Think Bigger Real Estate

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Welcome back to The Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart, you know, oftentimes when I'm sitting down and meeting up with agents, I say the word system and they start to light up. And I think because real estate agents tend to be very excited about growth, very entrepreneurial consistency tends to be a weak spot of theirs. And so I'm more than excited today to have on a guest who is truly an expert, helping agents be consistent, put the systems in place to help them be able to have the life and business that they want. So I'm excited to welcome today, Lars Hedenborg. Lars first and foremost, before I give kind of a full bio on you, I appreciate you being on the show today.

Lars Hedenborg  0:37  
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. This is the one thing you know, I almost see sometimes the opposite effect. When I mentioned systems to real estate agents, they, they feel a feeling of overwhelming almost like what's a system like I'm not a systems person, you know, like enlighten me as to what a system is. So I'm looking forward to the conversation today.

Justin Stoddart  0:56  
Yeah, very good. So for those that don't know, Lars, let me just give a little background him large section in your first year of business, close 71 homes, yet that came to come at a price it came being away from his family realizing like I can't do this forever, I can hustle for a year and prove the fact that I can sell a lot of real estates. But at the end of the day, you were short on time. And you wanted the ability to have both right to have success and significance a great work life and great home life. Continuing on large scale his business to where now his team produces over 100 million dollars a year consistently. And he's found some tricks some systems, to say the least, that have propelled him and his business to the next level. As a result, he's actually developed a whole school around this real estate B school BB and just the single letter B. I'm going to put that up here on the screen now. So any that are curious about that. I'm gonna put that up here real estate B school. We'll talk a little bit more about that. But Lars, I want to thank you, again for being on the show today is on the think bigger real estate, is a big thinker yourself. And helping those of us in the audience think bigger. So thank you again, for coming on.

Lars Hedenborg  2:02  
Yeah, for sure. And you, you nailed it in the intro in terms of 2002, 2007, 2008, you know,

I was married in October 2006. We had our first child in November 2007. And I realized early on that every part of a real estate agents job like 90% of it could be done via a system and a lower level person, not in an ugly kind of way lower level. But let's scale right? Yeah, systems were out of the gate, I was just like, well, if I want to make my number was $250 an hour, if I want to make $250 an hour, for a full 2000 hours a year, right, I wanted to make at least a half a million to me and the government, there was 90% of it, I had to build out a system and have someone else run it. And systems are everything in the business, like anything that you do more than once a month is a system. And a lot of times, agents don't like this, I think it's that simple. You know, if you're doing something personally, and you're the real estate agent, and you're doing it more than, you know, let's say let's start with the weekly stuff, you're doing it more than 234 times a week, you need to put that into a document and make it so someone else can do it. And that really, for me, that's been like 99% of everything we do. And I just have a consultant role in the business now.

Justin Stoddart  3:22  
Interesting. There is definitely a lack of consistency. You know, and I think again, when you as I mentioned before when you work with entrepreneurial people, entrepreneurial people, I believe move the world has the ability to change the world. The downside is that they tend to be very easily distractible, and their high performers and can produce very significant results for short bursts of time and oftentimes lack the organizational skills to be able to do that consistently, which causes them to not have the long term impact that they want. Let's talk a little bit about the systems that you think real estate agents need to start with, or one of the few of the big missed systems that you feel like real estate agents could really implement and have the most amount of impact.

Lars Hedenborg  4:11  
Yeah, so I'm going to give like a, probably more than 10 seconds, but real big the business is our ability to attract buyers and sellers convert those into face to face and clients deliver a differentiated service. And then there are a few things in scaling the business. You know, creating your future, knowing your numbers and growing your team. So it's a little bit more complicated in scale. But when it comes to attracting buyers and sellers, what got us here isn't going to get us there. So you know, you better make sure you have your database locked down, and you're actually doing something of value on a regular basis where, you know, we'll do 3.6 million this year and 1.4 1.5

from a database of about 1800 people will come from that part of it and we spend, you know, we'll probably only spend about $30,000 to generate that amount of GCI this year, and a phenomenal

and it's all because we just preloaded what we do for in terms of social in terms of content in terms of events and giveaways. And it's run by someone who makes about 20 bucks an hour. And it's only part of that person's job for the entire year. And so but it's all pre-loaded. So every little we have 93 social things that happen in a given year, we have 57 sorts of content pieces that go out, we do an E-newsletter, and she just pings me when she needs a video or a market update or a funny video for my family. She kind of gets some some some leeway in that. But that's a system that runs and then we feed the database. You know, we as team leaders, especially we forget that our databases are really valuable. You know, that's a million dollar year over year pillar in your business. And are you adding Do you have a system to add two new contacts a day to your inner circle database? super simple, but nobody actually does it. I've yet to meet a team leader that actually focuses on the database on a regular basis.

Justin Stoddart  6:12  
I love how you simplified that Lars. And I think again, the brightest minds in the business have the ability to take the complex and turn it into something super simple. And what you said is attract the business, follow up with the business service, the business, right, those are three. And the fourth was just the kind of ancillary systems, you need to actually scale a business. As I mentioned, it was second to the fourth.

Lars Hedenborg  6:33  
Yeah, so I mean, so when we start working with the new, a new, a new client in the coaching business, it is really making sure they have the attract, convert, deliver rock solid, but in a way where they're not in it. So we need to attract folks to the business, convert them, and then deliver an amazing service in a way where there's probably 12 to 18 core systems and just those three pillars. And once we do that, then the team leader can focus on scaling. And scaling is making sure you have a solid three-year plan, making sure you know your numbers, and making sure you know how to grow your team, the culture stuff, the attracting new talent and those sorts of things. A lot of folks want to scale their business, but the attract, convert deliver is a complete shit show. And it relies 100% on them to have that a CD, you know, AC DC, attract, convert, deliver, you know, and then get it to get a commission check...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. Real Estate photography today matters more than ever. My wife and I, for example, toured about 1000 homes virtually, toured one physically, that was the home we bought. So Case in point, real estate photography matters if you want to be a great listing agent, and I'm really excited today to have on the show gentleman by the name of Darryl Glade. Darryl is the founder and CEO of stilio.com, which is a marketplace to connect real estate agents, and great photographers, they do a full vetting process and training program to make sure that the photographers that they bring to the table, understand some very key principles of which we're going to be discussing today. So I want to, first of all, thank Darryl for being on the show today, Darryl, welcome.

Darryl Glade  0:43  
Thanks for having me, Justin looking forward to it.

