Jeff sits down with Vanessa Barnes — Realtor, real estate business coach, speaker, podcaster, and soon-to-be author — joining from Celebration, Florida. Vanessa shares how she accidentally fell into real estate in 2002 after a temp agency placed her with a company selling estate homes, and how navigating the 2008 financial crisis built the foundation for a career that now spans over a thousand home sales. She discusses the parallel she sees between agents who entered during the pre-crash boom and those who came in during COVID, noting that both groups often missed learning the fundamentals because the market made selling so easy. That experience fueled her transition into coaching in 2022, inspired by the transformative impact her own business coach had on her career.

Vanessa breaks down the five fundamentals she teaches: lead generation, follow-up, going on appointments, signing agreements, and practicing conversations daily. She emphasizes the importance of knowing your numbers at a granular level — starting with the profit you want to take home and reverse-engineering how many daily conversations that requires. She also encourages agents to choose lead generation strategies that feel authentic to them, whether that's hosting open houses, building community groups, or leveraging social media. Looking ahead to 2026, Vanessa has a packed calendar: her first book (based on her Roadmap to 100K course) is in final edits, she's been approved as a Florida Realtors CE instructor, and she has plans for two more books aimed at agents scaling to $500K and seven figures. 

Learn more and connect:

https://vanessafranzbarnes.com/

https://www.instagram.com/vanessafranzbarnes/

https://www.youtube.com/@vanessafbarnes

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Epic Agents Podcast
https://epicagentspodcast.com/

Produced by:
Jeff Hamm  - SEO & Digital PR for Realtors
https://aidawerks.com/