REality

Perfecting the Art of Change: Scott McCurry's Journey from Firefighting to Real Estate Success

• Gary Scott • Season 3 • Episode 2

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From the heat of firefighting to the thrill of closing real estate deals, Scott McCurry knows a thing or two about life-changing transitions. On this episode, we're joined by Scott, whose story is a masterclass in resilience and reinvention. His commitment to ethical dealings and top-notch customer service in the ever-evolving property market will not only inspire you but also give you the insider's look at how to navigate the unpredictable waves of the real estate industry.

As we peel back the layers of Scott's five-year journey, you'll gain a wealth of insights on the necessity of adaptability and relationship-building in this line of work. We'll explore the strategies that keep him grounded amidst the chaos of market fluctuations, and the art of balancing a demanding career with personal life. His experiences offer a roadmap to harnessing your energy effectively, so you can make the most of both your professional aspirations and your moments away from the office.

Gary:

Welcome to Reality Podcast. I am your host, gary Scott. Today we have Scott McCurry with us. Scott, I say good morning because we are recording in the morning, albeit our listeners could be listening all hours of the day. How are you, my friend? I'm well, gary. How about you? Well, I'm excited to have you on Reality Podcast. I think that your story is a good one. You and I have connected predominantly or primarily since September. I do want to share that story a little bit at some point in time, so let me share a little bit of background on Scott. Now we're going to fire some questions away.

Gary:

A native of South Carolina, scott is married to Amanda I know that I speak for him and Amanda. Pride and joy. Two-year-old CJ. March of 2019, scott ventured into the real estate business after eight years of a firefighter and continues to be a volunteer, so we are really excited to have you today. You know, I think it's so interesting, scott, when you think about the last five years and you think about all of the things that we've experienced since you started. You have the experiences in five that folks like me took 38 years to get between the pandemic and low interest rates and high inflation and low inventory and lawsuits. I mean, you've seen it all. So anyway, thank you so much for being here. We are thrilled. So my question that I love to ask why real estate?

Scott:

I tell people the story. Well, first of all, thank you, gary for the opportunity. It's kind of terrifying because this isn't like my dream goal is to be out in the public side, but I mean, in this business and in this, or in with this podcast, I'm going to be, as we had, our awards banquet like I hate being the center of attention, can't stand it. It brings nerves, chills, everything to me. I just don't like it. So people ask why real estate? And I joke around.

Scott:

I tell people all the time because my first real estate agent whenever I went to buy my house who's kind of local to this area I'm not going to name any names, but he ultimately would not get back with me I said if he can make that kind of money doing that business that way, I know I can. But when it gets down to the heart of things, like I know that I treat people correct. I know that even though I'm not perfect and my heart's in the right place, I do make mistakes. At the end of the day, I'm going to go above and beyond for people that I care about and when you get into the real estate business for one or two reasons, either you're going to make a lot of money.

Scott:

You're doing it to make a lot of money or you're going to do it to make sure people get from point A to point B and do it the legal way where they get help, because there's a lot of people that think they know about this business but they don't, and it's not a knock against the people that think they do. But I want to make sure that you're getting from point A to point B the right way and I want to make sure that people are going above and beyond for the. I want to make sure that I'm going above and beyond for people that I care about and doing so. I do stuff the old-fashioned way. I believe in the old-fashioned way. Brought to modern technology would go double in the amount of business that you can do. So really and truly, it's to treat people the right way and old-fashioned term and to do it the above and beyond way, if that makes sense.

Gary:

Well, it certainly makes sense, and so often I try to pay close attention to one's previous career and, as I mentioned, eight years as a firefighter. And so let's just talk about that for a minute, because you want to talk about whether it's servant leadership or really putting everyone else above you in your efforts during that eight-year period. So share with our listeners. I don't believe that we've had a guest on reality who has had that previous career. I think it would be fascinating this morning to share with the listeners what about that has really helped translate to the real estate business. So if you could share that, it's very interesting.