Justin Stoddart  0:45  
Yeah, based on what you've built, you're, you're a big thinker, which I'm excited to have someone like you, who not only has been a top agent, right? for 10 years, you're a top agent in New Orleans, found your passion within kind of this niche of real estate. And now you're pouring into the industry in a different way. So very cool, excited to have you here to extend really my mission of my passion, which is to help agents think bigger. I know that when that happens, they themselves grow. And their business follows suit, which opens up options and impact that they've always wanted. So thank you again, for being here. Let's dive into this there'll, you know, one thought that I've had actually taught a class this week, as I was mentioning to you previously, called becoming a powerful marketer through storytelling. And I believe this that the great marketers, and great agents out there, don't just say, hey, let me show you a house. Right? They say, let me tell you about what your story what your life would look like living in this house, there's a much deeper emotional connection. And people really start to see their story transform and having that home be a part of it. How do you feel like photography plays a part in helping people see the story, their story being in that home,

Darryl Glade  1:57  
it's got to be the easiest way to do it. You know, there's a great stat that says 90% of buyers say that the most important part of any real estate listing is the photos. And so it's not the flowery language. And if you're trying to tell a story and trying to get a certain message across, the easiest way to do it is by photos. And it's really the cheapest way to do it as well. I mean, it's not a very big investment. And the listing agent and homeowner can work with a photographer to really set the stage to tell that story to get your point across. So exactly like you were talking about in your presentation, the photos are a key part to accomplishing that goal.

Justin Stoddart  2:39  
You know, so many people, again, I think maybe an indicator of where we're going as a society, right, Facebook was the big deal for a long, long time, they were wise enough for a small investment of a billion dollars, they bought Instagram, but what's Instagram, Instagram is image heavy, and text light right there. So Case in point of what you're saying here is that you can have great copy, and you need to have great copy. But if you don't have good photography, no one's ever going to get to your copy.

Darryl Glade  3:07  
Now you're exactly right. And, you know, to expand that further, the Instagram generation and in Facebook still, all anybody cares about is content, all these agents are trying to create content to get their own personal brand across and to get that listing information across its photos. So if you commit to getting great photos, and all your listings, you've got all that content built in right there ready for you, ready for you to extend your brand and to get that listing messaging across. And it's just so easy. All you gotta do is get your listing photographed. And then right there, you got 20 or 30 pieces of content ready for you to post to extend your brand online.

Justin Stoddart  3:48  
Well, how important it is, you're right, because you're not just listing at home, you're listing your business, if you will, right. You're demonstrating what kind of marketer you are. And I believe that when people evaluate a real estate agent, it used to be just on like, who have your friends us and who do you trust. And I believe that now people have more of a discerning eye. Yes, they want to know that. But they're also vetting you to see if you're also a professional marketer, not just a good real estate agent. But are you a professional marketer? Are you showing up in the video? Or do your images look like they were taken on your phone? Or do they actually look like it's amazing, Darryl, that how many agents and I say, well, you go through our MLS, and you can identify a much higher percentage than you would expect, are still doing photos on their own, oftentimes on a mobile device, right?

Darryl Glade  4:28  
I always say our biggest competitor is not necessarily another professional photography company. It's the agent with their own cell phones. And yeah, technology is expanding every single day, and the cameras on the phones are just that much better. They're outstanding. But the fact is, you need to know the angles you need, which features you need to know the camera height. And then not only that a huge part of getting really good professional photography for real estate is the post-processing. It's the editing afterwords. And that's where still to other professional photographers really get the job done.

Justin Stoddart  5:05  
Well, you say, I know you guys do, again, pretty, pretty deep vetting process when it comes to the photographers that are part of your kind of ecosystem, right? What are some key things that you look for when you're choosing photographers in an agent should be saying, you know, that's some criteria that I need to look at now, obviously, going through studio com, they're going to get this, but talk to us about kind of what criteria you look for.

Darryl Glade  5:28  
Yeah. So, you know, it's important that we vet all the photographers that get access to our marketplace, and, you know, still is a lot different than the other professional photography companies out there we are the marketplace, we are not the photography company. So that means agents are going to go and find their local photographers. And then those photographers are the ones that are creating and giving the service to the agent. So if we want to make sure that that marketplace is only full of vetted important, really good photographers are all the agent will never come back again. Right? So when the photographers submit their application, they have to submit photos, so we have to see their existing work, they also have to create a profile. So if for example, the profile says, you know why hire me I because I love photography, something like that, well, they're not professionals, they need to have a professional profile, they need to submit their camera equipment. So if they don't have professional grade equipment, they're not in. And then not only that, they have to take a test, if they can't pass this professional, it's a test for real estate photography, not just general, professional photography, if they can't pass the test, they're not live. So these are some of the things that we want to make sure that of the 6000 applications that we got the last six months all around the country, we are a nationwide marketplace, that only those that are the best can get to the real estate agent. So that we're really taking our time making sure that the top photographers...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart. And as you know my mission and my passion are to help you think bigger, so that you can have the business that you want, which produces the options and the impact that you want. Super excited today to have kind of a real estate industry icon, possibly even celebrity depending upon what standpoint you're looking at it from

nationally known, at least His name's Kevin Kauffman. Let me start off by saying a big thank you to Kevin for being willing to come on to think bigger real estate show. 

Kevin Kauffman  0:28  
Yeah, my pleasure. I love to do it. You know, I think you and I connected over the fact that we both love to give back to the real estate community. And so I'm literally my pleasure to do this. 

Justin Stoddart  0:38  
That's awesome. Good stuff. Let me tell the audience here a little bit about Kevin Kauffman, again, he's a wants to be known as a realtor. I think that's pretty cool. Out of Tempe, Arizona, from another perspective, he looks at Real Estate a little bit differently. He goes about a different we're going to talk about what that's what that looks like for him. He has an expansion team and if you're familiar with expansion teams, where you have one hub

and one location, and you add other agents in different parts of the country, he's done. He's got five different locations about 50 agents, what he calls a small expansion group. Some might beg to differ that that's that small. He's also co-founder of the group next level agents, and the podcast, Kevin and Fred's Next Level podcast. And in talking with you, Kevin, prior to this, I love kind of your passion behind that, which is, you've been fortunate to be surrounded by some really great people. And why not give back? Why not record those conversations and let more people have access to them? 

Kevin Kauffman  1:35  
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like, you know, I, I realized a couple of years ago that something I've done naturally my whole life is to seek out mentorship. And sometimes it's a mentor for a season. Sometimes it's for like, one individual little thing, one topic, and sometimes it's for life, right and,

and so I love learning about the genius inside of people and being able to want to

My reasons for having the Facebook group I mean, the day I started that and then told Cody and Fred: "Hey guys, we now have a Facebook group, surprise!" And the reason I started the podcast was that I wanted to be able to do that on a bigger level as you can only teach live to so many people so often without being on an airplane 300 days a year, which I'm not willing to do. And so it's kind of like my ability to kind of deliver on that stuff that really lights me up. 

