The One Thing NOT To Focus On As A Real Estate Agent

So first and foremost, I want to tell anybody who’s contemplating becoming a real estate agent. If you’re listening to this, do not become a real estate agent to be in it for the money. You can make a ton of money, real estate agent, but not when that is your driving force. So if you’re becoming a real estate agent, so there’s so many real estate agents I talked to and I say, the first question I ask them is why did you become a real estate agent? And if it’s all about them, I know right there, that is the problem. Preventing them from the success that they’re hoping for. I forget who it is. It was like Zig Ziglar. I think who said something like when you can figure out how to help people get what they want, you can have everything you want. And did 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 in date two became top producing agents. Now through 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 Most of which I learned from looking outside the real estate industry, no fluff, no theory, no outdated sales techniques or paying for leads.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. All right. Let’s talk about this concept. It’s counterintuitive. It doesn’t make sense, but if you want to succeed as a real estate agent, it cannot be about the money. Does that make sense? Okay. So let’s talk about this, Amy. You actually thought of this topic. So like, tell me what inspired you to want to talk about this topic and share your thoughts about this topic with our listeners. And then let’s dive into like how to do that at any stage of your business, whether you’re a brand new kind of midway and when you are a top producer, so what made you want to talk about this topic? So there were several things that I was thinking about what I wanted to talk about this topic, you know, you and I were chatting one day and we’re reminiscing about starting agent grad school many years ago. It was your first students. And I’m just thinking back to literally the steps that we started in the process and what I was being taught, and then skip to 11 years later. And all of a sudden I’m like, wait, we never talked about the money. We literally never talked about it. It was like this light bulb moment for me, because you have so much of it just flying out the window. Yeah. Well, now that, you know, I’ve been able to have a career that is sustaining and year after year, you know, the money is increasing and you know, I’m doing well. And that has happened from your one onward. You know, there hasn’t been a back slip or, oh, this year is, you know, much less than the next year it’s been consistent. And that is really what I think you and I talked about originally that I did not have a consistent business at that time. I had had like a good year, an awesome year, terrible year in between year, you know? And I had no system, no organization, no plan. So I came to you and you said, yeah, here’s how you do it. Like, but you never said, and every year, I mean your going to make more and more money, which yeah. And looking back, I’m like, why didn’t I ask her about the money part? You know, I was thinking about it because I certainly was struggling financially, you know, I was doing okay, but I was never no fancy vacations or no extras or investments or, you know, retirement. It was just, you know, okay. And sometimes not. Okay. You know? So it was interesting. Like, why didn’t we talk about the money and, you know, maybe I think because you and I talked about too, I found someone in real estate who seem to feel the same way I did about the experience, really wanting it to make it about the client. I definitely want it to make a living and do well, but I really wanted to have, you know, a broker tell me not to cold call or have to like give away candy or pumpkins in the fall or in the fall, you know, or something like that that never ever generated any clients. You know, I try these things, you know, and they didn’t work. So you didn’t tell me that I had to go like deliver pumpkin. So, but you told me I had to do a whole bunch of other stuff. I can still remember, like my second year in real estate, delivering pumpkins and being like, I don’t even know who I’m delivering them to. Like, they don’t even know me. I have like a trunk full of pumpkins. I was in Brandon leaving, living on people’s doors. Right. Because we’re told to do right. Deliver pumpkins and send out packets when people’s kids go back to school with our name on it and things like that. And none of that felt good to me and all in the hopes. Right. And the thing that I paid in about those mechanisms for quote, unquote, getting clients is it felt very disingenuous to me. I want to give like my neighbor, a pumpkin, because I like want to make their day. But it felt very disingenuous of like, here’s the pumpkin, you know, dot, dot, dot. Hopefully you’ll become my client. Like, it didn’t make any sense to me as a lead generation strategy. Do you go on and say, yes, it never made sense. And yet I would look around and people would be like, this is how you do it. And it will become a millionaire. And I was like, okay, well, I’m going to go get pumpkin’s or, you know, in real estate, there’s so many things that people tell you when you start that they say they’re successful at. And many of those things did not resonate with me, but I was like, well, I mean, they’re successful. So I’m going to do what they do, you know, and ignoring that voice