When Chris Craddock graduated college in 2000, he worked as a staff for a Christian ministry where he earned $20,000 a year.  After 3 years, his wife got pregnant and he knew he needed to earn more. This was when he looked into real estate investing and got the idea of talking to people who were in distress and offered to buy their houses. In the next four months, he ended up making 12 times as much as he did in a year doing his previous job. Inspired by Gary Keller’s book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, Chris decided to build his own team in 2014.  In 2020, Chris’s team made 501 transactions, both on and off-market, for $167 million in sales volume. He has also expanded to several ancillary businesses including home insurance, title, and mortgage.  Today, Chris Craddock is the Founder and CEO of The Redux Group. He is a nationally certified Life Coach with a Doctorate in Leadership and is the driving force behind REI Revive which is an advanced online training that teaches how to turn dead leads into cash. He is also the host of the Uncommon Real Estate Podcast and entrepreneur who runs multiple successful businesses in the Washington DC Metro area (and Richmond, VA). In this episode, we talked about: 03:59 The key to being a great leader 04:44 A great resource for anyone looking to recruit great people. 08:23 How Chris started his career in real estate 14:44 What Chris thinks of having a home insurance business 24:35 Why Chris got into coaching 25:18 A really good ancillary business that I think a lot of people miss 31:25 The problem with entrepreneurs 34:39 What was the idea behind the Uncommon Real Estate podcast? 35:23 Why every real estate agent needs to be an investor 36:58 What is Chris’ morning routine  38:49 Why we need to become corporate athletes To get in touch with Chris Craddock, check the links below: Instagram: Chris Craddock @craddrock Facebook: Uncommon Real Estate Podcast REI Revive: http://chriscraddock.com

Tamir Poleg started in the real estate industry as a construction worker 16 years ago. This experience allowed him to learn homes and construction from a fundamental level.  After earning a degree in economics, he joined the tech world with a couple of start-up companies doing mainly sales positions in Europe. In 2006, Tamir started his own real estate company in Houston, Texas. When the market tanked in 2007 - 2008, he saw the opportunity to invest in real estate and grew his portfolio, property management company, and construction company. Despite the odds, it turned out to be a good decision, and he ended up selling that company in 2013. A  year later, he started Real, a technology-powered real estate brokerage, and this is where he’s been devoting his life to ever since. Today, Tamir Poleg is the CEO at The Real Brokerage Inc. The company recently rang the bell at Nasdaq and is currently on a mission to make agents' lives better, creating financial opportunities for agents through better commission splits, best-in-class technology, revenue sharing, and equity incentives. In this episode, we talked about: 03:36 Why Tamir decided to go into the real estate world? 07:22 How COVID gave way to in opening up the industry virtually 08:56 Why Tamir chose New York to start his own company 10:30 What was the vision for Real when they first started it? 15:13 When did the idea of building wealth through Real come about? 19:47 What sets Real apart from a traditional brokerage? 20:11 Why are agents attracted to Real?  22:49 How revenue sharing works at Real 24:16 What is the tech platform that Real uses? 25:11 The four main pillars of technology 30:15 Tamir’s most crucial piece of advice  

In 2005, Rivers Pearce started doing e-commerce and lead generation for an ad agency in Atlanta and then moved to Charleston and South Carolina.  Five years later, a real estate technology startup called BoomTown was looking for someone who can do search engine marketing and Rivers joined them as their 10th employee. For almost a decade, Rivers helped grow BoomTown’s client base from 70 to well over 3000 clients by serving as their Director of Client Success, Director of Digital Marketing & Strategy. With his vast experience working with operations and team/brokerage structures as well as the various technology, marketing, advertising, and operational components that support all of that, Rivers is considered a veteran in the real estate technology space. Today, Rivers is the CEO & Co-Founder of W8less, a real estate and property technology consultancy that is focused on making people's processes better and ultimately creating an infrastructure to support their business’ success. In this episode we talked about: 00:57 How Rivers came up with the weightless concept? 04:20 What does that mean to be “weightless”? 09:45 How Sisu’s way of automating processes helped operational efficiency for teams and brokerages 18:39 The key difference between Sisu and other transaction management platforms 20:24 What Rivers thinks anyone managing a real estate business should know 20:56 The value of looking outside the industry for your competitors 25:15 Why you should work with companies that can help you navigate the technology aspects of your business 26:23 What advice Rivers has for business owners moving forward  

