Think Bigger Real Estate

Here are some things that I want you to understand about learning, growing and pursuing happiness.

You know, for the longest time, I believed that I was learning thoroughly, deeply by listening to audiobooks by listening to podcasts. This type of learning stimulates the brain to entertainment, and to spark some new ideas. But it's not enough to change you to the level that you need to change.

Just upon beginning to work from home as a result of the COVID-19 I found that I had less time in the car and more time to focus on sitting and reading, I now read 10 pages a day. That was given to me by a mentor of mine, Jeff Olson, who said, if you'll just read 10 pages a day, every day, you'll be amazed at how quickly you learn and how quickly you get ahead and the compound the effect that this will have upon your life. So I took up the challenge, and I now read 10 pages a day every day. In a book, I have finished multiple books since I heard that. 
It's had a really interesting impact upon me. My surface learning has been replaced with deep learning. Deep Learning has allowed me not just to flirt with the information, but to date it, to marry it, to build a relationship with the information that I'm getting from these books. Here's why; in order for you to change you've got to actually create When we create something when we speak, when we teach, when we draw, when we write, it takesdeeper levels of our cognitive capacity to create than it does to consume.

When we are listening to audiobooks, for example, or podcasts, it's more difficult to create with it unless we have the discipline of stopping pausing, writing down what we're learning, if we just simply consume, again, it's a surface level communication. But if we stop and actually underline and write in the margins, And teach that to somebody else. Now all of a sudden, we've gone from being a consumer to being a creator. The moment that we turn into a creator, we gain power. We are given the ability to change ourselves and to change other people.
I would encourage you to consider your own morning routine. My guess is that for many of my listeners, you, like me, have less time in the car. If this is true, if you're spending less time in the car, whether it be getting to or from work or two are from appointments, then I want you to find the time create the time to actually read. 

You will start to see the world differently. So that's what education really does. It's not just that you're taking information from someone else's book and putting it into your brain. You start to recognize the world around you at a deeper level, because you're a deeper person. Things that we've put into our brain, create a filter or a lens through which we see the world around us. 

So the takeaway from this is, you need to read and create. Now you might say, I don't read. Okay, listen and create, write and share what you have learned. Because in a knowledge economy, surface level thinking is not going to get you what you want. 

Is the year 2020 going to be the year that you decide to be a better spouse, partner, parent, worker, business owner, athlete - the list goes on and on. We have a unique opportunity to hit reset on all of it and rebuild or improve upon where we are now. 

Ask yourself these three things:

1. Am I living the life I want to live in the following areas: 

• Family/Relationships
• Spiritually
• Your mindset 
• Your body, health and fitness
• Work
• Finances

2. Of those areas which is the one that could benefit my life the most dramatically if I improved it?

3. What is the one thing I can do to have the greatest impact on that area of my life?

Now go do it!

It becomes a bit of a badge of honor saying I haven't had a vacation in 20 years. I hear real estate agents say that. And I never am impressed by that. Or they say I work through any vacation. Another one is I've never taken the day off. I really think that your body and your mind, your business, your relationships, your health and your everything will be better if you take vacations. 

Let me explain why. Your body is designed, not be running a marathon from when you are born to when you die. Your body is designed to run a series of sprints. We do not go days on end with no sleep, right? We get up. We are awake anywhere from what 16 to 18 hours a day, right? And then we sleep and our body is out cold for a period of time. Okay, and then with meals as well, we eat right, we fill our bodies with food. And then we go for a time without food. We're designed to be sprinters, not marathoners. It's cliche to say life's a marathon, not a sprint, right. Life is not designed for us to never take a break our bodies are designed to turn off and turn on.

So if you're not taking vacations, you're actually sabotaging your own success and your own happiness. Now, what do we mean by a vacation? I mean, you actually have systems in place to where you can turn it off. I know that's really hard for some of you, I know it's hard for me. Yet, I would encourage you to go somewhere where you don't have cell service at least once a year. Maybe that's on a cruise ship. Maybe it's way up in the mountains. Right now I'm headed right now over to Central Oregon, where my oldest four children I will be hiking, we're definitely going off the grid.There will be no cell service and I'm going to turn off my phone. I'll have autoresponders on and people in place to catch urgent matters that come up. I know that when I come back, I'm going to be better, I'm going to be stronger, I'm going to be invigorated. 
There's no shortage of people who give their all literally their all to their career. Under the guise of I'm doing this for my family but if they lose their family in the process then they're left to be alone. Or those people that do it all to get the life that they want. What if then they don't have the health to actually enjoy it? 