in the back of my head that says, this doesn’t feel right. Like you’re talking about, you know, this feels disingenuous. And also I think this topic we wanted to chat about, because we were talking in another discussion with some agents about the money, always, you know, when people greet you in this business, they say, Hey, we how’s it going well busy that you’re here this year, but you’re really raking in the dough and how it’s just always so jarring when people say things like that, or conversely, Hey, meat’s terrible year. I hope you’re doing okay. You know, like I don’t ever walk up to anybody in any career and, and start my conversation like that. So let’s start with that because I think what’s so interesting is for whatever reason, and I think many times, this is one reason why people become real estate agents, for whatever reason, depending on how the market is doing the public themes, to think that that somehow equates into money or lack of money for a real estate agent that they know which frankly, in my opinion, and in my experience how the market is doing is no indicator of what kind of income a particular agent has. Perfect example when the market was crashing, right? My income was skyrocketing. It was tripling, right? Because I knew how to market myself and become an agent. There are agents listening to this, who the market is hot, and it’s so hot that there are so many agents in their area, but they’re not making any money because they don’t know how they don’t know how to differentiate themselves. So I don’t know why. I mean, it’s such a good point. Like for some reason, I don’t know why. Like, if you think about like going to dinner with a group of high-level professionals, the topic of, you know, money is so rarely something that people talk about with the doctor, the dentist, the financial advisor, why is it that people seem to think like they could just assume situation about money with us because we’re a real city. I find that interesting. Yeah. Number one, you’re right about the fact that agents and their success is not dictated by the market. I think the agents that I want to Emily at least are not right, but there is that perception that we’re obviously not getting that out there enough, that there are plenty of agents and people who’ve worked in real estate for years and years and years through all the ups and downs and have had consistent income, you know? And that, yeah, that our value is somehow tied to all these things that we don’t have control over like interest rates. And, you know, I hear that a lot too. Oh, interest rates are so low, you must have so many buyers, you know, or like, you know, interest rates are terrible. Must be a terrible time to try to sell a house, you know, like all these kinds of things. And I think that for whatever reason, they’re trying to make a connection, you know, but it’s always tied to the market, like you said, and tie to money as opposed to, Hey, you know, how’s it going with your job? Like, I have lots of friends in many different careers and we’ll chat about their jobs. If they want to go how’s work. How was this, you know, bosses or here’s what I’m working on. Here’s the project. But here’s why I think the public has that mentality. And like you said, we can’t blame them. And I think the reason is because as real estate agents, we are told slash we may feel that wherever we go is a client getting opportunity, which I don’t agree with. But it’s like, if you put out into the world that every opportunity is a client getting opportunity, then what you’re going to get back from the world is that feeling of like sales-y feeling right. And when it comes to salesy, it’s like all about money. But here’s the thing that I think a lot of real estate agents, myself included, I don’t know about you, Amy. I’d be curious actually to know, but I did quit my job because before it was a real estate agent, I didn’t realize what it took to be a successful real estate agent. Right. But I did, I will admit I was one of those people who thought being a real estate agent meant like not working as much and making more money. And I think that’s one reason why people get into the business is for the money. And now we’re sitting here saying it can’t be about the money. So they’re probably thinking like, well then if it’s not about the money, then what is it about yeah. Many people, you know, there’s many ways to define success in the real estate industry. Right. But it’s the chief one that seems to get out to the public, like you said, is money, money, money, money, how much did you sell? How many, you know, homes, the amount, lots of numbers, right. And for an industry that’s constantly giving us back. Like you said, what my clients get back to me. If feedback is like, I need help with this. I need understanding with my timeframe or how the market works or what I need to do to sell my house quickly. Or like how this affects my finances from an overall journey. That was the one. But I can talk to about that or a simple thing. Like, you know, how long am I going to live in a house? Can dictate what mortgage program I go with. Those are the kinds of things, right. They don’t say to me, you know, they don’t say like, I want a superstar person who sells bazillions of homes. Lots of and makes lots of money. That’s what I’m looking for. Nobody says that to me, exactly. It, the clients that you want to work with generally, I mean, yes. I would say that there is a segment of the market. I would say