Justin Stoddart  2:27  
You know, I feel the same way. A very similar motive for the bigger real estate show is I'm I guess, gutsy enough and passionate enough advocate for the industry, that I want to get the brightest minds in real estate. Like I want to be around them, and I want to be learning from them. And why not offer that to a bigger audience? Why not? Like, let's like with technology these days, there's no reason why we can't be broadcasting great conversations all the time. So thank you again for being a part of that. Yeah. Let's get into kind of your definition, Kevin of what it means to be a next level agent.

You've obviously carried that through your kind of your branding, both in the Facebook group as well as the podcast, obviously, in your mind, you have some concept of what it means to be a next level agent help define that. For the rest of us. 

Kevin Kauffman  3:14  
You know, it's funny, Justin, that's a great question. No one's ever asked it to me that way.

But you just forced me to think about it differently. And one of the things I love is the fact that there's not this one size fits all recipe for success in real estate business. And so for me, when I think of like, what, like I say this to people who want to be coached, and I'm, I'm like, we go through an interview process to see if I'm gonna, if I'm going to coach them if I could be a good fit for them, but they'd be a good fit for me is, I don't care if you sold 10 houses this year, and your goal is to go to 25. Or if you sold 500 houses and your goal is to go to 1000 I really don't. But what I want to know is the desire to hit your personal next level there and Will you follow through on the actions that are required

So when you ask the question that way, you just reminded me, number one, it's about whatever that next level is for you. And number two, it's also about it doesn't not like you don't have to go the expansion team route. You don't have to go the team route. You could go the luxury route, you could go the investor, right, like there are so many ways to be massively successful in real estate. And so I guess at the end of the day, that's how I would answer it is like, it's the person who thinks like, what is my personal next level? What's the next level for my business? And for myself as a person in my personal development?

Justin Stoddart  4:35  
That's a super, super compelling answer, I think, based on what you said earlier, which is about this concept of growing yourself right of growth. I found for me that that happiness includes growth. And I think, by design, we as human beings aren't happy unless we are growing like there's, there's this deeper underlying purpose as to why we're here which is just to grow and progress and become more and impact more

And I think probably guys like you and I get a little bit addicted to growth, like if we're not experiencing it, or if the people around us aren't experiencing it, like we get uncomfortable, like what? And I can sense that from you. And really super cool to hear that the purpose of this branding is that you want to be around people that are like that, that are like hungry to get to some next level, whatever that means for them. Right. 

Kevin Kauffman  5:21  
Yeah, you know, I would argue that true happiness isn't possible without growth like you have to be growing somewhere in your life. You know, one of the things I've learned from many of my mentors over the years is like, your business can never outgrow you as your personal development. It just can't, it's not allowed you. Now, some people will choose to let their personal development outgrow their business. And that's definitely possible, but it can't be the other way around. So you've got to have some growth somewhere, I believe to truly be happy and fulfilled, and to be a happy person. I mean, I'm just one of those airy-fairy believers, that as I believe as humans were like we are hard-wired.

To connect, and that if we're going to connect with people, we're going to have to grow in order to be able to truly be connected. 

Justin Stoddart  6:07  
Yeah. powerful stuff. And I agree, I think it's in our DNA, that growth is part of who we are. And when we negate that or when we avoid that it causes people to be really dissatisfied I do you see people interesting story. I had an economics, no, accounting teacher in college, and he hit it big had a big acquisition for a company he was a part of was like, like, done like did not need to work anymore. And his wife goes home to his wife. He's like my job's kind of done here. I'm going to, I'm going to get a golf club membership. And, like, your job's not quite done yet. kids haven't raised I he was joking about this, right. He wasn't actually that chauvinistic. But he said I golf for the next couple of years. He said I've never been so miserable in my entire life. So so they actually went back to the university th...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart, very excited about today's episode before I introduce the topic, let me just restate my mission, which is to help you think bigger. And when you think bigger, you end up growing as a person. And as you grow as a person is so good. So grows your business, which opens up all kinds of opportunities, more options, as well as more impact. So I'm excited to have my good friend Josh Hackenjos with me here today. Let me just begin before I fully introduce you, Josh, thanks for being on the episode today. 

Josh Hackenjos  0:30  
Yeah. Good morning, Justin. It's an honor to be here. I really appreciate you letting me come on here to chat. 

Justin Stoddart  0:35  
Yeah, man, I appreciate you let me twist your arm to have you come in for value into this audience. I know. Every time you and I have conversations, I walk away a little bit smarter. And so I knew that you do that for this audience as well. So for those of you that don't know Josh, he got his start in the real estate industry back in '05. He was a guy that would show up at the front yards of homes were getting to be sold he would dig the hole and the sign in the yard. So little humble beginnings. But he was a talented guy. So he moved from that to actually being a team owner, kind of ran his own real estate team, then was promoted, and I should say, recruited into a role in which he was, had a very big leadership role within a very big Keller Williams office here in the Portland metro area. He's now a solo agent. He owns Hackenjos Property Group, as well as has built a coaching company called Community Empire, and which he helps agents with many of the things we're going to talk about today. So with all that being said, Josh, you and I both have a background in the construction industry. I had a contracting company, you've built homes yourself. And there are some common threads that you and I started to talk about, that that industry is well known for its craftsmanship, but not well known for its professionalism. Would you agree?

Josh Hackenjos  1:49  
Yeah, absolutely.

Justin Stoddart  1:52  
You know, for me, I didn't aspire to be in the, in the construction world, I really grew up in a very business oriented family. And in the early 2000s, that was just a great business opportunity. And so I hopped on as, as did many, and was able to benefit greatly from the construction industry. Until it will kind of wasn't a more but in that timeframe. It was interesting. As the construction market started to crash, I had asked myself, I was asking mentors around me, I was like, What do you think this is going to mean for the industry? And their comment was, you know, I think five years it'll be back. And for me, it had I really loved building homes. And I really loved working with contractors day in and day out, I probably would have said, I'll wait for it right, I'll do kitchen and bathroom models because I love this work. For me. I realized my passion was not building homes. It was building people and building businesses. And so the construction world actually at times was quite aggravating. Because of subcontractors again, they were they kind of fall into this typical concept of the E-Myth. Right? If anyone's read the book, E-Myth, I know, Josh, you have that people are very good craftsmen, very good technicians. So they assume that they're going to be good business owners, they just kind of like Well, I'm good at doing finished carpentry. So I'm going to be good at building a finished carpentry business. And that wasn't always the case. Josh, I would imagine you had some similar experiences in a Ha's and your time in the contracting world.

