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

We may not see it this way, but real estate isn’t as risky as we think. In fact, in many ways, we’re conditioned against taking risks, and that’s why leverage is such a hard concept for the majority of our industry. Think about the restaurant business - leverage is built in from day 1, you know that you’ll need a manager, front of house, chefs and servers so you take loans and do what you need for the business to succeed. In real estate, leverage is a line we cross kicking and screaming, and that actually harms our businesses in the long run.  There are many reasons why we won’t invest in leverage - we don’t think we have the time, the money or even the ability to let go. All these reasons are barriers we can overcome. With the right strategy and roadmap, leverage is something we can implement. What are the roles that can propel out businesses if we hire them? How do we overcome our limiting beliefs about leverage?  Today, founder and CEO of Rocket Sphere VA, Justin Nelson shares how VAs can make your business more valuable.  Quotes  Being a solo agent’s not a problem but being a solo agent with no leverage can be a big problem. -Justin Nelson  Key Points   Why you need leverage  Comparison isn’t always bad for you Reinvest your time wisely How to seamlessly integrate VAs into your business  If you had $50k to spare, this is how to build out your leverage; Executive Admin  Marketing VA  Client care manager Video Editor   Accounting VA   Lead Manager   VA hiring order for agents;  Marketing VA Client Care Manager  Executive Admin  Video Editor  Lead Manager  Accounting VA Team Recruiting and Onboarding  Marketing VA #2 Interaction and Shipping VA  VA #1 for lead agent  VA #2 for lead agent  VA for client success recurring income program  Use leverage to retain the best people  Guest Info Justin Nelson is an entrepreneur, leader, coach to Top Producers and CEO of Sphere Rocket VA, an 8-Figure Company with 5800 VAs.  For more information, head to www.sphererocketva.com.  To get access to all the files and documents mentioned today, head to sphererocketfiles.com.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” On any given day, we’re walking a tightrope between success and failure, but when we’re in a good market and a time of abundance, we don’t see how thin that line is. Right now, we’re in a time where our bad decisions, bad business practices and bad habits are being exposed.   Leadership is a constant conversation of caring. -Ben Kinney We get paid to help humans make good life decisions with their most valuable asset. -Ben Kinney  If we’re struggling in our businesses today, that means you’re not having enough empathetic conversations. -Ben Kinney  The number 1 killer of a business is optimism. -Ben Kinney Why we quit Quitting is easier than plugging away at something when it gets hard. Whenever you start something new, there’s this unfounded amount of optimism, but ultimately, reality will set in and we sink into the pit of despair. This happens with every new thing. Real happiness comes from digging out of the pit and enjoying the journey.  The undisciplined pursuit of more As human beings and business owners, we tend to think that if we’re doing great in one thing, we can take on something else. We think that more will solve our problems so we add a bunch of stuff to our lives. It’s fine when things are going good, but when things start to go pear-shaped, it collapses on us. We have to master boredom if we want success.  Treat leadership like parenting Every real estate leader has found themselves frustrated because their agents aren’t calling leads. Instead of putting it on your agents, point your frustration back to yourself because it’s a leadership problem. How many times do you have to tell your kids not to touch something hot? Why do we expect adults to be different? You have to have the conversations over and over, find different ways to say it and even find other people to say it.    The variables you need to put pressure on  There’s only 3 things that guarantee success in real estate Saying the right things (scripts) Saying it enough times (activity) Enough people to say it to (leads) If you’re not succeeding, you need to fix one of those 3 things. If you have a team, you need one more thing: enough people saying the right things.  Expect 2024 to be filled with great opportunities for 50-75% of the year, but in the first couple of months, we should be filling our hopper with people that would take action if rates drop 1 or 2%. We have to spend the first 2 months making sure the entire year is kickass instead of feeling bad for ourselves. At the same time, don’t have rose-colored glasses that it will magically happen in 90 days. Optimism can be deadly in our business, so we have to maintain a healthy balance.  Guest Info Ben Kinney is an entrepreneur, professional speaker, author, real estate agent, and CEO of Ben Kinney Companies. He owns and operates one of the top 25 producing real estate teams in the nation from all brands. He also owns and operates multiple Keller Williams Realty Franchises that includes 1200+ agents across multiple locations servicing all of Washington State. In 2015 he opened his first international brokerage in London, UK and in 2016 he purchased the KW master franchise for all of the U.K. Those offices sold over 10,000 units equalling over 4 billion in closed sales volume. Ben is also a nationally recognized author, trainer, and speaker. In the last few years, he has personally trained over 100,000 business owners via conferences, classes, and webinars.  Ben Kinney Real Estate Team is ranked by the Wall Street Journal and Real Trends as one of the top 25 real estate teams in the nation.  https://www.youtube.com/BenKinney CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