maybe the luxury market where that is probably part of the equation and the luxury market. Let’s just say like, is the certain, you know, percentage, I don’t know what it is technically, but let’s just pretend that’s 5% of, you know, real estate agents, right? We’re not talking to those people because I think in that world, it is about the money. But for the majority of real estate agents, it cannot be about the money. Your clients do not care how many houses you’ve sold. And I really want the new agents to hear this because so often they tell themselves like, oh, why would anybody pick me? I haven’t sold enough houses. Why wouldn’t they pick this other person who has all this experience? And here’s what I want to tell you. Your clients do not care how much money you have, how many houses you’ve sold, what they care about is how can you help me? Right. So when we say it’s not about the money and especially for those new agents, and we’ll talk about how, when you have no money coming in, how can it not be about the money? Cause you need money, right? But when you flip that switch in your mind and in your marketing and in your mentality, like in your belly, in your being, it cannot be about, I have to sell a house, I need the money. You cannot let yourself get to that point. It has to be, how do I help people? Who do I want to help? How do I want to help them? And how do I find these people who I can help? That’s all people care, right? It’s truly all people, probably like you said, 95% of people in all different price points across the country care about, you know, there’s an article this morning that came out on CNBC. It was fairly negative talking about that. You know, buying a home is the affordability factor. This is across the country. It’s just getting tighter and tighter, which we all know with the rise of prices. Right? And so again, another strong need. People need to know, how do I afford a home? You know, now I could write an article that’s very different than that. You know, that report or other people, ways that homes are as affordable and why they’re as affordable in the right situation and for the right client. Or maybe not, you know, you and I both have talked to clients who are like this, isn’t your time. You’re not quite ready. Here’s what we can do to get ready. I think that’s another thing that realtors are definitely afraid of like saying no to a client and telling them they’re not ready and really having your client’s best interests in mind before your commission check. Like that is the place from which you have to come as a trusted advisor and really as a real estate agent, like yes, you can choose to be a real estate agent who, you know, is the one who comes running when they click a button on the app and try to sell them a house that is an option, what I’m offering and what Amy and I, both how we grew our businesses was totally flipping that on its head and saying like, we have something to help you with and we are actually going to help it, but your interests in front of our own pocket book. And I think for me, for the newer agents out there that just starting agents that haven’t, you know, gotten an offer through yet, or maybe have five 10 offers for me looking back, I think I was as great of an agent then in some ways, because I had so much time to invest in my clients. And I had really had a lot more time because I had less clients. Right. So I felt like if I could get them to my clients to really trust that I did have their best interests, I was going to keep them as clients and get them as clients and eventually get them what they needed to get their home. Right. As opposed to walking in going, I hope I get this clients. I can sell this house. You know, every client, like, how can I help this person? What are they looking for? I really, as you like to say, I kept my blinders on because every client is a little bit different and their needs and their wants and, and all of that. And I had lots of time to really sit and go through and say like, as you talk about in your process, you know, the buyer intro discussion that is so critical, that piece, I feel like so many people do not do that piece. I feel that way, because so much of my feedback I get from people who have bought before, like, oh, wow, we ever talked about that. The first time we bought a house or, oh no, we never considered that. Or, oh, thank you so much for so much for your time already, because in their mind, they’re like, why am I giving you all this time? I haven’t hired you as my agent. I’m just talking to you, you know? And they don’t understand that because they think this is a financial transaction, only our first. Right. And certainly you have a choice as an agent to decide what kind of business that you want. And there being a transactional agent like prime, that’s not what we’re talking about here. So let’s think back to when we were both brand new and it really was about the money because we literally had none, like literally both of us, like different times, right? Like I was doing this in 2003, four or five. And then you and I met in 2010. But think back to whenever that moment was for you, when it really was about the money, because like you couldn’t pay your bills, how does an agent not make it about the money when they’re in that position? For me, it fueled my ambition and made me work harder because a, when you have to pay your bill and you’ve dedicated yourself to a career, which, you know, you’re getting paid on a