One of My Favorite Conversations Part 1

On today’s episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. I’m sharing a conversation that I recently had with another real estate agent named TJ McGraw out of the Atlanta Georgia area. One of the things I love most about being a real estate agent is we get to meet so many new and interesting people in our line of work. We are meeting new people really every day. And I don’t know what other jobs are. This dense with new people daily basis. We meet other agents. We meet new clients and we get to work with all sorts of vendors like lenders, different lenders, appraisers, home inspectors, title companies. And that truly is one of my favorite parts of the job is all the people that we get to work with and then meet in our line of work, the people. So we get to work with every day or one of the things that make being a real estate agent, the greatest job in the world. Plus we get to know people, especially our clients on such a personal level. Like when else do you know, somebody’s hopes and dreams and, and usually income and savings all under an hour. And that’s how we at least do it here at agent grad school, with our buyer initial consultations, and nowadays through agent grad school, I get to meet real estate agents from all over the country. And I get a behind the scenes look inside their businesses. And I find these conversations fascinating. I love kind of like pulling back the curtain in businesses, whether it’s real estate or anything else, and seeing the different philosophies and approaches that we all take. And, and I love how we all take a little bit from here a little bit from there and we apply them, or at least we have the ability to apply them to our businesses in any way that we want. And that is what I think makes running a real estate business, the best business to have in the world. We each truly have the power to create the life and the business that we want for selves. Now I was on TJ’s great podcast called the Agent Mind-set and never before had I been so open, which is the mark of a very good interviewer. I’ve never been so open about my philosophies, how I got started and really my story from beginning to end. So I asked TJ if I could share that podcast episode on my podcast. And so that is what you’re going to hear today. Now, this is just part one. This was just, this was one of my favorite conversations and I made this a two-part episode on my podcast. So today you’re hearing part one where he’s interviewing me and the episode either before or after this one, depending on how you listen and either chronological or reverse chronological order, or if you’re hopping around, there is a part two where I’m learning from TJ and his different mindsets and his way of doing business. And I think both conversations have a huge takeaway for real estate agents, wherever you live and wherever you are and your journey. So I hope you’ll listen to both episodes starting with this one, welcome To this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. I’m your host, Jennifer Myers, listen in, as I share exactly what I did to go from not being able to sell a house for years to becoming one of the top 1% of agents in the US, even opening my own brokerage full of agents helped me serve all the clients that were coming my way. I taught those agents the same strategies I use. And date two became the top producing agents now to this podcast and agent grad school.com. I’m sharing those same modern marketing and business strategies with you. Most of which I learned from looking outside the real estate industry, no fluff, no theory, no outdated sales techniques or paying for leads, just the exact steps to get you the real estate business you’ve always wanted. And the life outside your business, you’ve always wanted to let’s make it happen and dive into today’s episode. This is the agent mind podcast. Welcome to episode 18 of the age and mind podcast. I’m your host T J McGraw. I’m an active investor. Oh, state agent. And I’m going to question define the perfect mindset in order to help you build wealth and live within your passions. And I know, I think I’ve got to change the intro cause I say to every single time, but the purpose of this show is to really document some awesome conversations I’m having with people, people that are inside and outside of the real estate business. And of course all the people we talked to and whether you are inside or outside the business is through the lens of a real estate professional, whether you’re an investor or agent. So if you look what we’re doing, we hit subscribe, leave a review, apple podcasts, I think, gives us the most, juice there seems to be where most people listen, but really wherever you listen to the podcasts would be fine. And I would be so grateful if you all left a review, get it out there in front of more people. If you, if you think that it’s, it’s worth it worth Sharon. So appreciate that. Now, before we dig into the show, how would you like to free up more of your time handoff those mundane admin tasks that slow you down and drive you crazy so that you can focus on the things that really bring revenue and put more money in your pocket? Well, Reva global virtual assistants can do that for you. All of their skilled assistants. They all specialize in helping real estate professionals with hundreds of tasks, stopped trying to do it all yourself and have a virtual assistant, do it for you. Check out Riva global virtual assistance by heading over to the agent, mind.com and click the link, learn more about virtual assistants. So I’m really excited about a guest on today’s show. And I know I say that about every guest, but I’m particularly excited to, to have you hear this, this great conversation that I had with Jennifer Myers. She has a great story about how she got into real estate, what she found when she started, when she started working in real estate as an agent, and then the really that she struggled the first, I think the first couple of years, definitely the first year I’m in the business. You really struggled to make things happen. And we know we’ve all heard the stories of the, of the people that at that point they quit. But Jen has a great story of perseverance, dedication and commitment, and she just, you know, made it happen at all costs and became one of the top-producing real estate agents in her area has since gone on to teach many, many other agents how to be the same kind of top producer. She has, a process as he teaches now through this program that she’s created The Agent Grad School. And you can listen to her podcast as well, Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. So let’s just, let’s just get into the show. I can’t wait for you all to hear this, everybody. And thanks for tuning in today. I’m so excited about today’s conversation. If I, if I go off on tangents a little bit, or if I bring the conversation down a rabbit hole, I’m just gonna apologize. Right? And I just really excited to talk to my guest today. She, the creator of The Agent Grad School, the creator and host of the podcast, Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. And I’m just getting a great story. And she’s doing things for me when we discovered, you know, she’s finding her what success means to her. She’s really living