Growing up, Steve de Laveaga loved playing basketball. As a high school senior, he attended basketball camps at Cal Lutheran. Due to his athletic talent, he was offered a full academic scholarship and decided to take up Communications. Through this course, he discovered that the key to creating great influence and wealth in any field is the ability to communicate your vision and passion to your network. As as he got older, he has made it his mission to make people’s lives better through his positive influence. For almost a decade, Steve was the SVP and National Sales Manager for Fidelity National Title Group, encompassing multiple Divisions and overseeing 3,100 Sales Executives, and assisting over 200 sales managers across the US. Here, he assisted their partners and stakeholders in growing their business and bringing value to real estate companies. Today, Steve is the Founder and CEO at Real Intelligent Sales Engagement (R.I.S.E.). Their main goal is to be the best business-to-business facilitator with clients and prospects in the real estate space.  They also work with top producing teams and focus on helping agents develop into “sales savants” and be in their company’s top 10%. Top Takeaways: 03:06 Why Steve has chosen to work with elite teams 09:54 How Steve came up with R.I.S.E  11:23 The 3 key things a team must have to achieve more closings 12:54 The value of follow-up 14:23 Why more agents don’t always mean more closings  15:42 Why you need to be accountable to the process and business of real estate 21:34 Where Steve sees the real estate industry ending up in the next 3-5 years 23:27 What Zillow and Open Door haven't figured out yet 24:28 What will happen if Google or Facebook goes into real estate?  27:11 Why you need to watch out for Keller Williams 36:38 What Steve loves about Sisu dashboards 42:38 Steve’s vision for consumer experience 46:08 What is Steve’s most important piece of advice? To get a hold of Steve, you may visit https://salesisacareer.com/

Upon getting his real estate license in 2000, Michael LaFido worked as a part-time agent and full-time high school health and physical education teacher. But with a growing family, he felt he was spreading himself too thin.  So in 2010, he decided to go into real estate full time. Several years later, Michael did some real estate coaching and consulting where he developed a product called “The Ultimate Listing Blueprint”.  This product led him to meet a gentleman who coaches top luxury agents who are having difficulty competing in their marketplace. He found that most agents who deal with luxury properties think that the only way they’d be able to compete is if they become one of the cheaper agents in their market - which he doesn’t agree with.  This was when he made the shift to luxury listings on his home selling side and his coaching/consulting side as well.  Today, Michael is the Founder & CEO at Luxury Listing Specialist Designation(LUXE) where he helps brokers and agents improve their luxury marketing strategies to help sell more luxury homes. His methods are considered “The New Standard” for marketing luxury homes today. Key Takeaways:   05:20 The 3 things agents can do to make more money 07:28 What is a luxury listing? 09:22 The 4 primary price points in most markets 10:20 How to make the switch to luxury listings? 21:25 What trends does Michael see in marketing versus what everyone else does? 21:46 What does “fresh eyes analysis” mean? 25:56 Michael’s vision for the market 30:29  What’s the best method of learning for Michael 36:01  How to have a great year for your business 37:18  Michael’s most important piece of advice To get a hold of Michael LaFido, you may email him at michael@marketingluxurygroup.com. You may also check his social media pages: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxurylistingspecialist Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lafido Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikelafido/  