I want you to take a vacation, even if it's vacation at night. Ricky Carruth one of my mentors talks about how he turns it off five o'clock every night. The only reason he doesn't is if he has a very important listing or showing appointment, but his office work all the other stuff, he turns off.  Find a way to take time off so you don't give up those things in life that matter more than business like health, your relationships, your spirituality, your purpose in life. It could even be having your evenings be free from work, or a weekend now and again free from work. These practices will make you better and your business will be stronger. Of course there are urgent times where you have to be on and you have to take care of clients who may be coming in from out of town. 

The takeaway that I want you to have from this is for you to schedule your next vacation right now, if it's not already on the books, then you need to schedule it. You need to schedule your vacation so that you become your best self, so you don't miss out on those things in life, that you work so hard for. 

Day One Dollar Zero Podcasts hosts Eli Schmidt and Will Grimes brought tremendous value to anyone that wants to build a great business without having to buy leads or constantly ask their sphere for referrals. They do this through the way in which they market. Their marketing includes attraction-based principles of documenting their life in things both personal and business. By being on and sharing our own improvement journey, not only do we help people in more things than just real estate, we also keep top of mind outside of the real estate transaction and end up attracting more people like us. 

Follow us on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dayonedollarzero/

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/day-one-dollar-zero/id1471479022

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcB4JJm3ArJwqhrnmvIkJ-Q

The luxury home market update for Portland, Oregon that Emile Bonfiglio gave to us wasn’t even the main topic of the show, but it was deeply insightful. What was even more valuable for your business was Emile’s perspective on the definition of good marketing, a case for print, a case for telling powerful stories in your marketing, and how he’s really gotten ahead in life and business.  

As the Publisher and Owner of Luxury Home Magazine for Oregon and SW Washington he’s got a lot to offer on all of these topics. Some of the most valuable takeaways from my conversation with Emile were:

• His favorite part about being a dad
• Is print marketing dead
• Luxury home market update for Portland, Oregon
• Where people are moving and why
• What he does to think bigger and expand his possibilities: put in the work even when it’s not fun and others want to quit. You have to have the staying power to stay with it and you will get ahead. 

Additional Resources:

Follow me on:

Instagram: @LuxuryHomeMagPDX

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LHMOregon/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilebonfiglio/

In her own words, here is Gogo’s story:

“I came to the US in 2003 to build my American Dream. By process of elimination; after trying to work in data entry in a warehouse, a sales rep in a jewelry store, restaurant food safety auditor to stay at home mom, to waitress; my neighbor recommended I’ll be a Realtor. She referred me to a local brokerage. They offered me a job if I pass my test. I did and I was so excited to be a Realtor! Reality kicked me in the a** very quickly. Realized over 80% of the Realtors give up in the 1st year. I was not about to be a statistic. But I was also broke, no SOI, no experience, barely speaking english with $6 to my name. So that left me with nothing else but Facebook at the time. That’s where I started. I created Gogo’s Real Estate and my real estate career started! It took me a few years to get the rhythm of things but I’m proud to say with the power of social media I’ve sold over $56M in residential real estate transactions. 

 I share the good, the bad, and the ugly side of real estate, and my honest snippets into my every day got me tens of thousands of followers and in the real estate community I earned the nickname “the social media Queen”. More and more I got asked to talk at different real estate events teaching Realtors how to build a brand and become their own lead generating magnet. I also built a social media bootcamp for Realtors so I can help thousands of agents at the same time. You can find it at www.gogosbootcamp.com.

Throughout my career I’ve been with 3 brokerages. Real Estate One was my 1st one and stayed with them for 6.5 years. I got recruited all the time but I had it so good at REO, I really had no reason to switch. Then because my Instagram and Facebook following took off, most followers being agents, Keller Williams got to me with their “profit share” model. So February 2018 I switched to KW. But profit share opened my eyes to “revenue share” and in Nov 2018, I switched to Exp Realty. It was a great business decision, maybe the best in my career. Today I have a team of 160+ agents and are growing nationwide. 