her passion. So welcome to the show, Jennifer Myers, how are you today? Good TJ, thanks so much for having me and thanks for doing your podcast. It’s Awesome. Oh, well, thank you so much. Yeah. Yours is very good as well, which we’ll, we’ll definitely talk about that through the course of this, but I just, I love your story. And I was just saying before we hit record here and I’m, I’m surprised I haven’t, didn’t find you sooner cause I’m a junkie for this current, for your kind of content and your philosophy and the way you look at doing business. And you’re definitely a true entrepreneur in the real estate space, which is, I love having conversations with you and people like you. So I guess let’s start from the beginning. So what, what’s your background? And, and then how did you get into real estate? And we go from there. So I got before I was a real estate agent, I was a, I worked in the PR industry and this was right out of college. And I read the book, rich dad, poor dad, and something in that moment clicked for me. I grew up the daughter of two government workers. So I really was in that core dad’s story. And you know, you work hard, you do the same job for 30 years, you retire and everything’s great and everything was great. But something switched in my head at that moment. And I couldn’t shake this, this, this feeling like first of all, I needed to buy my own house at 23. And the second of all that real estate was the past to wealth. I never really thought it was going to be a real estate agent, but that’s what happened. But I started by buying my first house. And from that, that experience really had a profound impact on me because it wasn’t the best experience. And I found out later after I close on my house, that at the time I could have qualified for up to $50,000 to like for down payment assistance, by the house that I bought based on my income and where I live and all of that. And that was more money at the time than I made in a full year. So instead of draining my life savings, I could have used this program. Nobody told me about it and it made me and made me angry. And when I get angry, I get motivated to want to make a change. So that’s when I quit my PR job and said, there’s gotta be a better way to do this. I don’t want anything like that to happen to any of my people or anybody else. I know. And so I said, I’m gonna, I’m going to go and help people buy their first houses. That’s great. It’s, it’s, it’s funny that, that often when I talk to other agents and I was like, so why’d you get in the real estate? So the goal, cause I bought a house and I had a horrible experience with my agent. So I figure if they can do it and I can do it. So it’s not the same story, but yeah, it’s definitely, you know, it’s, you’re there as an agent to guide your clients and show them all the options, not just to get a quick transaction so you can cash your commission check. So that’s a, yeah. And I don’t even, I don’t blame the agent. Like I don’t blame the agent in any way, there’s part of me that blames myself. And like, I should have been more educated when I was walking into it and kind of type of thing. And so it wasn’t necessarily that I play my agent for my experience. It’s more like, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And I didn’t want that part to happen to other people. Got it. Sure. Yeah. That makes so much sense. And that’s so that’s what, so you, you drop everything, you Burt the bridges with your PR job or how to, how that transition Going to help and then break the bridges. But we did leave. And I thought for some reason, I think naive early, which is so great when you’re that young and you’re like 23 and 24, you think like, you don’t think really, but for me, I just thought that I was going to get my license and suddenly I was going to have like all of this time and all those money. And in my mind at the time I was like, okay, I was making like $47,000 a year or something. And then I said to myself, and I could just make like $80,000, which is what I want to, as the child knew that my parents made when they were like mine. And I was like, I could just make that I would be set for life. Yeah. And I thought that that would be very easy to do. And I thought that I would have a lot of free time and a lot of extra money. And that is not at all what happened. And that’s not at all what happened there? Well, I D I w I meant to say that’s really, when you mentioned rich dad, poor dad. So I wish somebody shoved the Robert Kiyosaki book and my face when I was 23. So the head of the game, for sure. I didn’t, I didn’t start, I didn’t read rich dad, poor dad until I was late thirties. So, and I’m like, where’s this been all my life. So I had the same kind of feeling when I read the book and it is it’s everybody who listens to the podcast knows I’m a huge Robert Kiyosaki fan with cash flow quadrant and getting to the right side of the quadrat and all that. We might be a, for another podcast, but yeah, but I will say like, oh, go ahead. Sorry. And I just want to say, I think it’s awesome that you like grasp onto that. And then that was kind of a pivotal moment where you, you went on a different trajectory. So yeah, I believe in books like books changed my life and books teach you the things that you don’t learn in school, you know, like another one was the automatic millionaire and understanding like compounding interest, like that blew my mind also. And so between those two books, I was like, oh, I get it. And by the way, I was also a finance major and finance and marketing major college and those concepts didn’t really, they didn’t really apply to my like real, everyday life. So those two books, and I will say, like, I don’t love everything about those books, but I took what I, what like helps me and left the room. And I also didn’t give up my lattes. Right. You know? So there’s, I think that’s the lesson of like, you don’t have to like, like everything you’ve read, but take a little bit of what you, you can apply and, and leave the rest and you don’t like, Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And that’s, I feel the same way. It’s a, not everything speaks to you in different seasons of your life. So it’s always good to go back and read the books, you know? So, but, but things that jump out at you because it’s impossible to absorb a whole book, one in one read, it’s you, your mind just doesn’t work like that. And you just can’t capture all that stuff. So take the things that pop out and then just take action on them. And that’s, that’s what you did. So I love it. So tell us, so now you’re in real estate and it’s, it’s all latte’s and free time, right? A lot of free time. Well, for some reason I didn’t realize back then, I just thought clients would come to me. Like, I don’t know. I didn’t literally have a plan because I think from the outside looking in, that’s what it looks like to be a real estate agent. I never really actually thought about what it would take to get clients and not just get clients, but consistently to build a life around it and not have that constant roller coaster or anxiety about where’s my next client coming from. Yeah. So about six months into me not having any clients I had to, they get a job at rock bottom, which I think is hilarious. Do we know rock bottom brewery others