commission and that’s when you get paid, you know, and I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, but what I did is like looked at my skills and said, what are other people doing? And how much more can I get? Right. I can give more, like, I really wanted to prove my worth and how much more I could give. So I just saw it as it is like not a challenge, like, oh, I’m going to beat all these agents. But just like, okay, I know there are a lot of agents to choose from. I’m newer. I don’t have a hundred transactions behind me. What do I have? Well, you’re a really hard worker. Amy, you learned staging from working from a company that sold new construction and you worked with the designers and you learned all the tricks of the trade. Okay. Well, that’s a distinguishing characteristic. I can give people, you have time more time than someone who has 30 clients or so a lot more time. So I knew I had time to give to people. I knew that I wanted to help people that I didn’t want to be in this just for the money, because I would have taken a different path. I would have worked with different brokers or, you know, so I knew it wasn’t just about the money for me. And I really enjoyed the people that I was working with each and every individual time. That didn’t mean that I wasn’t stressed about money. I was always concerned and the bills were always continuing to come, but I kept that kind of in its own separate place. And I, you know, I would get frustrated when other agents could like do all this advertising and had all this stuff. And I just got super resourceful. You know, like what resources do I have that don’t cost money that I can give to people right here right now to help solve problems. That’s what I have to offer. And so I picked those things out and found people who wanted those things, who are less concerned about how many houses I had had, or had not sold. They liked the relationship with me. They liked what I had to bring to them. Not everybody wanted that, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need everybody. Now you had told me that a long time ago, I just needed the people who wanted what I had. So I was attracting the people who wanted, what I had, who liked that, my style, who liked hands-on, who liked the fact that I had a lot of time to spend with them. And I nurtured each and every single one of those clients. And yeah, I walked out the door going, oh, okay. You know, yes, my bills are still due and I still have to pay them. And, you know, luckily it all kind of worked out there. Wasn’t a lot of extra when you’re starting. But I think the fastest way to not succeed in real estate is to start looking at what you don’t have and what other people have. I hear people say it all the time. I mean, well, I don’t have what X amount of money to go to this convention to learn these things, to stage a home. You know, people would say like, I don’t have money to stage a home. I go to home goods, I’d go to the sale rack. You know, like I would stay in my own furniture. I mean, I take things off the walls. I mean, I was laughing the other day. I saw my mom, I was looking back for a client on a listing for something. It was like 2013. And there was like a couple of blue vases. And I’m like, I literally still use it. Now. My income compared to 2013 versus now is very different. I still use these basis. You know what I mean? Like it’s funny. And I use them. I mean, you know, what’s funny. I find that clients also get fixated on money. One thing I just want to say is money does not fix everything. Yes. It makes things easier. Yes. It’s nice to have more money than less money. But how many times have you had a client Amy come to you and say, if I just made a little bit more money or if I just had more of a down payment and one thing I would always tell them is money. Doesn’t solve the problem. Nine times out of 10, the same problems and the same pushback that I hear from my clients who were buying a $300,000 house is the same exact complaints that I heard from my clients buying a million dollar house or $2 million house. Right. It’s just that the problems are a little bit more expensive. So for example, it’s the $300,000 buyer would be like, it feels a little small or maybe a little bit run down. Right. But for whatever reason, our expectations are always a little bit beyond. But I think like we could safely conservatively buy or have, and for a lot of us, me included that kind of drives me a little bit. Right. But one thing I realized is the more money I have, it doesn’t necessarily like solve every problem. Like I still have a closet that I don’t feel as big enough. You know, I still, I still had to buy a house where I had to paint every room, you know, like it’s the same kind of conversation. So really knowing that money doesn’t solve everything. And I will say that when I first started in the moment, it was literally, hell, hell, ruined so much gain. So much weight ruined relationships for me because I was always working and never could participate in life and had to take a second job. You guys know my story, but the one thing that made me, like you said, was resourceful and scrappy. So for example, I couldn’t do Facebook ads because any Facebook ads didn’t exist, but I couldn’t place that because I had no money. So I got scrappy. That’s how I figured out my system. Wasn’t email. What’s the one thing I have available to me, email right? Email is free. I know people put them on my email list, right? Creating a website