Josh Hackenjos  3:12  
Yeah, absolutely. And it's and it's funny, as we've been riffing on this, you know, the similarities, real estate are going to start popping up as-as we talk through this, because, right, you've got these, I came out of the new construction, world framing and then doing finished carpentry and in the remodeling world. And you've got these guys who are amazing at their work, you know, as a tile setter, as a Finish Carpenter as an electrician. And while they are masterful in what they do there, they never went through the courses on how to run a business, how to hire, how to retain talent, how to run QuickBooks, and get billing out how to just show up as a business owner. Is this starting sound a lot like realtors, right? low barrier to entry, high level of skill and talent up here, and maybe not the business background to run it.

And this is something you know, we were talking about this in terms of these, these general contractors who are out there who are so good at what they do. And yet the customer experience the customer service and communication expectation setting is where things fall apart. Right? How often have you been in the middle of a remodel? And it turns out, well, that sink is out six weeks. And so because this thing's not here, then the guy can't do the counter. And because the counter is not here, the plumber can't come in, right? And then we say, Oh, my contractors had our place torn apart for six months. The frustration is due to a failure of setting expectations. Yeah, and all of this right, let's draw parallels right out the gate. You know, I wrote an offer. And then I never heard back whether we got it accepted, or we have no idea we were going to have to do these repairs as the seller, right? In the real estate world. There are all these correlations, in terms of a failure to set expectations leads to frustration with the experience, is it I mean, I think I'm drawing a parallel, it feels it feels right. 

Justin Stoddart  4:57  
Well, it's, it's interesting, because the people that again, come into the construction world, typically we're raised by a very craftsman, you know, artisans, in the woodworking space, or in the concrete space or whatever. without really a business background. And in real estate agents, they don't necessarily the industry doesn't necessarily attract. To start people who have kind of deep business backgrounds is typically people that are great salespeople, they're great customer service people. So very similar to a contractor, like you're saying that they've got a certain skill set that that lends itself very well to serving clients to getting a certain product complete a certain finished product. But the business and you know, to not pick on real estate, not pick on construction. The same thing happens in the dentist, you know, in the dental industry, and even doctors, right, they're fabulous doctors, but a lot of times they're not great business people. They're fabulous dentist, but they're not great at running a business. It's two separate hats. It's two separate businesses. And I know what Josh, what you and I have discussed, we believe that the future for well paid real estate agents now I believe that there will be a place for a lot of real estate agents, I think I buyers will take a chunk of the pie, I really do think that there will also be a place for low paid real estate agents, ones that are more like Uber drivers that are in a certain neighborhood and someone needs them to come to open up a door. And they'll get a little ding on their phone. Hey, you need to open a door over here. They'll get paid. Not well, but they'll get paid for that service. Right with, a functionary role?

Justin Stoddart  6:26  
Yes.

Josh Hackenjos  6:28  
Right. Yeah,

Justin Stoddart  6:29  
exactly. And then there will be a group that you and I are really trying to cater to, and really help as many as we'll listen. Say, Hey, guys, there's a green pasture over here, right? There's, there's ...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Justin Stoddart excited today to bring you a topic that I'm passionate about from someone who I don't know if I could seek out and find somebody more qualified to talk about how to get a lot of stuff done and be a high achiever in multiple areas. And we're going to talk about a morning routine, and maybe having a bit of a paradigm shift for you, and the number of things that you can be accomplishing by nailing the morning routine, and by hearing and being inspired by this gentleman's story. So first of all, I want to before I fully introduce him, I want to thank Eric, thanks for being on the show today, man. 

Eric Post  0:30  
You're welcome, brother. You know, I, here we are. So let's rock and roll this thing. I'm excited.

Justin Stoddart  0:34  
I love it. For those that don't know, Eric. Some may know him is he was at one point, an equity partner in five Better Homes and Gardens offices. He's now sitting on the board of that organization, continues to be a real estate investor has projects all over the place owns a restaurant. Here are some cool things in addition to being actually a veteran served our country, the Marines. Thank you for that. Eric. He also is a father of two kids. And he's currently in the top 10% of the world for his age group for Iron Man triathlons. In addition to that, you've done all kinds of really cool races. Talk to us a little bit. Eric, before we get into kind of the morning routine, and even some of the business stuff. Talk to us a little bit about your, like, some of these races and stuff that that that you've done.

Eric Post  1:23  
Sure, yeah, I mean, I, you know, I, I'm not a self-proclaimed like an adrenaline junkie or anything like that. But I do believe that that comfort is the enemy of progress. So I'm always looking for ways I can push myself out of my general comfort zone. And I mean, come on, we live in a great country, we live in a great place, you know, have a great home a great life. And so, you know, that can evoke complacency. And the best way I found to like get myself out of that financially or relationship or any other way business wise is to push my body and if I'm uncomfortable and kind of get familiar with pain and little stuff doesn't really matter. So yeah, I find crazy, the minimal amount back races or climb mountains are these triathlons, that kind of stuff just to literally push myself and remind myself that it's okay to be in pain. It's okay to suffer. And the gratitude and the feeling and the sense of pride you have afterward is irreplaceable. So

Justin Stoddart  2:12  
that's why I do those. I love it, man. Good stuff talks about some of like you've done in addition to the triathlons. What else have you done? I know there's 100 hundred mile mountain bike ride. What else? Yeah.

Eric Post  2:24  
Cascade, Lakeside, 100, you know, down in Central Oregon. It's amazing, right. But it is grueling. You know, it's one of those where you climb like 10,000 feet in a day. And it's 90 degrees. And it's pretty technical trails. You know, and so it's just one of those of you, I push me and there's a whole long story with that, but that one pushed me for sure. I've done some, you know, different adventure races and trail running races and, like, went to Africa and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and, and things like that. So it's just, it's just, I just kind of like, find what inspires me and, and when I wake up in the morning, and my eyes light up, and I want to have something done going towards. So that's why pics on those things.

Justin Stoddart  2:59  
So cool. I'm so inspired by what you've done. So sometimes when people see people that are for example of triathletes that hike these mountains, I know, one common thing that people say as well, you know, I've, I've got a job, I've got a business, I can't do that stuff full time, I can't be in the gym full time. And that definitely hasn't been your situation. As I mentioned before, the number of things that you've accomplished from a business standpoint, I would imagine a lot of this stuff that you do, you've got to fit it in, in and around a very busy schedule. You've got to fit it in maybe first thing in the morning. Is that true?