around your Area? Oh no, no. But I’m curious to… my curiosity is peaked. It’s just the brewery. It’s a brewery, but it’s hilarious because I literally was hitting rock bottom in my life because I had these high hopes quit. My job. No clients could barely like, you know, I just bought a house, couldn’t pay my mortgage. So I had to, I was, I was literally at rock bottom every day, mentally. That’s a great analogy. Yeah. I think it’s really funny, but looking back on it, what’s that mean? And, and, and meanwhile, I was trying everything like you name it. I was the one at the AR brokerage that like was going to every agent, like tell me how to get a client. What do I do? One guy told me to write notes. One guy told me to do open houses. And one guy told me to do a floor duty back then. Right? I did literally everything. And for some reason, the clients and my business, like first of all, I didn’t even really have, I didn’t have a business, but the clients kept slipping through my fingers. And finally I said, enough is enough. I also was taking all those free, you know, the free classes when people go to like those big hotels conference room and they give you a free class, cause they want you to sign up. I went to all those also, and I just, nothing resonated with me. I didn’t want a door knock. I didn’t want to call people and bug them. And so what I started when I decided to, in the moment of desperation, I said, you know, there’s gotta be a better way. I’m going to look outside the real estate industry. So what I started doing this was back in 2005, when this whole thing called the internet was like starting to be a thing, right? Like really, truly a thing more than just like downloading music and stuff. And I said, I’m going to look at what online entrepreneurs are doing outside the real estate industry. And I’m gonna apply to build successful small businesses. And I’m going to apply those concepts to my real estate business. And what happened was when I went to one of these conferences, a man named Dan Kennedy, I don’t know if you know him, but he is what I call the godfather of marketing and he’s crass. He’s wonderful. And he asked a question and that question was, by the way, there was not just real estate agents in this room. There was any anybody you could think of. There was somebody in that industry and he said, all of you have to answer. This is the key to the golden ticket. You have to answer the question. Why, why should somebody choose you among all other options, including doing nothing at all. And when he asked me that question, I had zero and answer. I didn’t even know how to get my answer, but I knew if I could find that answer, that that would be the thing that changed everything for me. And so I went, I went about finding my answer. What’s I have to ask what’s what was the answer? What’d you come up with? Well, first of all, it took me about a year to come up with my answer, but then I realized I totally forgot about my experience as the first-time homebuyer and, or I felt like I was the diluted, but what we were told in the real estate industry has to be everything to everybody. Right. I forgot the whole reason that I got into real estate was to do to things, build wealth with real estate and help first-time home buyers not go through my experience. Yeah. And so once I realized that that was the reason I wanted people to choose me, because then I could create a marketing campaign and the messaging, and actually attract clients who wanted those two things. And that’s exactly what I went on to do. That’s that’s awesome. Cause there’s a lot of people that don’t ever get to that point. And my next question for you is when you were going through all that and you’ve already answered it, but when you’re going through the struggle and you hit rock bottom and they got a job, literally at a place called rock bottom, which I think is great. Like I was going to ask you what, what kept you from quitting in that moment? And I think that Dan Kennedy kind of was there just in time. And, and you tell me if I’m wrong, but it feels like his timing or you are ready to hear the message at that time. And that’s when things started to shift for you. Right? Yeah. I mean, why I didn’t quit is because I really, again, it was like something flipped in my script and I want it to be an entrepreneur. And I said to him, and for me, I just felt like I wanted to own my own business. And I felt in my bones, that real estate was the past to that. I wasn’t quite sure exactly how or anything like that, but I knew I didn’t want to go back to a nine to five. I knew that it was always there, but it’s almost like I didn’t give myself that option. So I wasn’t half and half out. I was like, it felt, it felt desperate to me, but I, you know, it was more like I have to make this work. And so that was where my commitment was. And then suddenly you said to yourself, I have no other options. I have to make this work. Suddenly you make it work. Yeah. You do what it takes. Yep. And that’s just where I was. I just, I didn’t want to not, I didn’t want to quit. Yeah. And I was harder. I mean, it was harder than I’m even describing here. Like I would always like cry every Wednesday. For some reason. Every Wednesday was so hard for me, you know, it was like every week it was so difficult. I want to give up A lot of the audiences are, there are agents, agents and investors. I think even investors go through this, if you don’t, if you’re really committed to making real estate, your main source of income and happiness. So I think we can, like, we can all kind of relate to that, that struggle of, you know, there’s always that other job we can go back to, but I don’t know who said this, but one of my favorite quotes is the best way to, to make sure your plan a fails is to have a plan B. It looks like we were like, ah, like how I always plan B. I used to go back to the gym. Yeah. And if you’re looking at it, you’re not looking at a straight-ahead where you can succeed. Right. If there’s a piece of, in your mind where you’re like, I wandering, you know, like anything in life, if you’re, you know, like, no we’re straight ahead and put your blinders on it and you make it happen. And what’s interesting is out of that and out of my struggle, looking back now, what was that? 15, 18, 15 years ago. That was the moment. And that built my greatest strength because if it wasn’t for that moment, I would never have reached the success that I had because I built something truly that was truly different in my marketplace. And I became the go-to person for first-time home buyers. I was able to open my own brokerage. You know, I was making over a million dollars a year. And then I started teaching my agents, my new agents that I would bring on to my brokerage, the same exact steps that I took to build my business. And they started becoming successful as well. Not every single one of them, but the ones that followed it to the T they became successful. So today they’re top producers. And if it wasn’t for that moment, and if that was the moment that I had quit, I never would have gotten where I am today, which is teaching real estate agents, how to do the same exact thing. And they’re business that I did. We build a brand, be known for something, have a point of view, and be able to answer that