can cost tens of thousands of dollars if you have the money to pay somebody else to do it. But guess what I learned, I got really good at figuring out how to create lead generating websites because I had to do it right. And now I can pay somebody to do it for me. But in the beginning I had to learn how to do it. And so that made me so much better at then being able to hire people to help me do it. You’re kind of reminding me of like things that I did. And one thing I know this is a semi controversial statement, but you know, open houses has garnered me, particularly in the beginning and many, many years business. I have so many long-term clients who have given me people over and over that I’ve made lots of money from, from doing open houses. The fact that people don’t want to ask people to sign in. I mean, if people don’t want to sign in, I say, of course that, right. But like people will sign in a lot. And if you just email them, you know, it’s a small, like that costs no money, you know? And I think there is, we talked about the shiny object syndrome before, but like, I believe that sometimes again, that the conventional knowledge, I guess, is like, don’t do open house waste of time. We’re just going to get used by the agent, you know, all that. And for me, I said, well, what do I have? I have time. So on Sunday, if I, for two hours or three hours, that’s working on my business because what is my alternative? I don’t have any clients, you know? And so for me, I never understood when people say, oh, I never do them. And I’m not saying you do them forever, but when you don’t have people coming in front of you, and this is a great way to have people coming in front of you, to me, it was like, well, why wouldn’t you do it? It’s free. You’re getting in front of buyers and sellers and other people who live in the neighborhood, you know? And if you’re a people person I’m pretty outgoing. I got good results. Now there were days that I got none. And that was fine too, because that’s the same thing to me is sending out a Facebook ad, right? You might get people who are going to click on it and you might not. So I think it really depends on like where you are in your life for me, I have the time. And so with time I can do a lot of things. I didn’t have the money, but I had the time. And that’s usually kind of the flip, right? When you get to the level you’re at like where it was like you had less time, more money to be able to outsource things to people, to do some of this stuff like you’re talking about. But for the very beginner people really don’t like being around people are very shy or nervous, then don’t do it. But to me, if you have the time, why wouldn’t you do it? It builds relationships with other agents too. It makes you learn about the inventory. People ask questions, you learn about the health and all kinds of stuff. It just made me a better agent from doing them. And I know some people say they’re a waste of time, but that was not my yeah. And some people are better than others. I think you have just have to know who you are. First and foremost, I want to tell anybody who’s contemplating becoming a real estate agent. If you’re listening to this, do not become a real estate agent to be in it for the money. You can make a ton of money, real estate agent, but not when that is your driving force. So if you’re becoming a real estate agent, so there’s so many real estate agents I talked to, when I say the first question I ask them is why did you become a real estate agent? And if it’s all about them, I know right there, that is the problem. Preventing them from the success that they’re hoping for. I forget who it is. It was like Zig Ziglar. I think who said something like when you can figure out how to help people get what they want, you can have everything you want. And it’s so true. Once you figure out how to help people get what they want out of their life. And in this case, we’re in the real estate space. But once you can help people solve whatever problem that’s preventing them from doing the thing that they want to do, buying their first house, moving up to their second house, downsizing to their last house, whatever it is selling during a divorce, whatever it is, if you can get really good at helping people do that thing that you become known for that thing, the natural by-product is more money than you could ever imagine. Truly, really, if you’re focused on why you became an agent, think about who you can help. And really there’s something about being a real estate agent that interested you, because if you want to make a lot of money, like get your series seven, be a stockbroker, right. There’s so many other ways. Yeah. So many other ways. Yeah. And I think that that is, you know, you talk about dirty little secrets in our emails about buying a house. I think it’s one of the dirty little secrets in real estate. It’s the, you have the statistics somewhere. I think of how many people quit real estate within the first two years and get their license. What is it like 90%? It’s a huge amount of people. You know, there’s two year renewals, I think in those states. So any percent, and this is like an NAR statistic, 80% of new agents don’t renew something like that. But not only that, if you dive deep into, if you really want to dive deep into, if you’re becoming a real estate agent, because it’s about the money, go to the national association of realtors and look at what the average income is for a real estate agent. If somebody