Scott:

So I got into firefighting because I am a third-generation volunteer. My grandfather, who is Cecil McCurry, helped start the volunteer department that I'm a part of now, and then my dad joined. Before, as we all know, in the 60s and 70s, things wasn't as quite as skewed and watched as it is now, and so he started at the age of 17, 16 or so actually doing stuff and then transferred at 18, legally became a firefighter volunteer, but he never really had the goal of going paid or anything like that. Well, I got into it and I said one day I will get paid to do this. Well, come to find out.

Scott:

Not a big fan of politics and politics is a lot of the social work, wise, but the translation I never really realized how much it would translate from being a firefighter to being a real estate agent.

Scott:

In the fact of, as a firefighter, you're there for somebody in the worst aspect of their life, when we are being used 90% of the time.

Scott:

It is the worst time of their life.

Scott:

Well, as I have come to find out in real estate, I had a lady who I helped find the off-market property for $10,000 under what would be the market property price, and it was the best time of her life and I mean she was so excited it of course distress was there because of the business, but she was so excited about it, she was so ready to get in the house. And as I'm looking at it, I'm like, wait a minute, not only am I helping her at the best time of her life, like she's going to possibly keep in touch with me, and I'm going to keep in touch with her and it's going to be more than just me helping her by her house. So the translation of helping somebody at the worst of the time of their life I get to see the other end of it, the other spectrum or the other end of the spectrum, if that makes sense, of seeing the best time of their life happen, and I just like it may bring so much joy to my life to be able to do that.

Gary:

It's very interesting. I wrote down 90%, as you were a firefighter, was the worst time, and we've talked a lot about what we do in helping individuals or entities with the American Dream, scott, is we're engaged with them at what I would argue 90% of the time, is one of the most exciting and significantly financial. So it is kind of an interesting dichotomy from where you were to where you are, but it also relates very well and some of the things that I thought about as I thought about it is number one obviously it takes a huge commitment. Number two lots of preparation. Number three you certainly have to be able to adjust and adapt and you've got to be agile. You can't, as they say, you can have a great plan in your days at a firefighter and then something happens and you've got to be very quick and fluid. And boy that feel that I'm describing the real estate business. Anyway, let's jump around.

Gary:

A little bit Fascinating for sure. So as I started our conversation this morning, I shared that you've really been in the business in a really unique five-year period, Perhaps one of the most unique five-year periods if we went back from a historical perspective. So I originally was just going to ask you what you learned last year. But what are some of the real key things, lessons, axioms that you've really come away with? You know kind of as you get to I think it's March will be your fifth anniversary, so you're really five years what are some of the learnings that you can share with our listeners, that they can take and maybe grow and expand their business?

Scott:

So, really and truly for anybody. Well, the first thing is for anybody that's getting into this business. It's not about just seeing homes and it's not about just helping people. Like there's so many aspects to this. So imagine real estate as a hand, like you've got five fingers on the hand. Well, you could be wearing five different hats within an hour time and possibly five different hats at one time.

Scott:

So it's very stressful, it's very, very time consuming. You've got to be able to, as you say, kind of like with the fire department lifestyle, like you can be at the station and then you're about to sit down for lunch and then, next thing you know, you go over here because you've got a house fire that you have to handle and you could be there for four or five hours. So, as I found out in the real estate world, like it's that way, you could be sitting down about to make a Facebook advertisement and the next thing you know, you get a phone call that the other agent on the other side, their people pulling out and you've got to figure out why and how can we save this deal? So it's not all the glitz the glamour that you see, but at the same time, it is the glitz, the glamour, the glory in it that you see, because at the end of the day, this brings so much good into your life financially the smile that people get whenever either they just sold their house and they're buying another one because they're moving close to their grandkids or it's my mind just went boop, but it's. I mean, there's so many aspects to it, but the biggest thing that I have found is that it's the five fingers which is going to take you in all different directions and you've got to be able to not try and control the ride, but try and mitigate the ride going off the rails.

Scott:

The biggest thing that I have learned in this business be patient, don't rush things.

Scott:

Some of your questions that you asked me in the thing that I had to look over was do you have a mentor?