Eric Post  3:31  
Yes. Well, I did this morning. It does. It does vary based on my schedule because it needs to be a fluid schedule, I've kids, I gotta get up and all that kind of stuff. So you don't have to school sometimes. And so it's one of those things where we just we have time for everything that we make a priority for. So if it's a priority for me, magically, you find the time I mean, that's just how it works. And, and time literally is the only equalizer in the world. You know, opportunities in life are generally completely unfair with the exception of the distribution of time. And so that's true, then just have we spend our time as a result of what our life is like. And so yeah, I find the time I make I make the opportunity and make the time. And for me, there's a couple just nonnegotiable and health and fitness is one of them. Because if you don't have that, you don't have anything you know, and and if you're one of those guys that have the world and the private jets and the yachts and all that kind of stuff, and and you finally get cancer, you would change all of that literally for a clean bill of health. And so, you know, I try and I try and keep my mind and my body like like that is the most important thing because that is the foundation for every other positive thing in my life is how you look and feel.

Justin Stoddart  4:31  
Yeah, that's interesting. I've heard a quote by Jim Rowan, where he said if you don't take care of your body where you're going to live?

Eric Post  4:37  
Yeah, I mean, I love that man and so many things. So many little sound bites came from him that I integrate in my daily life for sure. I love it. Oh, good. Well,

Justin Stoddart  4:45  
Let's talk about kind of going down kind of in more depth on the topic of a morning routine, like you said, if it's a priority, it fits in. Yeah, I know. For me, I've got a fact I just wrote a blog post, I'll have to put a link to that in the comments here. There really outlines like step by step, minute by minute what I do for my morning routine. So I won't spend a ton of time on I really want to delve into yours. But what is on a typical day outside of the days where you've got to be fluid because you know, your wife's out of town, or you've got some kind of unique situation. But what does it typically look like for you? What time does the alarm go off for you? Or doesn't even go off at all?

Eric Post  5:19  
Yeah, not anymore. I actually kind of structure things. So generally, I know sleep is obviously hypercritical. I'm not the best sleeper because it was just a variety of reasons. But I focus on I try. But I generally wake up when I wake up. And you know, I like on a sensitive seasonal here, I leave the blinds up in the morning. So I wake up with the sun generally are trying to you know, hit it before. But the idea of waking up to alarm kind of buzzing and beeping isn't awesome. That happens at times. But you know, generally, wake up when I wake up and it's earlier than I need generally. And it's sort of perfect. But I go directly to the water. Like when I wake up, I literally go directly to my water and my vitamins because I gotta hydrate for the day. And that's how I start my day, then I go right from there, I listened to read or try and find a quote or something that inspires me or education or something like right away before I get the shower before I check my email before I say hi to anybody, like I'm trying to like find this water for my day. And this inspiration for the day that ...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the think bigger real estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart where my mission and passion are to help you think bigger so that you can have the business that you want in the life that you want. And you know, I am more than excited today to introduce a good friend of mine, Josh Friberg, who is fabulous at helping people have it all. Can you have it all, right? That's kind of the big question we're going to solve today. I believe that you can be in a dedicated family man and a dedicated professional. Today's topic is very near and dear to my heart. So let me give an intro for those of you that don't know Josh Friberg. First of all, let me say, Josh, thanks for being on the show, man.

Josh Friberg  0:34  
Yeah, my pleasure. Really happy to be here with you.

Justin Stoddart  0:39  
Good stuff. So for those that don't know, Josh, his background, he has actually was just recently on the executive team of an organization. Five doors that we want Inc 5000 top fastest growing privately held companies number 113. On that played a very critical role in helping them grow to the level that they did Justin has been a real estate agent and is now the abundant agent, somebody who's helping agents again, have it all. So excited to delve into this topic. As I said, that's very near and dear to my heart of how do you not neglect your family and still build a great business? So Josh, thank you, my friend. Appreciate you being on here talking about this incredibly important topic.

Josh Friberg  1:18  
Absolutely. Yeah. You know Justin it's so interesting. Like, as I travel around the country teaching in brokerages and, and at associations, like over and over again, I find that real estate agents got into this business to take care of their families. And then now that their businesses are doing great now that their businesses are growing, they find out that their families are suffering, right, they look back over at the family and go, Oh, something's broken. And what many people don't understand is it actually only takes about getting takes getting three things, right. And if you can nail those, you can have amazing results. It's really about figuring out like, where your biggest contribution is really mapping your priorities, and then having an execution plan that works and, and the results are, you know, it's honestly just amazing. You know, we've walked agents through like doubling and tripling their businesses and reporting back, oh, I have more time with my spouse, I have more time with my kids and better relationships than I've ever had. So that's really what we're doing with the abundant agent is helping people really tap into that part of their real estate, businesses, and lives.

Justin Stoddart  2:23  
You know, at the core of who I am, I'm a family guy. And, but I don't necessarily want to have a lousy career because I have a big family because family is important to me. It's It's interesting. I meet with agents all the time. A lot of times, it's moms, they kind of raise their hand and they say, I'm torn inside. I don't know how to do this. Because some days I wake up in fact, this is a quote from a client. She said, You know, I wake up some days and I just want to kill it. And I'm just so excited, fired up to go build my business. She said other days, I just want to be a mom, I want to foreclose, I just want to. And so there's this like kind of schizo Franek, like, Who do I want to be. And, you know, me myself self was raised in a family, where I had a mom who was a very successful entrepreneur, and yet, she was the best mom I could have ever imagined. And I think she came to grips with the fact that she could be where she needed to be when she needed to be there by owning her own business. Right, actually gave her the freedom to kill it during certain work hours, and then step out and be at all of our games, travel around the state to watch our football games, etc. And so I think that you can't have it all. I've seen it I was raised in an environment of, of entrepreneurs and family members who pursued both and and and were great parents at the same time. So let's start with Josh, what advice would you give, whether it be a busy mother? And or a maybe even a busy father, but like, what are some of the tactics that you see some strategies that you teach, to help people to, you know, not neglect the family while still building their business?

Josh Friberg  3:56  
Right? Well, first of all, I want to put huge Asterix on this, this is where talking if we are talking to moms, right like that, we don't know that you and I do not understand their world, right, and the responsibilities that are on them. And so anything that I say I say with like great caution, and great like, just, hey, apply this as you can. And I know that I don't fully understand your world. The first place, you know, you mentioned and I thought this was really good is to be where you are, is to actually like, it's really interesting. I was in a class in a yoga class actually once and they said, you know, your body can only be in the present, right. And we would all agree with that, like I can't have my body be in the past in my body can't be in the future, it can only be in the present, yet our minds can be in the past, our minds can be in the present, or our minds can be in the future. And so this person said it was really just an interesting thing is they said, just let your mind be where your body is right now.