had shown me that when I was thinking of becoming a real estate agent, I don’t know that I would have ever become an agent and this changes every year or so, but by the way, in 2020, so they released the year after. So we’re in 2021 right now, recording this, they recently over the summer released 2020 numbers. They went down income, went down for the agent for the first time in a really long time, which is really interesting, right. Because the market was so hot. Isn’t that interesting? Yeah. Well that leads me to industry-wide you’ve probably read a lot about it. There’s been a lot of talk about how all of these different companies, we’ll name them all, but different companies changing and shaking up the marketplace, right. Or really like shutting out the traditional model of the agent being in the center. And I think that, that, I don’t know if that statistic is correlated or not, you know, but the value proposition is getting you that you’re having to put out there is having to be stronger and stronger, not less and less, you know, it’s not one of those like, well, now that you can shop online for things, it’s just real easy to be an agent. And I think that could be what people think. And that is, could be never be further from the truth. It’s like kinda, it’s exactly the opposite of that. Really. There’s been a lot of discussions, at least that I’ve listened to and participated in over the last six months about the real estate industry really being shaken up and you know, what the future looks like and how important the agent will be and is, and will remain if the value proposition is there. You know, and it’s yet to be seen if it’s some of these companies and things that are coming out that are different and unique are going to be what people want are not here’s the bottom line when it comes to being able to make money as a real estate agent, and also fend off these companies that you’re talking about, you have to ask yourself, what value can you provide your clients? So if your value is opening doors, because they found a house online, I’m sorry, I know this sounds harsh, but that is very replaceable. That is not the value that real estate agents should provide. And so that’s why I get so kind of adamant about really teaching real estate agents, how to learn what their value proposition is well beyond showing houses and how to actually help clients, because that is the only way that you are going to create value for both your clients and by creating value for your clients. It’s how you rate value, AKA money for yourself. So money is the natural byproduct of creating value for others. That’s the only way to make that happen. And here’s, what’s really sad. We were talking about the statistics for NAR. If you’re an agent the first two years that you were an agent, the average agent minus expenses makes less than $10,000. Well, first two years, if you’re an agent for 16 or more years, the average salary just went down to less than like $70,000 a year. It’s not even breaking six figures. Yeah. It’s a tough industry. So it’s like, why are we all thinking? Why do people become real estate agents? But those are the average numbers. The answer is you have to provide above average service and it’s not about, oh, I can really serve as my clients. It’s like, how do you solve the problems? How do you remove the obstacles, keeping them stuck. And once you figure that out, and once you’re able to communicate that to the people who need your help, that’s when that money comes. And for me, everything that you’re saying that you have been saying, since I met you was revolutionary. You know, I was like, wait, I’m supposed to drop off. Pumpkin’s get a client, make like $15,000 off that one and get another one. Right. You know, and then I’m going to be rich like next year. Right. You know, like I have this kind of thing in my mind, what I, what I bought a real estate agent was I’m going to send out some, you know, just sold postcards again. I’m not saying if these work for you awesome. Do them. They just didn’t work for me. You know? And I hadn’t found anything that worked for me. And I was very, as you know, frustrated when I came to you, but not in a negative way, just like, please help me. You know, I can’t because you were so successful. And I was like, why is this person so successful? The market’s not great. I’m not successful. And this person doesn’t, you know, it’s fine out the door. Every time I see her really, really busy and, you know, thank God that I met you. And you said, here’s how I’m doing it. Here’s how you can do it. Here’s how to provide value, which is truly in any industry, how you keep people, I mean, and how you grow. And the money does becomes a by-product. And I think time takes time, as they say. And I looked back and thought about that now that you know, my income has grown with my business. And like, how did that happen? You know, we never really talked about the money cause we did. He didn’t say, you know what I mean? You come and learn under me. You’re going to make a hundred thousand dollars the first year. And then you’re going to make blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You never said anything like that to me, or you’re not going to make any money, but you will eventually, or there were no like financial promises given to me. Well, you know what it’s like, I always think about this, right? It’s kind of like getting to your goal weight. Like when you’re losing weight, if you work out, if you