 My goal is to help as many agents as I possibly can to make a name for themselves in this cut-throat industry. If I can do it, this girl from Transylvania, Romania with no US education, no SOI, no money, no experience, and an accent then THEY can definitely do it.”

 Some of the most valuable takeaways from my conversation with Gogo were:

• How she has her Instagram and Facebook accounts set up and why
• How she has her team structured and why she chose eXp
• How often she posts and for what purpose only does she use paid advertising
• What she does to think bigger and expand her possibilities: daily visualization of her biggest goals as a current reality

Additional Resources: 

Follow me on:

Instagram: @gogosrealestate

Facebook: facebook.com/gogosrealestate

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gogobethke/

Bootcamp: Www.gogosbootcamp.com

When you hear the word branding, what comes to mind? Do you think of logos and colors? If that’s true for you, then you’re in for a real treat by hearing all about branding from a brand specialist, Brandon Gaston. Not only is this guy the best dressed man in the PNW, he understands and teaches branding at a deep and fundamental level, including ensuring that it aligns with your legacy and deeper purpose. Some of the most valuable takeaways from my conversation with Brandon were:

• Branding is less about the external and more about the internal, about how you show up and your confidence level
• People are buying your confidence to solve their problems.
• As a real estate agent, having people be able to affirm that ‘yes, you look like you could buy the house that you’re selling’
• The differentiation that wardrobe offers you, especially in the PNW
• Clarify your avatar and everything else gets easier
• And so much more...

Additional Resources: 

Follow me on:

Instagram: @thelifestylist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.gaston.547

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandongaston/

Website: theconnectorsway.com 

Many of the best real estate agents and mortgage loan officers in the industry have built their business by being face to face in coffee meetings, lunches, business mixers, client events and through in-person pop-bys. So, in times of a global pandemic, when it may not be as welcomed or safe to be face to face with others, should an agent develop a new gameplan in getting business? 

Best-selling author of The Connector’s Way shares very important do’s and don’ts when it comes to times such as these. He teaches the art of empathy as well as the need to show up to give, not to get. Additionally he shared three very simple R’s of making an impact now:

1. Reviews- give online reviews of those businesses that need your support.
2. Recommendations- connect with all of your clients and referral partners on LinkedIn and go give recommendations to 
3. Referrals- give referrals and introduce two people within your network to each other that would find benefit from knowing each other. 

Additional Resources: (please add these)

Follow me on:

Instagram: @patrickgalvin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.s.galvin

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickgalvin/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/thegalvanizingroup/

Website: theconnectorsway.com 

Eric Sachs of Breakthrough Broker not only created one of the most valuable resources known to the real estate industry, but on this episode goes into teaching how to implement, how to get rid of the “I should do xyz” that we all live with.  

Some of the topics that we discuss include:

• How self-determination and will power is like a reservoir
• 461,000 real estate agents are on the service
• It is a free to use service, monetized by others that advertise on the platform
• Eric shares a productivity hack for overcoming the ineffective task lists
• Justin shares an analogy of the last 100 meters of a race being amazing for the fans in the stands, but difficult for the person on the track and how that applies to getting things done
• Eric shares what he does to continue to be a big thinker and expand his possibilities 

Additional Resources: (please add these)

Follow me on:

Instagram: @eric.sachs

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eric.sachs.96

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/esachs/

Website: https://www.breakthroughbroker.com/ 

Relaunch Your Business with Wayne Salmans. Whether COVID-19 or some other challenging situation has dealt your business a setback, understanding the principles of relaunching your business is one of the most important skills that a business owner must face. Author, Coach, and Founder of Hero Nation, Wayne Salmans goes into detail as to how to relaunch your business. 

Coach Wayne has created a company and a movement helping others to become the hero of their own lives. In our interview, he not only shares valuable mindset training, but he also shares the four principles that allow business owners to recover from any setback they experience in their business. 

Additional Resources: 

Follow me on:

Instagram: @waynesalmans

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waynes.salmans/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waynesalmans/