Baseball has always been Robert Lucido’s dream and passion. At the age of 5, he dreamed of joining the big leagues. He played through high school, became an all-academic athlete in college, and played professionally for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers.   He was often the smallest guy on the team. But what he lacked in height, he made up for in hard work.  As an athlete, he always believed in setting goals and making progress in achieving those goals. He brought the same passion and grit when he transitioned into the real estate world in 2018. Today, Robert is the Director of Business Development for Lucido Global. He drives corporate strategy and innovation, intending to create an economic moat, scale, and efficiency across the Lucido companies.  In this episode, we talked about how the adversities he faced in his baseball career helped shape his character and what you can do to keep creating opportunities in your life and your career. Key Takeaways: 03:18 How Robert started his baseball career 07:12 The importance of proper timing 11:31 What made Robert decide to leave baseball 16:10 The book that helped Robert get out of rock-bottom 20:09 The changes that Robert sees in the market 25:04 What are “forest agents”? 27:33 Who is the future of real estate: Teams or solo agents? 32:33 The key technologies people need to have in their real estate business 32:50 The value of time 34:02 How leveraging technology can affect your ROI 36:54 What does Lucido Global’s latest acquisition mean for their business 38:06 What benefits do team owners get when they join Lucido Global? 42:00 Robert’s most important piece of advice To get a hold of Robert, you may email him at robertlucido@lucidoglobal.com

Brad Sugars has been in business since he was 15 years old. He has bought, sold, or started more than 50 companies. Throughout his 3-decade career as an entrepreneur, he has become a strong advocate for building a business that works without you. Today, Brad Sugars owns 9 companies and is the CEO & Founder of the largest business coaching company in the world, ActionCOACH.  He is also a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and the #1 business coach in the world. In this episode, we talked about the 5 Core Disciplines of Exponential Growth in Your Business and how his systematic approach to business has allowed him to spend more time doing what really matters to him. Key Takeaways: 02:32 Brad’s goal as an educator 03:43 What the 30X Business Training is all about 06:29 Why Brad thinks that “hustle and grind” is the new stupid 07:19 The 5 Core Disciplines of Exponential Growth for Your Business 09:16 Why ActionCOACH and Sisu get along so well 12:43 A CEO’s number 1 job 14:41 The 4 complex areas of a business strategy 14:46 Brad’s definition of leverage 20:35 How important are ratings and rankings 21:54 How many times should you be posting on social media today? 24:52 Brad’s advice for people who run large team brokerages but struggle to recruit within their organization 28:11 Why people leave their jobs  29:47 The one thing Brad keeps coming back to when it comes to sales To know more about Brad Sugars, go to https://bradsugars.com/ or visit https://www.actioncoach.com/ To check out Brad’s latest book, Pulling Profits out of a Hat, go to: https://www.audible.com/pd/Pulling-Profits-out-of-a-Hat-Audiobook/B07YSXPTWF

Kevin Flaherty has been in the real estate business for 33 years.  He was a solo agent for a very long time and used to build custom web pages for homes in the ’90s.  When MLS listings went online, he was already ahead of the curve.  He thought of ways to further improve web pages by adding plans and videos with narration. He then ran a team under iPro Realty Ltd. Brokerage for the past 11 years where he was the overall number one top producer for 10 straight years.  Here, he offered cutting-edge real estate marketing to help sell homes.  Today, Kevin Flaherty is a Real Estate Broker at eXp Realty where he continues to provide clients his decades of experience, advanced marketing technologies, and direct exposure to thousands of successful real estate transactions.  In this episode, we discussed his high-end marketing model, his views on what the ideal real estate team structure should look like, and all the things he loves about Sisu. Top Takeaways: 02:17 How does Video-narrated 3D animated online showing work? 11:34 What motivated Kevin to make the move to eXp Realty 15:13 One of the biggest misconceptions about eXp 18:26 How Kevin structured his team 22:35 How to get agents to do the activities they should be doing 23:59 How technology makes the hiring process more efficient 28:37 How does a team owner get their agents to focus on selling real estate 31:12 Kevin’s advice on how to get an ISA team up and functioning successfully 34:01 Why Kevin highly recommends Sisu 35:02 What every top producer should know 35:43 The enormous mistake that led him to find Sisu 38:18 What Kevin loves about Sisu To get in touch with Kevin Flaherty, go to www.flaherty.ca. You can also email him at kevin@flaherty.ca or call 226-916-0595.