2023 was rough for a lot of people. Agents and teams were selling less homes. Pending transactions hit their lowest number in 2 decades, and most pipelines were drier than ever before. On top of that, the NAR lawsuit verdicts shook things up for the entire industry, so many agents feel like they are getting hit from different directions.  There is good news on the horizon though. If you’ve managed to stick it out through these challenges, and your business is built on the right foundations, 2024 will be a lot better.  There’s still fear around the market and NAR’s legal issues running people out of the business. In real estate, very few people fail because of bad luck. Most fail out because of bad habits and not doing enough of the right things. You might look at the lawsuit as an existential threat to agents, but just like with market downturns, those who are doing the right things, and approaching business with the right attitude will never lose. Ever since being a Realtor was a thing we’ve needed to be able to articulate our value. If we do that people will want to work with us through hell, high water, industry lawsuits and slow markets. What does the NAR lawsuit tell us about our industry and where we’re headed? How do we perfect our marketing?  Agent, social media coach, speaker, trainer and host of the popular Massive Agent Podcast, Dustin Brohm shares his predictions for 2024, and why he’s optimistic.  Guest Info Dustin Brohm is an agent, social media coach, speaker, trainer and host of the popular Massive Agent Podcast for Realtors and Mortgage Loan Officers. He is also the founder of the Massive Agent Society, a comprehensive Facebook Ad lead gen training and coaching program, and the Industry Syndicate real estate podcast network. The Massive Agent Podcast is meant to help teach real estate agents and mortgage loan officers to get more leads and ultimately sell more homes. Dustin has spoken in front of 1000's of Realtors and mortgage professionals at real estate conferences all around the country. He co-founded the Snappack Real Estate Marketing FB Group. His content has been featured in Housing Wire, Inman News, RIS Media, Zillow's Blog, Homelight, FitSmallBusiness, and many more. Follow Dustin on Instagram, and listen to The Massive Agent Podcast on your platform of choice.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

At this time of the year, people tend to get more reflective about the last 12 months. December 31st hangs over our heads, and this imaginary finish line forces us to really think about what we’ve accomplished, and what we want for ourselves next year. This is especially true in real estate, considering what the market has been like and how it has affected a lot of people’s businesses.  As we take stock of the last 12 months, it’s really easy to blame our challenges on the market, but some of the results we’ve had could be attributed to our activity. Did we put in enough effort? Did we grow in our skills and competence? Did we follow through on what we said we’d do? These last few days of 2023 are the perfect opportunity for us to get clear on our goals, and most importantly, what we need to do to achieve those goals.  Today, mortgage originator, executive coach, creator of Win By Noon and co-founder of First Home IQ, Todd Bookspan returns. Today, we reflect on the last year, lessons we’ve learned and how we’re preparing for 2024.    Key Points   It’s not just the market There are a lot of people who are victims of what’s going on in the market, some to the extent of leaving the industry entirely. Though the market has been tough, it might be down to us not doing what we were supposed to do. It’s easy to track our results, but tracking our activity is key because it shows us if we’re on track, and also gives us an indicator of how the market is doing. If we’re not getting the results we want, it means there’s something in our actions that needs to be changed. Maybe we need to improve our skills, or we need to follow through on what we said we would do. We need to ask ourselves if we’re working hard enough, or if we’re avoiding what we need to do. It might be hard to hear, but it is what a lot of us need to think about.  Be careful what you believe about the marketMany people believe interest rates will go down and when they go down, there’s going to be a lot more opportunity for buyers. They might be right, but it’s important that we get clear on why we’re so adamant about that view. We could be regurgitating views that aren’t our own without realizing it, and we might be parroting these opinions because we desperately need them to be true. We have to get curious and stop listening to people telling us what we might want to hear.  Be willing to hear what the other side thinksThere’s been a lot of uproar in the industry about the lawyer for the NAR lawsuit being invited to a real estate event. Even though they are coming after our industry, we have to know what they are thinking. We have to know where the other side’s head is, and there’s nothing wrong with hearing from them.  Finding middle ground in a divided worldIn a world that’s driven to make us fight and pick a side, taking the time to understand the “opposition” is key. Social media and traditional media are focused on dousing the flames of division. Whether it’s politics, religion or any other topic, the more polarized we are, the harder it is to understand each other. Ultimately, we’ll discover that we have a lot more in common with other people, and it’s easier for us to find middle ground.  Guest Info Todd is a mortgage originator, executive coach, creator of Win By Noon and co-founder of First Home IQ. Todd has 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and a business leader. For the past fifteen years, as a mortgage originator, Todd has proven successful in cultivating both teams and branch offices. Working alongside his wife Tara, Todd successfully helped grow the Arizona region of a mortgage bank from five to eighty-five employees at four branches. Now he has designed the Win By Noon Planner as a tool to help increase productivity. Join Todd’s Life Planning class here.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla 