expend more energy than the food you consume, not just you like all of us, right. You will get to a point where you get to whatever your goal weight is. I am not, or not necessarily your goal weight, but like your body will fluctuate wherever it needs to be. If you do the thing, the daily things that are boring every single day, like you don’t need some flashy thing, right. If you just eat less, move more, your body will change. Right. But I don’t know if that’s going to be, you know, 180 or one 60 or 2 0 3, like that’s not for me to decide it’s for your body to decide. Right. So similar to like, who’s to say that you wouldn’t make more than a hundred thousand the first year, if you do the work, who’s to say that if you made 80, that you’re not going to make 200 the next year, you know what I’m saying? Like, if you just focus on the work, whatever it is that you want is by focusing on the work. That’s why I always had you focus on the work instead of the goal. Yeah. Yeah. And it just like, when you’re trying to get to your goal weight, it’s going to be frustrating. Cause you’re going to be like, but Jennifer I’m starving right now. You know, like you don’t understand or I would kill somebody for a French fry, you know, it’s going to feel the same. You’re going to be exhausted. You’re going to be, you know, and I think one thing that’s tough about it and I would encourage people to find a mentor and to find people to be around. I know it’s hard during COVID, but you know, the isolation is not helpful, you know? And I think that’s hard because when you’re building a business, sometimes it’s, it can be very isolating, you know, but find a mentor, you know, not just any old person, you know what I mean? Like, but find someone where you’re like, I don’t, you know, he’s like, yeah, you don’t have to blow up balloons for me. Like you have to show up and do these things for me. And it’s something that resonates, it feels right to you. And that’s what happened with you. And I, and I think I’m so grateful because I was just floundering and you know, I continue to grow and continue to learn so much. It’s 11 years later and I’m in class, you know? And sometimes I’m refreshing. Sometimes I’m learning news. It’s always changing in closing. I think the other thing to remember is also now that like you’ve arrived, let’s say, you know, you’ve gotten out of the newness, you’ve gotten out of that kind of desperation. You found your groove and then the money starts flowing. Here’s the thing that’s really important. It can’t be about the money then either. So often people say like, if I had more money, I wouldn’t worry about money. But the thing is, is like, there’s so many things that happen when you grow your business. Like the problems don’t disappear. They’re just different problems. They’re actually higher level problems that like you have to then be capable of solving at that point. Right? Like when I had a million dollar business, I had a whole lot more problems, higher level problems that I had to be challenged to solve. Right. They didn’t just disappear. So don’t think that like when you arrive at a certain number that life’s going to be dramatically different, it’s pretty much the same. It’s just a little bit bigger or more expansive. But at that point also, it can’t also be about the money. Cause then frankly, you were bored. Like that’s the exciting part. That’s the exciting part of like, you know, that you get higher level. I don’t know if it’s like a higher level, but different things when, you know, like you said, the fact that yeah. Different challenges, the money doesn’t solve the challenge. Like, yes, maybe now I can run a fancy ad in a magazine and I’ll tell you like the feeling on that. Isn’t that great when you have to pay the bill and you didn’t get any clients, you know, you’re like, well, okay. But you’re like, Ugh, when isn’t that money, but that’s what I mean, I have it to spend, but then any of the different challenges and I love that the challenge is constantly change. You know, how boring, if it was always the same, but also too, you do get more challenges. The stuff that you have then over and over in some way starts to become more fun. You know, at least for me, I can relax a little because I know these neighborhoods or I’ve been to this building six times or, you know, I’ve had this problem before come up. So the client in front of me who has a problem, I already know how to fix that problem because I’ve been through it. That part of it is nice, you know, the whole like, oh great, sure. You know, school loan, here’s what we do here. Or, but that comes out of experience. Not necessarily the check, you know what I mean? Yeah. That’s the experience, but that’s what I mean, like the check comes, but then as you grow and the check’s going to, like, it’s a little more fun, at least that’s where I feel like right now that I’m not so tied to, I hope I don’t make a mistake because I’ve had the growth, which came from starting with helping people, not saying I’ve got to make X amount of dollars and you see it all the time. You hear it all the time. Our goal this month is blah, blah, blah. Or, you know, in the movie they put up, you know, here’s the pot, like how close are we to the goal? And you know, all of these kinds of things that I was just thinking like we are in sales and we don’t ever talk about, I mean, we talked about it, but it’s not a focus. Really. Yeah. I can’t be. So what should you focus on? Not on making money, not