question. Why you such confidence and certainty that you are a magnet for clients. That’s awesome. I bet like a magnet for clients. So I want to unpack a little bit of that. And then we, you know, you talked about, I love how you look at teaching and, and, and just the name of your, of your, your program, The Agent Grad School, and just, it’s a little bit, it’s definitely a little bit, well, it’s, it’s a lot different than just, I’m a real estate coach and hire me. Because I’m quite, it’s like you could get bombarded as the real estate agent. I’m sure. You know, with emails and telephone calls and Facebook advertisements about everybody is a non real estate coach. So I like your, yeah. I’m not a coach. Yeah. And not a coach. All I’m doing and sharing exactly what I did and helping you. Like, I always say like what? I created this blueprint, I created the roadmap and I’m going to share my roadmap with you. And I’m telling you where you’re going to head. So I have the roadmap. I am the person in the car saying, go left, go right, go straight for 200 miles or whatever. Oh, just kidding. No, I’m like the lady and the way, not a backseat driver. You’re the, the co-pilot and the navigator. I think I’m the one who’s given the turn-by-turn directions, but my people are the drivers. And so that is, what’s so important to me is that I want them to create their own version, their own uniqueness, because every single one of us and real estate bring something with us or bring a reason, or bring some special, unique talent that we have to apply and truly help our people. And so that is why I’m not, I’m not a coach. I’m not leaving you. I am, you are in the driver’s seat. And I’m just showing you the path to get there. Whatever you call that. I don’t think coach is the right word, but I haven’t found the right word yet. Sure. I like teacher, it kind of fits here until we find a better word for it. Cause it’s definitely my, the best teachers I’ve had in life. I think most people can relate are the, are the ones that do just, what you just said is not the teachers who just wrote notes on the board and expect to you to copy their and notes verbatim. Those teachers I didn’t learn much from, but it was the teachers that were, they, they would show you something and then let you discover your own path to get there. That’s what really resonated with me, for sure. I think a lot of people feel that way. It’s because you don’t want to be told what to do because everybody’s everybody, where’s the different size shoe, you know? So it’s, everything’s not going to fit everybody, but Right, right. And I don’t want the spotlight on me. That’s why it’s not called Jennifer Myers coaching training system. Right. It’s about what I want, and this is what I did to my real estate businesses too. I want to focus to be not on me and what the focus to be on, what it is that my agents are creating and how I help them create that. So you said at the top, like, I’m surprised I haven’t heard about you is because I am actually purposely being in the background. It’s not about me. Yeah. That’s amazing. Yeah. Because it, because the ego is definitely step in and we all know we, we call lists about five coaches. I think that just, it’s their, it’s their coaching program and it’s their name on it. And then yet you never have access to that person at all. So, but let’s go, let’s Go back to that. Yeah. Sorry. That’s a model. I want to make sure that I’m not like disparaging that mom, she’s not my model. Right. Right. And, and, and that works for some people. I know people that are, I mean, they’re clearly successful doing what they’re doing because they do help agents and they, they, you know, they do have programs and just a matter of, of what fits in what you fit into as an agent and what you’re looking for and what I’m trying to get out of that. So, but I just want to back up a little bit, cause we, we kind of glossed over you starting a brokerage and I know you clearly have an entrepreneurial spirit and you clearly want it to build wealth and, and, and then you saw like a lot of us do it. And I think if you’re an agent at one point you think about, well, maybe I could start a brokerage to that as a way to build wealth. So what was going through your mind? You know, what, as you were making that decision and, and going down that path When I was in the moment, and this is one of the, again, these moments where life brings you exactly what you need, even if you don’t realize what’s happening. But at that moment, I had two goals. One is wanting to avoid paying like franchise fees or commissions to a broker. Because at that point I had my own office outside of the brokerage. I had my own leads coming in at that point again, naively, I didn’t really understand what I was getting from my broker. I now know as a broker, how much I was getting. Right. But that’s under the themes. But at that moment, I was just looking at the numbers and I said to myself, okay, well, instead of paying that 30,000 or whatever it was every year, instead again, and here comes to the investment I had learned from, I think it was some book about McDonald’s that whoever started to McDonald’s was actually more Wellthy from the owning of the real estate than the restaurants themselves. And so my goal was to actually own the building. I wanted to own the building. And so again, naively, I bought a commercial building and an up and coming area. And I said to myself, well, I’ll just pay my own rent rather than pay the commission to somebody else. And so that truly, it was the driving factor is like, I want it to do my own thing. I wanted to buy some real estate that housed my office and the way, and then I just was like, well, I’ll just start my own brokerage. I thought at the time it would just be me in this little office. And this was 2010. So we all know what was happening back in 2010, the financial crisis was happening and my business skyrocketed it like quadrupled that year. Yeah. And so all these real estate agents, you know, I was somehow, I guess, because I opened a brokerage, I’m a woman. I was in this kind of like not great part of town here were like, what is she up to? What does she do with it? And Yeah, pretty much. And so real estate agents started not literally knocking on my door and saying, will you teach me how to, I’m like about to be out of business. It’s 2010 going to 2011. And that was the moment that I said, yes, I’ll teach you exactly what I, what I’m doing, but you have to do it exactly as I tell you the first time, and then I want you to evolve it. Yeah. And that, that very first agent and I are still friends to this day. And she is, she was the top producer among 300 agents last year and her office nice. And she keeps growing and growing from there. And then same story, the second agent, same thing. And I think she’s at the top agent now at her brokerage. And so what I realized through that is that I really enjoyed not just helping people buy and sell houses, which I thoroughly enjoy, but I really loved helping real estate agents see the possibility and, and actually create something and make something when they, when they almost have lost a little bit of hope that, that, and, and being able to show them know like you can actually do this. And here’s how that really like got me and being