And so, you know, even now, like you and I have the ability, while we're having this conversation to be thinking about what we're having for lunch today to think about that weird thing we said Yes, today, right? Like, there's all these things, but to just be present where you are. The other thing is, there's, there's this old, there's this old saying in comedy, which is leaving wanting more, right. And I started applying this in my business, because I'm like, your friend, your client that said, you know, some days, I just want to go into work, and I just want to kill it. For achievers, there's actually something really gratifying about the 14 hour work day not as a lifestyle, right. But as a like a day where man, you're just hitting on all cylinders, and you're able to give it your all, you're able to pull an all-nighter. And really like at the end of the day, say I did something.

And you can do that for a day or a week or maybe even a month. But that's not a lifestyle, right? One of the things that I do when I'm coaching achievers is put a limit on it. And it's like, on those days when everything's going right. Like, put in the three hours that you have in your schedule, do it are the five or whatever it is. And when you come to the end of it stop.

Because that energy will have you ramped up, I had the experience of that this weekend where I could not wait for Monday to start because I was so pumped about the activities I was going to do for work. And I committed to honoring my time with family on Sunday and helping my son with his science project, right. So like, set limits on when you're going to work and stick to those. Now there's another piece to that. Because then there are days when Hey, I just want to stay home, I just want to it's sunny out, I want to take the kids to the zoo, or Boy, you know, families having a rough day I will I didn't really need to do. Maybe Today's a day I need to call in sick and stay at home. And I literally just got a text this morning from one of my coaching clients that said that exact same thing. Hey, I didn't make my commitments that were because we really needed a family day.

And it might be okay once but boy, that becomes a habit that's really dangerous for your business. So what I say is, create a schedule and do it whether you feel like it or not. An...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart, fired up excited to be with you here today. As you know, my my passion and my mission is to help you think bigger, so that you can build the kind of business that will produce the kind of life that you want, giving you the options and the impact that you really want. I'm very excited to have returning guests with me today, someone who's locally famous and probably becoming nationally famous at this point. But the topic today is contribution. And so I have just the right person who spends his life contributing to the real estate industry, helping agents get better. So I want to thank first and foremost, Mr. Joe Fustolo, for being on the show today. Thanks, Joe.

Joe Fustolo  0:36  
Thank you so much. I have to start every compliment with a compliment back from the place of contribution Justin you're doing an amazing job given great media, great content to people. It's a selfless act. And we all appreciate these videos and the knowledge and the people you interview. So thank you, the spirit of contribution. You're up there with a lot of people.

Justin Stoddart  1:02  
Well, thank you. That's very kind of you, Joe, I appreciate that coming from a guy who, again gives so much so let's delve into some of these topics. And let me kind of build some like him a frame of reference for those who maybe need a little more background on on Joe. So Joe is the owner of Soldera Property Group, which I understand just turned 11 on St. Patrick's Day Happy Birthday to Soldera properties.

Joe Fustolo  1:24  
Yes. Soldera turned 11 years old on St. Patrick's Day. And I own it with my business partner, Patrick Kraus. And we're having so much fun is just a ball. 

Justin Stoddart  1:37  
You know, it's funny, because today actually is my son's 11th birthday today. So after this, I've got a birthday date. With my 11 year old so 11 years ago was a very special year apparently. And it was fun, actually, I got a chance to see Patrick and Joe in action at their big Easter event. And it was a blast. And that's maybe kind of a lead in a fight. Let me get to that here in a second. Let me finish my bio on Joe. So for those that don't know, Joe, been in the business for 28 years, just been a great producer, and a great, great contributor. In addition to his his success within his own business and his own brokerage. He's served on about every board you can imagine. And that is the founder of the well known Real Estate Group called Masters in Real Estate. So if you by chance are an agent, whether you're inside the Portland metro area, or in the state of Oregon, or even nationally, I would really encourage you to search Masters in Real Estate. I'll put it up here on the screen here a little bit later in the episode. But search this out, Joe does such an amazing job of just helping real estate agents get very, very good at the business of real estate of being great real estate agents. So huge thanks to Joe. I know so many people are so appreciative of the work and sacrifice that you make to make that happen. Joe, it's just great stuff.

Joe Fustolo  2:50  
Thank you. 

Justin Stoddart  2:52  
So let's talk a little about this great community event that you held. You know, I've been invited as you can imagine to a number of events. I'll tell you what, my wife and I and our little kids were amazed, we rounded the corner at the Soldera Properties Easter egg hunt, like there were oceans of people and I thought yeah, goodness, and you guys were prepared like you're like totally handling it with with cool calm. I think I'd be like choking like oh my goodness, what are they going to stop the Stoddarts are coming, they had six kids just in love themselves. And you guys handled it handled it so well. And the cool part that ties back into our theme today is this topic of contribution. Talk to us a little bit, Joe about the cause that you guys were supporting and kind of what came of from that event to this cause that you care deeply about?

Joe Fustolo  3:39  
Well, so what a fun day, that was the mother nature shown down on us. We had room for about 600 people, we had about 1200 RSVP. So as comfortable and collected as we looked, there was a little freak out earlier in the day, but we're pretty passionate about contribution and giving back and this year was Embrace Oregon, which helps foster kids and foster families. And I can't think of anything better than you know, foster kids and their families out there. We did an Easter egg hunt. We had face painting, we had a guy doing balloons, we had, you know, temporary tattoos. People were playing cornhole, the adults were wine tasting. And then this massive Easter egg hunt where out of the 5000 easter eggs, there were a good couple hundred golden eggs that had extra special treats in there and we had two different photo booths and the Easter Bunny, and it was an absolute ball. everybody was appreciative and and we just filled up with, you know, they say when you give, you get back tenfold. And it was really great to see people having a good time. And I sent it out to friends and family and past clients and it was just a great day talking with people that I haven't seen in a long time. And I don't know the actual numbers, but we raised a heck of a lot of money for Embrace Oregon, and let me tell you a little bit about them. So it's for foster kids and foster parents. And they usually are pretty heavy on financial contributions. And then clothes, boots, school supplies, you name it. It's normally around Thanksgiving, Christmas, right? When everyone feels like giving. They're pretty heavy on donation. But come January through October, they're a little lean. And so we specifically wanted to make sure that they have all their needs met, if you get called. And you have to pick up foster kids overnight and bring him back. It's nice to have, you know, toiletries and clothes. And so that's what we did. It was a it was a huge success. So we plan on doing it again next year, I don't know if we're, if it's the same place or same charity, but we plan on doing for a quarter, or for a year, every quarter quarter.

