Bill Madder, who has been in the real estate industry for over 40 years, never thought he'd be the one giving his dog fleas. Now, instead of hosting fleas, Bill has lessons from a diverse background in real estate – and is excited to share and continue contributing positively to the industry. Bill put in the work and knows the value of a quality sphere of influence, necessary change, strong leadership, and compassion. Listen in to learn what Bill did in response to a budget-cut solution - and hear about the time his association president was asked how he liked to be spooned.

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:30 – Introducing Bill; he's been in the business for over 40 years in Manitoba, Canada
• 03:00 - He's been in real estate since he left college, struggled at the beginning as a young REALTORⓇ, and moved into management, partnership, and Presidency
• 04:26 - He went to the association side in 1993 and excelled from there as CEO; he's happily not working there anymore due to a merger
• 05:50 - He's looking for a job and is happy to find a position on a board
• 07:10 – What Bill learned in his first tough years of real estate
• 07:17 - Your sphere of influence is critical for your success; he didn't have one when he first started out, as his network was only young college-aged people
• 07:45 - He went to his friend's parents and family friends; at that time, interest rates were at 17-21% and they found other ways to put deals together
• 08:30 - He cold-called and door-knocked; he did listing presentations and did the daily work
• 10:10 – What he thinks about moving people past the resistance to change
• 10:30 - Trust in leadership is necessary; a strong orientation at the beginning is important
• 12:15 – Bill's answer to life
• 12:45 - You have to be able to get along with people, and not everyone is the same in the way they react and think
• 13:50 - Think of your board of directors and leadership as a team; members or clients are who you work for
• 16:10 – Bill's CSIRE story
• 16:35 - He was showing a rental property that was a referral from his boss; a highly-respected couple needed to rent a place while theirs was being built
• 17:25 - He walked into the rental property and the couple started saying that there was something wrong
• 17:50 - They looked down, and from feet to ankles they were covered in fleas; fleas had taken over the house
• 18:05 - They ended up invading his house and they needed an exterminator; he still sometimes sees the man who had toured the house with him
• 20:00 – Lessons learned and takeaways
• 20:20 - He did the right thing at the time and helped the people find a rental property despite the fact that there's not much profit in rentals
• 20:50 - The man who toured is an elected official now, but he was in a different place then; he was treated with compassion regardless
• 21:00 – Another CSIRE story
• 21:05 - He listed a property for $12,900; it was a house with appliances that needed work
• 12:38 - Less than 6 months later, the couple that bought the house referred him to their friend with a $150,000 house
• 22:00 – Lessons learned and takeaways
• 22:07 - Especially when first starting out, you should take every listing and not worry about the value; you don't know what can become of it
• 22:20 – Another CSIRE story
• 22:45 - Volunteers put in a lot of travel time; there were two cases where the president and vice president became a couple
• 23:30 - One of the two couples is still together today; Bill said he wishes he would've known so they could save money on the room reimbursement
• 24:10 – Another CSIRE story
• 24:24 - The association was looking at expenses and looking to cut costs; he considered having people share rooms for travel
• 25:00 - He sent the president a comic strip that talked about cutting travel expenses and it said, "Do you spoon on the right or on the left?"
• 25:08 - The issue was never raised again
• 25:30 – How to reach Bill: email him at [email protected], call/text 306-220-9570, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter

3 Key Points

1.) Are you willing to do the work?

2.) Get along with people and understand that everyone is different.

3.) Look after your people!