With most of the people I see who have over 30 years in the business, it shows on their faces. I’m excited everyday, I look forward to my day, I look forward to meeting great people in the business everyday. -Rick Geha  I’m reminded of how exciting life can be if you’re willing to do the boring basics and the things that are uncomfortable so you can have the things you want. -Rick Geha  People want to work with exciting people. Wake up everyday excited out of your mind about what you do, and with a willingness to share with people whether they want to do business with you or not. -Rick Geha  In today’s special episode, we’re honoring our good friend, the late great, Rick Geha. Back in our Short Sale Power Hour days, Rick was a guest on the show many times, talking about mindset and pulling from decades in the real estate industry to share what it takes to succeed at a high level. Here are some of the most powerful insights from Rick.  Quotes and Key Points Mindset is the biggest part of absorbing anything you might learn and deciding what to do with it. We have to believe in being bigger and better than ourselves.  We enrich other people’s lives by sharing.  Everyday you’re doing something that creates major, drastic differences in your life and moves you in the direction you’d like to go.  How big of a life would you like to make for yourself? Who in your life sees you much bigger than you see yourself? Surround yourself with these people.  If God is one of the 5 people you surround yourself with, it brings your average up significantly.  You don’t want to be around people who want you to succeed but are holding onto your ankles saying “don’t leave us behind”. You want people who say “go, succeed and we’ll be here if you need us.”   The money you make is how you fund your mission and your dreams. How much time do we waste not being productive and not moving towards the dreams we’ve created for ourselves? Figure out what you’re doing everyday that’s getting you nowhere, and what you can be doing everyday to get you somewhere.   In our hardest moments, we’re capable of 20 times more than we’re capable of in our best moments. CTA​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

Whether it’s a traditional real estate team, an investment portfolio or a fulfilling life - building anything great is a process of constantly asking ourselves big questions and challenging whatever we believe. It’s really easy to copycat our way to success until we find ourselves up the wrong mountain. The only way to combat this is to take everything we believe and pierce holes in it - play devil’s advocate to our own beliefs, if you will.  Our business might be good now, but what if changing the model and our identity could make it better? Flipping homes sounds sexy, but it’s actually not investing. The market is tough right now, but what if getting a tiny bit better, or even staying the same is a sign that we’re crushing it?  When you get really good at asking these questions, and become okay with being wrong about what you believe, pivoting and moving through changes gets easier and faster. When we get clear on what we truly want, and lose the fear of going after something completely different, we’re able to build something we’ll be proud of today and years from now.  What kind of questions should we be asking ourselves all the time? How can we walk through chaos without it impacting us?  Today, I’m joined by friend, collaborator, coach, trainer, and CEO of Guaranteed Home Buyers LLC, Matt Chick. We talk about the ultimate cheat code to make anything happen.  Key Points   Redefining success in a tough market There’s a lot of people we know who won’t be surviving this market, or even this calendar year. That means crushing it looks different to what it looked like 3 years ago, 2 years ago - even a year ago. There’s a certain level of business maturity you’ve got to have to realize that sometimes not going backwards or only going backwards a little bit is actually a win when people are going backwards a lot.  Not afraid to be wrong No one is a perfectionist, we’re just afraid of looking wrong. Our egos are fragile to how other people perceive us when we fail, get something wrong or fall flat on our faces. But when we’re willing to make mistakes, be wrong or fall flat on our faces, we can get closer to what we want.   Don’t copycat your way to success One of the great things about this industry is how easy it is to copycat and find success if you’re willing to put in the work, but that’s also a curse. You can look at someone else and copy them, but the reality is, we all have different wants and priorities. For some people, time matters more than money and for others, it’s money over time. Knowing what matters to you allows you to build the right thing and climb the right mountain.  The biggest misunderstanding about flippingWe call flipping homes investing, but it actually isn’t. Flipping is a business, just like wholesales and commissions from transactions. It’s active income that we should turn into passive income. Wherever our active income comes from, the ultimate move is to use it to create residual income by buying assets.  For more information, visit https://mattchick.com/ and follow @iammattchick on Instagram.  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla 