Justin Stoddart  6:25  
You know, it's interesting, Joe actually met a new agent yesterday. And she came out of the foster care program. And she said from a young age, she found herself grabbing like the free home magazines, in grocery stores. And she said for her it was a way to like fill that void that she didn't quite have the home that she wanted. And so later in life now here, she is a real estate agent, she said it brings me great joy to know they'll be able to help people have what I always wanted as a kid, and I thought was pretty touching. And so I think there's definitely this tie to those of us that have been blessed by the real estate industry to give back those who maybe don't have the ideal home setting.

Joe Fustolo  7:03  
Absolutely, you know, it's interesting, it's like, the more you work in, the more money you you make, it allows you to do more things for other people and put on events and and donate. And you know, if you look at the balance of life, you know, your, what you have, socially, your family and inside your four walls, you know, spiritually, physically, charitably, all these other things. The stuff you do for others is one of those things that just sort of feeds you and keeps you going. So it's a you know, I'm not selflessly given to other people I'm getting a lot in return my cup is full, let me tell you. 

Justin Stoddart  7:43  
I think you know, that's how I feel is as selfless as some of this contribution may look, there's so much value that comes when you just give and I think that's, ...

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the think bigger real estate Show. I'm your host, Justin Stoddart. And so excited to be here today with a friend of mine, someone who I admire and I think everyone in the Portland area, real estate industry admires this lady. And for those of you that are outside the industry, let me give a little background on Debi Laue and the treat that we have today. For me, first of all to have her here in studio. Thanks for being here, Debi. I know video is your favorite thing in the world. So this is this is really exciting for her to be able to impart her knowledge. And anyway, so background on her, been in the business Debi for 42 years, really that 42 years. And her team is still one of the very highest producers in the entire city. Just phenomenal, phenomenal amount of production that they do. And I think even more impressive than that isn't the numbers, but the people the way you guys go about doing business. 

Debi Laue  0:47  
Is that can I clarify, it's not my team anymore? 

Justin Stoddart  0:49  
Yes. Yes, please, please. 

Debi Laue  0:52  
Misunderstood proposition. Rick and Kiesha Brainard bought out on our team January 1, 2017. So what they've built from that point on is what we're doing now.

Justin Stoddart  1:00  
Very cool, great distinction. So Debbie laid the groundwork for what Rick and Kiesha are now building, which is something phenomenal. And anyway, I'm excited to spend the time here with Debi and really try to extract from her, how she built what she built, it was really set the stage for what the team is doing now, which is really exciting. Super cool. So let's see any other bio points on Debi, I'm sure if anybody pops in here and wants to ask any questions that Debi, feel free to bring that up. But I know I've we've kind of pre-discussed a couple of different topics. So one of the things that I'd love to hear, Debi is if you were right now able to go back and talk to Debi Laue, it was just getting into the business. Now. Were you married to Bob at the time that you guys got in the business? 

Debi Laue  1:43  
No. 

Justin Stoddart  1:43  
Okay, so this was pre even pre-marriage you've been? You've been married to real estate long have you been married?

Debi Laue  1:50  
That is true.

Justin Stoddart  1:53  
if you were to go back and give advice to that person that's maybe a year in the business, like maybe they kind of give, What real estate is, but they haven't obviously built the career that you have. What advice would you give to yourself? So my first managing broker was lead Davies mother, Dorothy Davies mother, okay days.

Debi Laue  2:13  
The best advice she gave me, she gave me a lot of advice. But the best advice was to surround yourself by positive people. And I understood very quickly why she told me that because in that era and continuing on, there's always office drama. And if you just avoid that, then you'll have a lot of time to spend with your family and your clients, which is what you should concentrate on. And going forward from that consistency has been the number one thing I would share with people. There's a quote out there by some entrepreneurial book writing Speaker I can't remember his name Darren Hardy, I think but he says because consistency is the one thing that achieves and continues the momentum. So in this is if you're not continuing the momentum, then you're stopped dead. It's called filling your pipeline, whatever you want to call it. consistencies, the number one target to achieve. And some of the ways almost that I'm hearing you say that people aren't consistent as they get caught up and stuff that doesn't matter. Right, right. You've got your clients to get the growth of your business, then you've got as you said, this office drama, stuff that's maybe not other stuff or other stuff, right Life Life drama, you can't avoid life. But if you can focus on the things that are productive, that that will help you be successful. So that consistency, I know that that is a big challenge for any of us that are entrepreneurial, right? We see shiny new ideas all the time.

Justin Stoddart  3:38  
At what is that what is considered the consistency? How have you found to be most consistent? Is it certain by just having a calendar having a planning session? I mean, what's it look like for you or do you just have the discipline to be able to do it? Well, so this is this goes back to Bob. So Bob was a corporate guy, you know, he came out of the corporate world which most realtors didn't back in the day.

Debi Laue  4:00  
He put systems together that kept us consistent. In other words, we had a CRM since 1983.

Justin Stoddart  4:08  
 Wow, that was pre-sales free CRM, wasn't it? 

Debi Laue  4:11  
I bought my first computer, which was this big and cost $5,000. But I had no idea how to use it until Bob came along. And he figured out a mail merge system where he put all of his clients into the system. And we started sending out these anniversary letters. Congratulations. This is the seventh year since you bought or sold a home with us, we hope you're doing well, etc. And always asking for business, of course, but that was our first attempt at being consistent. And then you move forward with client events. Yeah. And just staying in touch with pop buys, which our team now does because we have this lovely person named Melissa Nichols who said,

No, listen. So she's made it really easy for us to achieve that consistency on a whole new level. 

Justin Stoddart  4:54  
Like it's funny. I saw Melissa and Justin Nichols in the team picture and I was like, What did they do? Now I know the role very cool, good quality people, you guys have just done such a good job like everybody that joins the last one like, Oh my god, it's just another amazing person, you know? Well, that's you can have that direct indication they have built the business in the last two years. And I'm a very special way. So we have four producing agents, okay, and for support people, okay, which is a pretty, pretty amazing sort of ratio of support to producing brokers, you don't typically see that right? You see, very few support people or fewer support people and lots of agents. So what does that allow you guys to do by having almost like a one to one support to producing agent and allows you to do the stuff you're talking about? It allows us to spend our time with our clients, which is exactly where we need to be.

Wow, lots of profound wisdom there is whether it looks like people or what it looks like and or systems or tools. But whatever you can do to reinvest time back in your clients, right? is key, right. So we have gentlemen in our place.