Scott:

I told you last night don't have one right now because of a change. Well, one of the mentors was with our company at the time and he's no longer with us, but he always told me Scott, you got to slow down, you got to breathe, you got to relax, and that has taught me how to go home and to be in the moment with my son, which I've always wanted to be a father, but I'm able to go home now and say, okay, this is where I'm at, or come to the office and say this is where I'm at right now, and so, really, truly, that has been. The biggest thing that I have learned in real estate is to be where you are in the moment, don't worry about everything else outside of what's going on, and control what you can control, and let be what you can't control. Now, as you said at the awards banquet, navigate through the uncontrollables, and so that's what I've learned from all of y'all is to be in the moment, honestly.

Gary:

You know, I think that that's a demonstration of a really significant level of awareness of our business, right, you know we get into the real estate business and many of us go from a salary to a non-salary and while when we become successful the economic and financial rewards are certainly potentially very significant, there is uncertainty and anxiety and things like that. And I think that to get to be patient, be present, you know, control the controllables. And I think the other piece of your journey that is, you know, from my perspective, very compelling is a clear understanding that we're in the relationship business. And I do love your five finger analogy. Right, it's about, you know, when we interview new to the business. You know why and I joke often that if someone says I love houses, I say be a home inspector. Right, it's far more than houses and you've said it very eloquently, it's more than just the relationships. It's a very dynamic and fluid process and experience. And so you know, I think that's really telling.

Gary:

As you know, you came into the market and you know 19 was a good market, march of 20, we all were super concerned about what the future would hold. 60 days later or 90 days later, we had a spring market for two years and we had 2.5% interest rates and you know we had multiple offers and we've had incredible, you know price appreciation. And then you know June of 2022, you know inflation hits a 40 year high and interest rates go over seven and inventory continues to be a challenge, and I'm certainly not sharing that from a negative perspective, but it really speaks to control the controllables, and so I think that's really well done. So one of the things that I'd like to ask you is SJ is two years old.

Gary:

I think one of the great challenges, scott, in our industry and maybe every industry, but this is the one that you and I are in is balance and perspective. How does one keep balance? Anything you can share with our listeners that you do that keeps you present, keeps you level set, keeps you grounded in the things that are important to you, amanda and SJ, but also know that you've got the work to do and the transactions to close. Anything you can share with our listener that, if someone out there is struggling in the balance mentality, anything you can share that has been successful for you.

Scott:

I'm still learning the balance, I'll be honest.

Scott:

So what I've learned and it's just what I said a minute ago it's be present where you are, do not let all the outside noise, do not let everything. So if you say almost it comes down to time blocking, I don't do time blocking, but I know most people this helps them. Okay is the fact that when you get to what you're going to do next so if this, go home and spend time with your kids, like be there, don't worry about the phone ringing, especially if it's after five, six o'clock and you're in this business, I'm sorry there's nothing happening after five or six o'clock for anybody. Most home inspectors are going home. The closing isn't happening that day. So just be present where you are and then, whenever that time has come and passed that time, block that you had get the next thing done. So, for an example, whenever I go home, I am home, I spend time with my kids, I may answer one email or answer a text message from work, but that's it. I'm there, I talk to my parents, I talk to and play, I sit on the floor talking, spend time with SJ and Amanda, as we're spending time as a family, and then we suffer and I'm focused there, and then time comes and it's hey, bedtime, maybe we put him to bed. I'm focused on getting the house cleaned up after we put him to bed, and so we work on cleaning the house and then it's everybody goes to bed except for me, and I'm stayed up because I've got some stuff I got to get done. So I'm present where I am and I don't do the time blocking method, but I know most people. That's what works for them.

Scott:

My biggest thing is having the remembering of, or being able to remember, everything that I got to do. I'm taking notes as I go throughout the day. I still got to get this done, get this done. So just be present where you are. Do not let everything that you've got to get done today pile on top of you and just weigh you down.

Scott:

Okay, because there are certain things you can control at one point and there are certain things you can. So when you get in this business, don't focus on everything. Focus on one thing at a time. And it's easier said than done, especially early on, because you're trying to get business going and I'm still there. I'm still learning how to get business going, but eventually it starts to slowly build on itself, and you just got to be patient and just focus one thing at a time. Right now, I am present with you. Next, I got a broker's open. I've got to get to as soon as we finish this, so I'll just be present. Where you are is the biggest thing I got for people, and the perspective of everything else will fall into place.