The gift of real estate is that we can generate leads the way we want, as long as we systematize it. Not everyone in real estate wants to cold call, door knock and have a business that relies on speed-to-lead. Some agents don’t want to do open houses because they treasure weekends with their kids. Laura Griffin found herself in this predicament, and the perfect solution presented itself - starting a Facebook group for moms.  6 years later, that group has 10,000 members, Laura does $22 million in volume and 90% of that business comes from the group. Many agents would love to have a lead generation method that fits their personality and lifestyle, but turning it into a real system is the challenge.  There is a way to grow a community and nurture people without jamming real estate down their throats. Laura found the perfect balance. She shares how she runs her group, the kind of content she posts, and how she’s successfully grown an engaged, hyper-local community.  Key Points   Balancing community with marketing If you’re an agent running a Facebook group, no one wants to have real estate jammed down their throats all the time. At the same time, you don’t want to be a secret agent. A blend of value-add content, questions and less overt real estate content works really well.  Protecting your community When you build a large Facebook Group, you’re always at risk of the platform changing something on you or locking you out entirely. Putting the members of your group into your database and emailing them monthly helps you protect your community. Make it evidently hyper-local When you create your group make sure a town, city or county is attached to its name. You can’t be hyper-local if people don’t know what locale you serve. Having a location that people know and recognize allows you to also pull in the relocation crowd, and that will bring in a lot of leads.  How to get found You need to have a good description of what the group is, where it’s located, who you are and a freebie at the bottom like a relocation guide. If you don’t have those pieces in place, it’s going to be hard for people to find you and for you to grow your group.  One question, many leadsOne post Laura constantly uses is the question “what’s the one thing you’d change about your house?” Of course, some people will talk about minor decorative things, but others will share that their yard is too small, or that they wish their house was bigger. You can take those people’s names down and start marketing to them because you know the wheels are starting to turn. You’ll learn things about your members and be able to identify clients before they know they’re ready to buy or sell.  To find out more about Laura’s coaching and to watch her free webinar, go to https://groupstoleads.com/webinar/.   CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

To have staying power in real estate, mindset and the ability to pivot is key. We have to be willing to make big changes to our models, and have the courage to do things differently. The problem is: many business owners get their identity so wrapped up in what they’ve been doing that making such a change is too hard.  We get so caught up in what we’ve done for the last 2,5 or 10 years that we won’t budge from a model, even if it isn’t serving us or our agents.  Daryl Owen has always been committed to where he wants to go, not where he’s been. That has meant shifting from the brokerage model to the team model. His mindset on his real estate business was forged in his early days, where a serious head injury nearly destroyed his dream. His ability to outwork hardship quickly paid off, and this mentality has been instrumental in his success.  Daryl shares his story, how he got started, the struggles of running an indie brokerage and the power of pivoting, identity be damned.  Quotes  You want to have ancillary businesses when you have a brokerage firm to make it worth it because there’s a ton of liability and overhead. -Daryl Owen Most agents underestimate how relentless you’ve got to be with the follow up. -Daryl Owen Key Points   Leaning into the team model The turnover rate of agents joining and leaving the industry is high. No matter what a brokerage does, you’ll be burning through money and resources, pouring in as much as you can, but still not moving the needle. A lot of people underestimate getting into this industry and what it means to be successful. They think it’s the Million Dollar Listing Lifestyle, but the truth is, you spend the majority of your day drumming up business.  You can always outwork the problem Daryl went from thinking his real estate dream was over after suffering head trauma in an accident to being the top agent in his office. He was cold calling 500 people 7 days a week, and even though he couldn’t speak well, no one was doing as well as him in his office. What facilitated his breakthrough was a massive perspective change, the realization that it could have been worse, he was saved for a reason and he was going to make the most of it.  How to take an agent from 0 homes sold to #1 in the officeYou can’t make an agent productive, you can only provide an environment that facilitates growth. But if you’re dealing with an agent who has the drive, but just needs the structure, standards and handholding, that’s something you can provide. You’re giving them the scaffold to succeed, but not the fuel.  The indie brokerage challenge In an independent brokerage, there just isn’t enough money to go around to get everyone the tools and support they need. It’s hard to service agents with the way the splits are structured. You can be an independent brokerage with 1000 agents (one of the biggest ones), but even at that point, you’re still not big enough to make it work at scale. In a team, the financial model is set up so it benefits the owner as well as the individual agent.  Commit to where you’re going, not where you’ve been Real estate agents and business owners in general get in the way of their own growth because it’s in a new direction. Many of us have our identities so wrapped in what we’ve been doing, we’re not willing to budge even if it would be better. By untangling our identity from our business models, we’re able to pivot effortlessly.  For more information, head to https://www.darylowen.com/ and follow @darylrowen on Instagram  CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