Spring Bengtzen started in real estate while she was only 22. A developer refused to hire her at that time because they thought she was too young. However, she was determined to prove herself, so she agreed to work for free for the first couple of months. After learning the trade, she was able to sell her first house just by transacting over the phone. This impressed the developer, and they decided to keep her. She worked her way up to being their principal broker and sold thousands of properties while she was there. But when the economy tanked in ‘08, they filed for bankruptcy. At that time, Spring was listed as one of REALTOR’s Magazine 30 under 30, and she had the opportunity to join Keller-Williams. From 2010 to 2019, she built and grew her team to become the largest in Utah. Eventually, Spring felt she was ready for something more. So in 2019, she started her own brokerage under Realty One. While she loved its branding and transaction model, she realized that she’s really not meant to be a broker-owner. She had to let go of her ego, sell her brokerage, and ultimately joined REAL Broker LLC. Today, Spring is the CEO of the Utah Life Real Estate Group & REAL Broker LLC. at Real Broker USA.   In today’s episode, we talked about her plans for building wealth, what she loves about joining REAL Broker LLC, and the biggest challenge she ever had to deal with in her life. Top Takeaways: 02:47 The projects that Spring is currently working on 04:57 How Spring manages to continue to double her business every year 06:06 How you should do morning huddles 08:18 What one-on-one sessions look like in Spring’s business 11:24  How does “special agent attraction strategy” work?  16:36 Why Spring decided to buy a brokerage 19:34 What Spring loves about REAL Broker LLC 23:59 The value of having a plan for building wealth 28:07 How to achieve work-life balance when you and your spouse are both in real estate 31:35 How Spring’s determination helped her get to the next level 32:29 Why you need to believe that the worst day of your life has already happened 33:41 The worst trauma Spring had to deal with in her life  36:28 Why you should live your life as a choice To get in touch with Spring, check her Instagram page @springbengtzen. You may also send an email to spring@liveutah.com or contact 801-641-1431.

Before coming into the real estate world, Brindley Tucker worked in the financial sector and sold country club memberships.  She realized then that the best way to learn things is to become an assistant to someone doing it.  So when she wanted to go into real estate in 2011, she decided to apply as a real estate assistant and ended up working as a KW Marketplace Director of Agent Services. This was also the time where she went through massive personal challenges and had to make some major life decisions - one of which was to start her own transactions management company. She started as an independent operation, and in 3 years, she grew her team and was able to close 2,000 real estate transactions in a year. Due to her success, Keller-Williams invited her to become a MAPS coach to teach and train other people how to do transaction management.   Today, Brindley Tucker is a licensed REALTOR® and the owner of Your Realty Leverage, Inc., a recruiting, training, and coaching firm where she specializes in unifying teams and helping agents increase leverage in their businesses.  In this episode, we talked about her journey, how an incident that happened during the darkest point in her life changed her, and how she viewed the world. Top takeaways: 03:49 Brindley’s vision for her company 05:33 How Brindley went through the darkest part of her life and what it taught her. 12:47 What is Fail Forward Friday? 13:50 Why is Brindley called “The Queen of Leverage”? 15:40 The 5 things real estate agents should be doing from the time they enter the industry 24:33 How do agents determine their hourly rate? 26:21 How to make leverage work for team owners 28:40 The importance of regularly auditing your systems, technology, and people 37:21 What self-care should be all about 38:58 What is Brindley’s number 1 source of growth   To get in touch with Brindley, go to www.yourrealtyleverage.com You may also reach her directly at 727-512-9098 or check her Facebook and Instagram page @brindleytucker