Gary:

As we said earlier, I think that's of all the fantastic folks that we've had a chance to interview here on reality, I think be present. I read something yesterday that was really focused on that one singular topic. It's interesting. Scott and I can share with the listeners a couple of things. Number one we're recording this on a Monday morning pretty early. You may be listening to it any day of the week, at any time. I got up early on Sunday, which I do and I sent Scott a couple emails.

Gary:

Here's what I would say. My guess is you don't officially time block, but I think you time block. What I mean by that is you got back to me and what I knew yesterday, without even having this conversation, is Sunday is a day that you're fundamentally committed to your family and your faith and those things. Because you got back to me last night so it felt exactly as you just described. You went through your routine time block, commitment, whatever those words are. So I think it's interesting.

Gary:

One of our good friends that we listen to often and spend time with, a gentleman named Mike Staver, always compares this concept of time management versus energy management, and his theory is you know, we all have the exact same amount of time, but it's where we put our energy. That really is the delta between good, great, excellent and so on and so forth. So let's, if you don't mind, let's turn a little bit to the business. No, that's not absolutely. I think we we kind of set the table for, you know, kind of mindset, and it's something that we think is hugely important. You know, mindset, skill set, action. Let's talk for a little bit about sellers and talk about the order, some of the things that you do, you know either to prepare for a listing or market listing or contract to close, anything that you find that works especially well for you, that some of our listeners might say, geez, if I could just incorporate that in my business, maybe I can take it up a notch. Lower interest rates.

Scott:

No, I joke around about that, really truly, it's. It's so for me. I have the old school method, okay, and and I have you I said that early on and bring an old school method to the new school way and blowing up your business. Well, really truly, it helps, you know, in the sense of being in front of people, and in this business you gotta be in front of people. And, for example, when I get a listing under contract, I pay for photos. Okay, I have my photographer. Comment I don't let my sellers pay for photos, can't stand that because more likely it's going to be the cheapest all and it's no offense to the people selling their halls, but it's gonna be a cheap A photographer and the pictures are not gonna be that great. And if I'm gonna use the photos for marketing, it's gonna be my people on, but it's. I get my photographer and and in that first weekend I do a open house to the general public. Okay, and so, for example, the broker open. I'm doing today.

Scott:

We got photos done, we did an open house and my genius self decided to do it the week or the sunday before the Super Bowl, which there was games going on, so we didn't have a large turn. I told my people will. That was on me. I didn't check the schedule for that stuff, because you do anything during a big football game or any athletic event, you're not gonna have a good turnout. And so I said what we do is the next weekend we're gonna do another open house, and this time, before the open house, there was no rain, so I was able to do the old school method of door knocking, going door to door in the neighborhood handing out flyers and hey, we've got an open house in the area if you want to come out, great, we're not trying to get you to buy a new home or sell your home, but we just want you to know. So maybe you know somebody that gets that deck about his home. And so I went door to door and then I put out listing or open house signs at six different locations yeah, at six different locations, directing them to the open house. And then that open house we had I think it was three or four couples, which I mean that that's a great turnout. The saturday before the Super Bowl okay, most people is at home getting ready we had three couples come to the open house that day. And then I did, and if we still haven't sold, then we do a broker open, which we're doing it today and then if at that point it hasn't sold, we work on pricing. Okay, but I put a flyer box outside the listing so people know hey look, this is the information on the house. If you got any questions, call me or call the lender that I've partnered with. I'm trying to think of what else.

Scott:

I put it all over social media. We then, as we're putting it on social media, we update the photos within the allen tape brand and then y'all help the agents by pushing it out, which is fantastic. I absolutely love that because that saves my pocket ultimately. But at the same time we're able to pay for advertisements and I pay for the quantum digital postcards. I send those out to the area. I also assisted pay for paying for the the ad works ad for an extra week after the week that allen tape pays for. So it's two weeks worth of ad works ultimately putting it out. So where some one person clicks on, it follows them wherever they go on. At that point they'll see that house and I love that. But it's really truly doing the right stuff by putting your money where your mouth is, and that's ultimately what I do. The wife hates it, but I do it.

Gary:

You know it's got interesting and you know I do. Quite actually, I have two questions. One is do you do an open house on every listing that you take?