able to transform their lives and, and really what it does is like, it helps them see something about themselves. They didn’t realize was possible. And, and that’s kind of what I did to help my buyers and sellers, my first time home buyers, a lot of it was about, listen, you can do this if, and when you’re ready, you know, and let’s get you ready and let’s, let’s change your life and change your trajectory. Cause I believe buying your first house is the stepping stone to wealth throughout your life. You know? So if I could S I like to change people’s minds about what they think is possible. So our, my, my, my, my kind of tagline was my, my real estate brokerage was called dwell residential. And the tagline was dwell in possibility, like what is possible for you and your life. And, and so that’s the theme. That’s the theme for me is like, let’s, let’s, let’s think about what’s possible. Yeah. And if you want something, you can make it happen. That’s amazing. Yeah. I, I just, I don’t know the number, but I know that you have, you’ve impacted quite a few people within our clients, our agents, and that’s just an awesome, like, I love being around people like you and talking to people like you, because it is, it truly is. If you can, if you can think it, and you can do it, I forget who said that was it wasn’t Henry Napoleon hill or Who was in his book? I think it was Henry Ford. Yeah. We’ll say Henry Ford. I’ll put it in well as the head. So yeah, if you can think it, you can do it. I mean, it’s, it’s just the way it is. And if you have that mindset, and it’s really about having the faith that you can, and it’s, it’s figuring out the how after, and, and just making, you know, steps forward. So it’s, it sounds like it, to me that you took, he just took an action and we kept saying, you know, naively, but I think, I don’t know if it was naive or you just knew you just had faith that you needed to do something and the, how, you know, just wasn’t quite there yet. But I mean, it seems to have to come altogether. I think you figure it out the how, and a lot of those things already correct me if I’m wrong, but Yeah. I don’t know. I mean, I think looking back, it was nice and like, how do we say that word naively or whatever at night and to the day or whatever the Hell are we saying. And I think it was a little, Yes, that’s it? I think it was a little bit of that, but there was something inside me that, I mean, for me, it’s like, I love creating things. I love showing people that they can do things that they don’t think is possible for them. I love, you know, I just feel like it’s our responsibility as humans. Once we figure out something, we kinda need to look back and bring the next person along with us. So that’s the running theme. A lot of people say, you know, what you’re doing now is so different than being a real estate agent. And I don’t see it different at all, because I still have these running themes that I’ve done since PR I like creating things. I like creating possibility for people. I like showing people a new way of thinking and, and helping people make their own dreams come true, which then in turn makes, helps me make my dreams come true. So to me, that has never stopped no matter what it is that I’m doing. Yeah. That’s amazing. I like that to tell me, what are we giving us all the secrets, because I know it’s, it is, it is, there’s a lot to it. We can’t even cover probably. And this is the amount of time and we have, but I had to kind of walk me through what is The Agent Grad School? What, what if I was in to sign up, what would I anticipate? Or what would an agent expect? Well, it’s built on this concept that there’s five stages to every real estate business. And think of them almost like a circle that creates an ecosystem. The first is. And so this is not in linear order, but the first thing and have to do as an agent is draw clients in. And I call that the before section, how you bring people to you is all the marketing, right? And we can talk about that for days, but I’ll move on. So once you have a lead, you now need to the next phase as the initial consultation, and there’s particular things that I suggest that you do, for example, give your people a homework assignment. So a lot of agents will go out and show houses. I do not suggest that people show houses. You have to meet with people at first. And people will say, not in this market, I get it. I’m from the DC market. It’s been crazy like what you’re hearing and everywhere since like 2013. So you, if you give people a good enough reason to meet with you, they will. And so that is the point. And then you also give them a homework assignment that shows you, shows them how differently you’re approaching this whole real spying of house thing. So that’s a crucial thing. And then when you convert them and the there’s lots of steps and in that, and lots of things to do, but to make sure that they convert into a client, but then they become a part of your during phase. And this is where a lot of real estate agents seem to drop the ball. They create this great marketing, but then it kind of falls flat sometimes. Or they pass people on to a team member right there. This person was so excited about what brought them in. And then it kind of falls flat. Have you ever had that experience today and not just real estate, but like anything, right? That’s not, we don’t want to have that. So there’s certain things that you want to do to create a, want to have a kind experience for your people. And that’s what I call it the During Phase. So the very structured way to do that for both buyers and sellers. And we got the under contract phase, which for me is a big, that’s what we like. Every agent who’s doing two to three deals, need the CRM to run their under contract phase. I’m a big believer in technology and automation before hiring. Because when you start hiring, you start to be, it’s a different job yeah. To automate. And, and, and, and then the after phase and the after phase is how you to keep in touch with clients. But it’s not about asking for money. It’s not about spending time popping by giving gifts. It’s about creating true value for people after they worked with you so that they automatically and naturally want to give you referrals and use you again, example, does your dentist or your financial planner or your accountant, do they call you every quarter for a client to hit you up for clients? So why are the real estate agents doing that? That’s a good question. I’ve never asked that before. And it’s a very good question. So for me, I want to be who I want to be in my clients’ lives is on the level of financial planner, accountant, lawyer. Right. I want to be in that circle and I’ve got to, if I want that from, if that’s how I want my clients to view me, I’ve got to act like one lawyers do not hit the clients up for the business. Yeah. That’s so true. I love that. That’s this is so good. This is so good because I’ve actually, I think I’ve been thinking that. And I think a lot of us think that, and it does, it does not seem natural, but putting it that way, I’ve never heard of that before. This is, this is a rewind that for listening, the one that listened that again, I know a lot of podcasts. I will say that, but this is legit. Like the that’s. Why, why do we do that? It is, it seems kinda crazy. And if, if your lawyer and your financial adviser and your dentist’s and your primary care physician, if they were all calling you, you know, twice a year, you’d be like, if you guys got to leave me alone, like how do you, I got to have a life I’ve got to work. And yeah, that’s amazing. And like, we don’t want, they don’t, they don’t want to, she can, I swear on this one, we don’t want to shoot the shoot. You know what I mean? They don’t want it to like, right. Like now if you actually calling, because you actually have something cool to tell them, that’s a toll, that’s a toll. That’s the relationship, right? Yeah. That’s different. And when people like build a relationship with your clients, build an actual relationship, not a one way, let me build a quote unquote relationship so I can get something out of it. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So there are ways to add true value to people’s lives without taking a ton of time from you. So that was the, those are the five stages and just a quick summary of how to do it in a way that frees up your time. And I believe big time and what’s called a scalable business. So the other thing about, like, for example, the before phase, if you’re door knocking or cold calling or any of that stuff, that’s great. But here’s what happens when you start to get more and more clients that takes more and more time. So suddenly you have, you’re forced to hire a team you’re forced to hire people, which may be the path that you want, which is great. But if it’s not, you can, you should create automation and like use technology that we have available to us to automate your lead generation so that it takes you less time. The more clients you have, it takes me the same amount of time to market, to my list of a thousand people, as it does to mark it to one person. And as my list, and as my people in and what I’ve built has grown, it’s taken me less time to market myself. So that’s the goal and less time over time. It’s so good. And it’s so counterintuitive, especially we, because when you, there’s a couple of things, I’m going to just go back to you that you said the number one is when you went to that conference, where there were, there were other industries there besides real estate agents. Because I think that we get into this echo chamber of agents that are echoing what they heard from other agents about, frankly, really it’s a system that’s kind of broken, it’s antiquated, and it doesn’t really, it will at work. Yeah. It’ll definitely work, but it’s definitely not evolving with the way things are evolving. I mean, this, I don’t want to get into this conversation, but Zillow’s evolving. You know what I mean? Those, all of those online lead generations are evolving. If we don’t evolve with it, we’re going to kind of get left in the dust. So that was great. I love, I love getting outside opinions of how to do business, because it is a business and what’s working in other industries can definitely translate over into what’s what, what we’re working with and then for you to do, I’ve definitely heard it compared before, like when, when you’re talking about setting boundaries and stuff like that, agents will often say what you, you know, the lawyer doesn’t pick up his phone at 10 o’clock at night. You know, the doctors that you can’t come to the doctor at 10 o’clock at night, so setting boundaries, but then you need to take a step further. It’s really like, yeah, I want, I want my client’s to look at me as, and the same level of, of all those, you know, quote unquote respected professions. So I just think that’s, that’s amazing. So I love this. I’m going to listen to this podcast a couple of times, I think, because to me so much good stuff that you’re saying. So, so what did you go through all the, all the steps, I mean, to you to cut you off and Yeah, those were the five phases. Those were the five phases before how you attract clients, right. They should be coming to you by the way, you should not be going to them. The initial consultation, which is, which is you don’t just run out and show houses, you meet with people just like your accountant, your lawyer, right. And then just going to go to trial, they’re going to actually meet with you and see what the, what the heck’s going on first and say, yes, I would like to, and that’s a two-way conversation, right? You should be making the choice, whether you are the best agent for them. And they need to make, like, it’s a two-way choice. And once you have a mutual decision to work together, then you go into that During Phase where you create that experience than the under contract than the after phase. So it’s five phases that creates our real estate business. And the approach is just pick one at a time and get it right. Because if you can build that strong foundation, you can build literally anything on top of it. Literally. That’s great. That’s great. Well, I love the way we look at that. And we have had, I have my mentor in real estate, but we all have very similar philosophies. And, and the way we look at things and setting boundaries and, and really, and creating the business that is true to yourself, which is as, and I, that’s how I feel to you. I’m, I’m, I’m doing things very unconventionally. I mean, I got, I got a lot of irons in the fire right now, and I’m right on the building investing. And, and I am building a team, but it’s, it’s, it’s more along the lines to kind of like we were you. I want to give back. I want to give of myself to agents to, to, to really help people grow in a way that is not the antiquated go knock on doors, sit down. And you’ve got to be at your power hour for push is actually the way they tell you to do three hours or four hours of cold calling circle, the island, all that stuff is emotionally draining for sure. So I love it. Tell me about the podcast and where did that come first before the school? Or was that come out of the school? Oh Yeah. So Asian grad school was created. That’s what I call and my training program at my brokerage. So people understood like we, what we could call it. Right. We knew we needed a name for it. So I could say, I’ll give you leads after you finish agent grad school after you graduate. So that’s how you earned leads in my company. You had to go through the agent grad school. So when you graduated, you got my leads. So the podcast came later when I realized that I want it to take that to that training program to a level nationally. And now internationally we’re in Canada too. I realized that again, all I was doing was repeating the same exact steps that I built a successful real estate company. And so for me, that meant giving value consistently over and over again, to build an audience and have a point of view and be able to express what that point of view was. And so when I did my real estate business, it was essentially like a weekly email. I’m not the kind of like, eat, don’t think real estate agent newsletter, not at all. That was a weekly value added email that I like literally taught them a concept. For example, first-time home buyers, one of the weeks would be, cause that was my audience. Right? So that’s why the speaking to, so for example, one week would be like, you can buy a home, even if you have student loan debt, right. That is value that I’m