada.com/, follow @laurastewartto and her business partner and podcast co-host @jastakhar13 on Instagram.      Guest Info   Laura Stewart is a Realtor, podcast co-host, blogger, and the VP of Sales & Marketing at the REC Canada, the number 2 sales team in the country.    After receiving an undergraduate degree from the University of Guelph (Bachelor of Applied Science), Laura moved to Toronto and began working for high-net-worth clients through a personal concierge company that specialized in household needs, design and travel. From there, she continued her passion for the luxury industry and joined the buying team at Holt Renfrew and HBC Corporate offices. Wanting to take her career to the next level, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration, specializing in Marketing Communications, from the world-renowned Schulich School of Business. Today, Laura serves as a partner in one of Canada’s top real estate sales organizations, using her marketing background to run a well-known real estate brand.  For more information visit https://www.reccanada.com/, follow @laurastewartto and her business partner and podcast co-host @jastakhar13 on Instagram.