on selling houses, on helping people, right? The minute that you start feeling that graspy money, transaction, feeling your clients can feel it. They know it. They can sniff it out. Even if you don’t think it’s there, but it’s there hidden somewhere. They can sniff it out. So really being focused solely on who is this person in front of me? What is their dreams? What are they trying to do? Like how do they feel? Right? And then how do I become the bridge to help them get what they want for their life. That is how you get money to come to you, but you can’t focus on the money and then start getting that money, really taking care of the money. It’s different. I would say, yes, money’s can solve a lot of problems, but your life isn’t magically different. So always being worried like, oh, I just need to like make one more house sale or, you know, life does not change when you have more money, it just looks different. Kind of, it just looks different. All right. So let’s lay on this plane. Any final words of wisdom for the agents who are kind of worried about money when it comes to their real estate business? Yeah. 100% understand that certainly have been there. And I would say, like you said, you quit your job. I did some things on the side, you know, all kinds of stuff to continue to be able to pay my bills because I know what people are going to be thinking. Right. But how do I pay my bill for some money? You know? And I get it. Yeah. But focusing on money and I would just say this, focusing on money did not get me money. Right. It just didn’t when I put it in a separate silo and it’s hard to do, but I, in my mind, I said, do this good job. I do what I’m supposed to do. And I’m learning from Jennifer and this will come. And so I would just say like, keep yourself positive. Like trust in yourself, know that you can do this and you can do this. You know, if you really want to do this job, some people get into it and they don’t like it. But if you really decide to like it and you want to stay in this, know that the money will come, it might not come when and how much you want it to come, but it will come. And it’s like you say, Jennifer, it’s the snowball effect. Then you can’t stop it from coming. You know? It’s like, even if you put it too, it’s like, yeah, you can stop it from coming. And it’s such a great feeling to know that you don’t have to like, do something that feels so salacious like, oh, I’m going to make X amount of money. And like you said, that’s a limiting thought. Anyway, what if the universe has you wanting to make a lot more money than you think you’re going to make? Or who knows? You know, that’s the limitless and the people that you meet, the things you can do. And if you don’t like solving problems, I will say to anyone, this is called, this is not the business for you. This is like every day is a problem is like at least 25 problems that I saw before. Like before like noon, she does get quicker and better at it. Here’s how we solve that problem. Yeah. But if you like helping people and seeing that joy on their face and being with people and you know, one of my favorite memories and I have so many of clients that it was a new home buyer and she had done some different programs. It was her first home and she was here and her father lived in Boston and he came down for the settlement and he came to me after and he said, I just want to thank you so much for taking such good care of my daughter. I could not be here to help her or guide her. I don’t myself know how to do all of this. I have to work. And I just appreciate everything you did for her. I mean, just like I was like, okay, that’s worth like a million dollars right there, you know, care who cares about the money like that. I gave somebody parent peace of mind. Yeah. And that’s like that. Yes. Like, you know, versus like I help somebody buy a house that just isn’t, you know, if that’s, what’s your joy and having us and all that good stuff, don’t focus on the money. The money will poem. Yeah. That’s it. Yeah. Because on the work and the helping people, all right. Amy, as usual full of wisdom, thank you for just sharing your journey with all of us and just remembering kind of like that feeling of being there and then being able to be on the other side of it. I think it was just so helpful for people to hear more than just me say that. And you know, the more and more people that like, I can show how to do that. You know, that’s my mission in life right now is to have like hundreds of thousands of Amy’s out there who was so worried about the money, not getting the success that she wanted and now is on the other side of that and can teach more people how to do that. Right? Like that’s what I love about you, Amy, is that you always are like turning your hand and saying, okay, who’s next. I was there. Let me see who I can pull up with me. And I really admire that. And I think that’s the sign of a strong leader. So thank you for being that person. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You are welcome. Thanks for having me. What’s fun. If you want to build the type of real estate business that Amy and I described in this episode, then think about becoming an agent grad school student. We’re open for enrollment right now and Asian grad school is the place where I can personally help you build your real estate business. Just like I helped Amy build her multi-six figure business, go to agentgradschool.com/enroll to get information about becoming a student.