Debi Laue  6:00  
We go office that I don't know if he has a CRM now. But for years it didn't except he had his phone, which was his brand new form of Rolodex. And he said he would, you know, we had 10 minutes before a meeting, he would just go through and look at people's names, and you'd call somebody, it was that simple. Who Have I not talked to recently pick up the phone column. So in this era, when people are a phone at first, maybe go back to something as simple as picking up the phone and calling somebody you haven't talked to in a couple of weeks or a month or a year. But I do think that technologies take an interesting turn. And a lot of people use technology to be the contact with people. Right? It almost takes the place of contact with people. What I hear you saying is that that that technology should empower people, or it should empower us to spend more time with people, not less time with people, rig...

Welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host, Justin Stoddart, and man, I'm excited about today's episode. Before I get into introducing today's guest, let me talk about my mission, which is to help you grow so that your business can follow suit. I know that when your business grows an amazing thing happens you life gets more and better options and you have a greater impact in the lives of other people. So, today's topic is something that the sports world and really the world in general is still buzzing about, which is Damian Lillards last second, I should say his entire game, but his shot from 37 feet away to win the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, um, has again, blazer fans is still in absolute pandemonium and it has those of us that are students of high performance, trying to learn from that and be like Damien. So today I have with me, um, um, a good friend of mine, someone who I admire look up to and I really respect what he's doing. Um, Jesse Dow and today we're going to talk about how we can be like Damien in our businesses. So Jesse, thanks for being on the show man.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm a an honor to be on the show. I'll obviously, I always talk to you and admire what you're doing, so thank you. So for having me on.

Yeah, for sure. It had, for those that don't know, Jesse, you're going to love this story. Jessie's a top producer here in the Portland market and that probably many people think because he's becoming so well known, he's been in business for a long time. He's, he's coming up on two years in the business to use in the business and he's absolutely killing it. And for those of you who, who kind of want to get a little taste of what Jesse's up to, what he's working on it go look at a couple places. Number one, his his youtube channel, which is real agent now by Jackson Wilkie and Jesse Dow real agent. Now you're going to see some crazy quality and quantity of videos that are just creating a standard for agents in this area. And around the country. Um, well done man. And then also your Facebook group, um, digital mayor now, uh, which is a really cool term coined by, uh, the only, uh, or the, the fantastic Gary Vaynerchuk. So, um, anyway, Jesse, again, thanks for you on the show. Let's get into this topic of really a book that you and I, uh, read together. I guess we read separately and, and, and then I read again, uh, by Tim Grover. It's called relentless. It's going from good to great to unstoppable. And uh, let's talk a little bit about the game the other night cause it will tie in. What did you see in Damian Lillard that had you, uh, recognizing him as being unstoppable?

Yeah, I think the thing that I recognize and I think everyone else recognizes, you know, he, he had an ultimate goal and that goal is to obviously win and you stay focused on that. And it didn't matter what it took, he was set out to accomplish that goal and then he made it happen.

I was, uh, I was impressed, uh, at, at halftime I tweeted out, like, Dane's got 32 points. I like, I was amazing. Oftentimes when people have that kind of first half, the second half is lack luster, right? Like to put in the work, they just squeeze a lot of points into one half. But you're exactly right. Like his aim was not to have a big first half. He was not going to stop until he won. You know, I'd been a Jordan fan my entire life and it was actually after the game that I said, I think Damian Lillard just became my all time favorite basketball player because I've never seen somebody close a game out. Like that was such audacity and, uh, it, it, um, it was impressive nonetheless for sports fans as well as for guys like you and I who, um, who get after it in the, in the, in the business space as well.

Yeah. And I think, you know, he, uh, you know, he even talked about it and some of the, uh, of the game one, two and three in is basically, you know, I don't celebrate or I don't get excited until like we've won the series. It isn't about the single games. It's about my ultimate common goal and that's to keep moving forward in the progression of the playoffs. Ultimately with the championship.

You know, the uh, this book that you and I read called relentless, it's authored by Devin. They have Tim Grover and a heats. He, for those that aren't familiar with the book, Jesse and I are going to go into it a little bit today, but the concept behind it is there. This Guy Tim Grover was the coach or trainer, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, to name a few, like some of the all time best players and, and toughest, like those were the toughest mindset. Absolutely. Ice In their veins, assassins when it came to closing at a game. Like they're just unbelievable. And they all sought out this trainer to help give them, not just a physical edge, but I was, I was impressed as I reviewed the book again, how much emphasis he puts on the mindset that anybody can have great, uh, great physical set. But that's not what separates people, right?

There's a lot of people that could hit a 37 foot step away, three pointer, but it was dames mindset to be able to do it with time running out when he could have very easily probably penetrated in the lane and scored, you know, an easy to or a quick jumper. He chose to do it in a pretty, pretty audacious manner. And it, to me, he became absolutely relentless as of course, have the, the people like again, Jordan and Colby and Charles Barth and some of the other, um, what Tim Grover refers to as closer. So Jesse, we've helped define the difference as Tim Grover the author lays out, there's three different categories of performers. You remember what those are?

Yeah. So there's the cooler that someone that's just supposedly like fun, exciting, executes at a high level but would probably stab you in the back. Uh, given the opportunity. Then there's the closure that someone that's very respected always shows up in those clinch game time decisions. Someone I would probably relate to as like Lebron James and I never knew the differences until I really read this book. Um, and then there's the cleaner if someone that's uh, you know, feared and respected for doing what they say there is going to set out to do, you know, and then they don't really talk about it that much. They just keep moving forward with that same mindset to the very end. Someone that I can relate to as like Jordan Coby, a Dame, uh, in the list, Dwayne Wade and these people were like sometimes aren't even like the all stars that you see that they are, but what they can do is elevate the whole team.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a different mindset. It's interesting you say that, cause again, Lebron is probably known as probably number one or number two best basketball players of all time. But I read his mindset is not one of a cleaner, right? The cleaner is who's feared and goes into a totally separate zone when like when the game's on the line. And I think Dane put himself in that category of being a cleaner, more so than Lebron ever has. Absolutely. Yeah. What, let me, let me talk about this Jesse. When you, when you look for people to do business with, right? You chose, um, obviously somebody like you who's got the same hunger, um, how important it is it, you know, whether that person via via closer or not, how, how important is it to surround yourself with other, other people that are, um, that inspired you to do great things?

To me it's a 100% about alignment. I know I've talked to you about this, like my ultimate vision is to create a business model where I just, how the agents working around me that are all basically cleaners, right? We walk out of those rural players involved when the business gets so big that week and need those specific roles, right? But to surround myself with people now, it's extremely important. I have a business coach, um, that's real estate related. He's out of the Arizona, a fant...