giving these people, not just telling them about the house I sold or how great I am, or giving them a recipe or telling them about the drive and movies that they could see. Right. There’s no connection there. So, so I just repeated the same exact process. And so I said to myself, well, what would be most beneficial for my audience? Real estate agents. Okay. There in the car a lot. So rather than send them an email or make them watch a YouTube video, what is the most likely thing that I could get them to pay attention to? If they’re driving around all the time, it was obviously the answer was packed, was a podcast. Now, when I first started that podcast and I had the numbers to prove this, I wish I could, I could even share a chart with you. And this is another one of these things where it’s like, you can’t quit those first six months. I had zero listeners, zero. Wow. That was in 20 to 2019. And today, last month in may, we had over 15,000 downloads. Awesome. Yeah, that sounds right. Right. How Does what it takes, like do not, do not quit when you have no, when you have no, when you have new listeners, if you believe in what you’re saying, and you feel like you have a point of view to share and you feel like you can really help people, you’re audience and the people will listen, they will find you. And yeah. So don’t quit. Don’t try something one. I always tell my agents, it’s probably something for six months, six months. And if you don’t have, like, if you’re not trending up, then it’s time to change things. Yeah. Yeah. I was just going to say, that’s a great parallel for, you know, working in lead generation or whatever you’re doing to get, to get business. It’s about consistency. And so with, if you want listeners to the podcast, you’ve got to be consistent. You can’t let skip a few weeks and then go back to it. And that’s just because people won’t trust that you’re going to be there when they’re ready to listen. So it’s the same thing with clients. Like you’re, if you, if not consistent, of course it’s not going to work. And I fell into that. And then that was my I’m like the poster child for shiny object syndrome. And I’m like, I tried everything. I tried everything like a week later, like this isn’t working, I’ve got to try something else and then switched costs and all that and were just, yeah. Yeah. You know, what’s the funniest, like for me, a lot of it is like a resistance, like quote unquote, I don’t have time. All that is, is fear every single week still to this day, it’s this is the one no one’s going to listen to, this is the one that people are gonna, it’s gonna go viral because it’s terrible and everyone hates me like every single week. And so noticing those feelings of resistance at the end and that’s what consistency is about. There’s something that like somebody wants to tell me there’s if you want a successful business, you need to, you need to know your numbers and you need to be able to manage your emotions. And for me, I remember that every week when I’m scared to have to do my podcast or don’t want to do the podcast, I say to myself, this is, these are just emotions and I have to keep going. Yeah. Most definitely. I can relate because it, but what’s amazing for me is that I’ll wake up and be like, oh man, that schedule the podcast recording for today. I don’t have time. The kids are sick. Or of course there’s always something going on. But as soon as I hit record and like this today, I didn’t feel that way. I was excited to definitely say it to me looking forward to have this one. And I look, I do look forward to talking with all of my guests. It’s just the timing thing sometimes. And, but once I sit down and started talking, it’s like, and I looked down to an hour later, like the hour just flew by. So that’s why my, my episodes are, I’m definitely trying to get them down a little bit, but all my episodes are about an hour long, 45 minutes to an hour, I guess. It’s not that they’re full of good stuff. So The other thing that’s important and I think you demonstrate this. TJ is, it’s not just consistency. It’s actually people, things people want and help people so value. Right? And so you need to have those two things you need to say to yourself, like what do I want my people to get out of this? And it’s all about them. And I know you do this TJ like you’re somebody who comes from this place of like, I want to, I want to truly help people write. And that’s why your podcast is so well received and listened to because not only are you consistent, but you’re actually helping people and giving value to them. So I want to make sure that that real estate agents especially understand it’s not just consistency. It’s actually providing value and helping the people that you’re talking too. And the way that they need to be educated are helped so many opportunities for that. And it’s not about what the restaurants that are opening the movies it’s about things like how to buy a house in this crazy seller market. Yeah. No, you’re a buyer, stuff like that. Or have you refinanced yet? My homeowners because rates are going up, you haven’t refinanced now at the time. Yeah. That’s the kind of the conversations that truly help your homeowners. Yeah. Most definitely. And that was the way. And that’s a good point. Is that because that is a phone call that I was excited to make, to pass clients. I was like, Hey, if you guys to the interest rate, it’s wanting to let you know, like we should definitely, my lender loved it. They loved it. It was great. So I think I got it. It’s the perfect example. That’s a perfect example. You weren’t calling to get something out of them, you were calling and that moment, so that’s the thing, like it’s not that you shouldn’t call it that you don’t have to call it and give something to them and not just call to hit them up for clients. Right. And so what a wonderful opportunity that you ha that you took to really, truly add value to them. So, I mean, that’s the way we do it, but not having something like that is where the, it gets weird. Yeah. There was a couple of people that didn’t pursue it. And I got like upset, like, wait, you’re missing out. And that was hard not to call them and pastor and like, you’ve got to do this. So, but yeah, the value and providing value, consistency and adding value. That’s, that’s good because I Al I always say consistency, consistency. And w I say that mostly talking to myself. Cause I, I struggle with it. I think everybody struggles with it. It’s a matter of like getting over that struggle. So, and, and, and you know, what, if you, and it’s a matter of forgiving yourself too, if you kind of falter a little bit, right. Because if you don’t forgive yourself, it’s, you’re, you’re just going to keep repeating it. And it’s not that pattern just going to be, it’s going to become a pattern of inconsistency. So just like, ah, man, I didn’t, I didn’t get my podcast out on time. Like I could wallow in that and just ruined, like every reason my credibility is lost or you just get back on and making sure it’s on time and the next week and the next week and the next week. So it’s just, it’s a matter of forgiving yourself for sure. But yeah, consistency and then value. So I’m adding that to my, every time I say consistency, I’m going to say value now. Thank you. Okay, good. Yeah. It’s