In today’s special episode of the podcast, we’re bringing you into two episodes of No Days Off, Brian Gubernick’s show. If you care about getting better, there’s no such thing as taking time off from the things that allow you to grow and reach your dreams. Every new day is an opportunity to get better, and today, Brian shares how we can become better real estate investors.    Brian Gubernick is a 15+ year residential real estate industry veteran, having held the roles of real estate investor, sales agent, sales team owner/leader, expansion (multi-state) team owner, brokerage operating partner, coach/trainer, and corporate executive. He is the co-founder of the Metrix Mastermind, Chief Real Estate Officer at PLACE and host of No Days Off. Listen to No Days Off on your platform of choice.   First: Brian Gubernick shares how to get comfortable with doing hard things.    Not hitting snooze when the alarm rings, making your bed or jumping into a cold plunge every morning. These activities may not be fun, but they are necessary.    That’s because doing hard things breaks through barriers, creates momentum and it creates the appetite to do other challenging things throughout the day. By doing that initial hard thing first thing in the morning, you’ve won your first battle, and that win will supercharge your results.    Then: if you’re a real estate investor, maximizing your revenue is one of the most important things you can ever do. Of course, you can do so by cutting expenses, but there are a few key strategies you can employ to get your rental properties to earn more money.   Brian Gubernick has discovered and implemented several strategies that have increased how much his property earns by up to $3400. From extra parking to upgrading appliances, he shares 6 ways you can earn more from your rentals.   CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla

When you look at successful and influential authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to think they are geniuses whose greatness comes easy to them. This gives us an excuse not to put effort into achieving what we want. In order to write their books, they have to enhance their identity, put a lot of work and intensity into that project, and have freakish commitment to accomplishing that thing. They may look like overnight successes, but if their lives look easy now, best believe they did the hard things over and over for a long time.  We’re no different. Whether we want to thrive in this market, achieve a bigger goal in our businesses or write a book ourselves. We don’t have to be geniuses, we just have to apply work and intensity to what we do. We have to commit to being the people who deserve the higher thing we want.  Dustin Runyon and I recently got to see Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday speak in LA. Today we’ll share what we got out of the event, what we learned about achieving great things and other insights from the last few months.  Key Points   48 Laws is a warning, not a how-to manual Many people haven’t read the 48 Laws of Power because the concept of power itself makes them uncomfortable. People look at power the way they look at money - it’s taboo, but power is very important. It’s why you want to have the right people in power. It’s why we want to be successful - it gives us the power to do what we want to do.  What living through history feels likeWhen people are going through historical moments, they don’t realize it’s historical, they’re just tackling what’s in front of them in the moment. When you think of defining moments in your life, it’s the same thing. It won’t feel pivotal in the moment, but the moment after is what makes it feel important. It’s your behavior after said moment that makes it historical or not.  History is also made by what didn’t take placeHistory isn’t just about what happened, it can also be about what didn’t happen. If you think about the fact that the Mongols were about to invade Austria but didn’t because Genghis Khan died, you realize how powerful something not happening can be as well.   Be the person who deserves the higher thing you want When you look at authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to attribute their accomplishment to genius. Of course, they are brilliant, talented and intelligent people, but they are also hard workers. You have to write and read the equivalent of 100 books to produce that 1 great book. To get their results, they’ve had to enhance their identities many times over. We’re capable of putting in the same level of commitment and work.  Talk to an expert in an avenue you’re exploringWe have to enhance our identity if we want to achieve something new or bigger than what we have now. Sometimes that enhancement is through gathering information from people who are experts in that field. Dustin will pay for time with an expert in the avenue he’s exploring. You’ll discover that people are eager to help if you’re willing to notice the work they’ve done. Investing in event attendance There’s tremendous value in putting ourselves in rooms where people are doing better and differently than us. We can go to an event because of who’s speaking at it, or who is going to be attending or both. Sometimes it’s swing and miss, but it pays off more often than not. There are a lot of successful people who will refuse to go to an event unless they are speaking, but that means you cut yourself off from a lot of learning opportunities.  Head to https://www.dustinrunyon.com/ for more information. To sign up for Fired Up Fridays visit https://firedupfridays.com/. CTA ​​Please leave us a review at https://ratethispodcast.com/nla