kind of like losing weight. It’s like losing weight, right? You’ve got to go to the gym. You’ve got to eat healthy. You’ve got to do that. Consistency. If you want a result consistently, we want to resolve, and if you have one bad meal, you have one bad week, right. You don’t throw away everything and start eating donuts every day. Right? So it’s like, just let your eyes get forgive yourself. I overate no big deal. Today’s a new day. What do I want to do? What do I want to create for myself today? Yeah, most definitely, because that is a like keeping, keeping promises to yourself. It’s definitely a way to, to build that confidence that you can do the things that you, that you can achieve your goals and you can have the consistency. And when in those moments, when you’ve made yourself these promises and then you don’t hold the promise that can derail you completely. And so that that’s a component of it is like, just forgive yourself and move on. And, and even if you eat wrong or you eat those donuts for seven days this week, it’s like, all right, I forgive myself Monday. I’m going to get back on it and go run in and, and do it instead of the spiraling down to that. And to that abyss. And again, I think that goes into managing those emotions. Right? Know your numbers, manage your emotions. I always, like, I kind of sometimes see myself as having these two people inside me. Right. Ones kind of like, what I call, like my lazy, my lazy. She wants to like, hang out on the couch, you know, watch like Bethany on HBO and eat the donuts. Right. But then there’s like this person that I call, like my future self, what would my future self, what would my highest self and be saying, would you know, w w what would she do? And those are the moments I’m like, okay. All right. Okay. I won’t, I won’t watch Bethany for another hour. Yeah. I think we all have that, that lazy ear all the time. It’s like, it’d be so easy just to not do stuff. And sometimes I indulge that person. Like, you know, I’m like, yeah, like on this day, it’s like, it’s lazy town. Let’s check on it. Right. But I’m the observer of those to people. And I get to choose. I’m not taking, I’m not, I’m not one or the other, but I can make the choice of who I want to be in that moment. So, yeah. I love that. You’re the observer. You’re calling the shots, but yeah. I’m gonna choose to be, I’m gonna choose to watch HBO, Bethany all day and binge on it. Cause yeah. Cause I haven’t been letting the lazy. Yeah. And so great. I love that because I say a lot, don’t, don’t stop listening to yourself and stop and start talking to yourself. And that it’s kind of along the same lines, just like stopped listening to the limiting beliefs and the negative thoughts that always run through your head and start telling yourself like how it is. And that’s kind of along the same mind, just like, and you just, you’re choosing to, to do one or the other, but to the conscious decision. And you’re not just kind of floating through life, waiting for something to happen. Yeah, totally. And I would add that I also don’t wait for the noise and the lazy person to go away. Like, she’s here with me. Get in the car. We are going here anyway. You know what I mean? Like I think a lot, a lot of times, like until I understood this whole managing my emotions thing as the successful business person, I kind of was waiting for those like things to go away. And then I thought, well, then I could be successful. Or, and then I could, you know, just don’t wait those noises that come out to the best of us and just expect them. Like, I know every single time I want to go to the army, I should be gotten to the gym. I’m going to have those little things. I never want to go to the gym, but I go anyway. Yeah. You know what I mean? I’m not waiting for the moment where I’m excited it’s to run because I’m never going to be, but they do it anyway. Yeah. I hear you. The VA, when you said they get in the car and say, I thought of my six-year-old, it’s like, just get in the car. You’re coming with me. Let’s go. Yup. That’s awesome. You’re amazing. You’re amazing. When we talk, I just get you to energize me to really, you know, do the things that I, that I talked about and to walk the walk I try to anyway, but you definitely inspired me to, to continue down that path. So if you, if you’re listening out there, definitely check out Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent podcast. It’s pretty amazing. There’s so much good stuff in there. You use the automobile university and G and play and in between you’re showing and, and checkout age and grad school. So what, and how do we get ahold of you that you go to the website the best way or Yeah, go to agent grad school.com or go to the podcast and yeah, that’s the best way to find out about me and TJ. I just want to say, I really appreciate having you, I love what you’re doing. I’m just, I just really like honored to be on your podcast. Cause I think you’re doing really good stuff and you, you come from this like a genuine place of truly helping people. And I think, I think that’s, that’s rare, not just in our industry, but like in the world. So I just want to say thank you for doing what you’re doing and having the gear. I’m really, really proud to be a part of it. So thank You. Well, thank you. I thank you for saying that. I do appreciate that. And it’s really, I think I’ve told you this before, and I’m certain I’ve said it on an episode or two, but it’s, I was having these conversations anyway with, with people like yourself and, and, and really the student of my own mind and how my mind works and even trying to be better tomorrow than I was yesterday. So that’s where it kind of sparked from and just I was on and off. And I was a guest on an episode of the podcast from my mentor. And it just was like, wow, this is, this is the thing. This is the thing. So those conversations I’m like, I just hit record and, and putting them out there and the, in the stratosphere and to see who listens. So, but thank you. I appreciate It. Thank you. Thank you for doing it. It’s really good. Really, really good stuff. Absolutely. Thank you. So that The Agent Grad School dot com is that It’s not the Agent Grad School dot Com the Agent Grad School, that form. And I’ll put the link in the show notes as well and the link to the podcast, for sure. So yeah, check it out and you’d be missing out if you didn’t for sure. So Jennifer, thank you so much just to be in such great numbers. Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. We purposely keep this podcast sponsor and commercial-free so we can focus solely on providing real estate agents with the content that will help them grow the real estate business. And how about life? They love out five, but business two, but we need your help to get this podcast in the hands of other real estate agents. So please, if you liked this episode, leave a review on iTunes or wherever you’re listening, and also tell your agent friends to listen and to thank you so much for supporting the show for being a listener and supporting other agents along your way to success. That’s what this is all about. See you next time. On another episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. And until then come hang with me over at agentgradschool.com. We’ll see you there.