Scott:

yes, the only way I will not do a open house and the only way I will not market open house is that my client one tell me not to, or to Assume we put it on the market we get a contract which I mean in today's world that is still happens just not a whole lot within 24 hours. It has to be the right price in the right location. But if it's under contract in, our client still says hey, we would like an open house, just in case this one falls through, that's fine.

Gary:

At that point it is up to the client and I am at their beck and call it's at that point so, number one, you get your photographer right away, which that way you control the Quality of photography that then makes its way through a variety of means. Do you try to do the open house? Do time it so that the open house Is before mls, right at mls, or maybe it depends, it's the weekend after mls.

Scott:

So I go live either thursday or friday and then the open house is either saturday or sunday, because at that point I'm able to get signage out and keep in the mls happy and still get the open house out, which keeps the mls happy as well, sure, so it's typically after.

Gary:

That's great. You mentioned that the weather was good and you knocked on the doors. So I'm gonna replace Old school, old fashioned, with fundamentals. You know, I think that you know when you think about door knocking and you think about Knocking on the neighbors doors around the property that you're gonna have open. I'm not gonna age myself, but I think the first I was exposed to that was nineteen eighty three, which was called five ten five, five houses on the left, five houses on the right in the ten across the street. So share with us. Number one is is that a consistent methodology? And number two is what's the reaction? Like, like, tell us about. I would almost assure that there are people out there that are saying number one, I'm not gonna do it. Number two, I do it all the time. And number three is I wanna do it, but I'm concerned about what that experience is. So share with our listeners. Like, tell us about that. Nor, door knocking, relationship building, introductory step to the open house, and how it, how it goes for you.

Scott:

Well, there's two types of open houses. I mean two types of door knocking. That I do. You have your open house door knocking, which is Ninety percent of the time the people are real genuine space in the area because at that point they seem you out there multiple times, either talking to them before the listing, talking on putting out or getting ready for photos, and a lot of people come up and talk to you. So Getting that open house door knocking in that area, most of the time it's really fantastic. They're like hey, not interested selling it's hey, again, not trying to get yourself, just letting you know that. So maybe you know somebody Within.

Scott:

There's the door knocking that I love to do on a regular basis, not just for open houses, is to grow my business On and that isn't always taken too kindly because it's like, hey, why are you here, like I've had. I've had pit bulls come rushing to a door that I was like please, the love of god, be locked Because I don't want to get mauled out here in the country, and then I've had a gentleman actually have a certain weapon on him at that point. But really, truly, the door knocking for open houses fantastic. Most of the time the people are great.

Scott:

I learned it because before I started with alentate, I started with wikert and that was, as you probably know, because I'm sure you know wikert that's one of their methods of doing open houses and we went to a neighborhood of, I'd say the houses were five hundred thousand above ultimately, and that was just nerve breaking as possible, because that's like door knocking in the legs out here, like you. Just, you really don't do that because most of the time those types of people don't want people knocking on the doors. But we did it and so doing it now, nobody, no big deal at all. Absolutely love it most of the times. The neighbors love it, especially if you get to know the neighbors as you're getting the listing ready, it's okay, cool, yeah, absolutely will tell everybody about it and that helps the listing ultimately.

Gary:

So yeah, I'm gonna add two follow ups to that. Number one, I'm gonna encourage everyone listening to do that. Number two is for those you meet send them a personal note. Number three is add them to your CRM so they become part of your database. And the number four is and this is something I did a long, long, long time ago, scott was. I communicated with those people prior and so we will close our conference Center. You I fun.

Gary:

No, it's gonna be gdzieśandoi tonight, just limited being like 10 thousand one line with actor to the sold sign going up and I would let them know in advance. It was a really easy next touch, as you get four or five touches with this group of seven, eight, nine or ten people, and then the last thing I would do is, if I got permission from the new buyer, to introduce that new buyer to that group of people in a proactive way to get them engaged into the community. So you know it's interesting. We started this morning talking about old school and you know I really believe and I shared it last week in what we were in the upstate is. You know the fundamentals today are as important as anything we've ever done and I think you've really identified that in a really solid way in our conversation.

Gary:

So we're going to wrap this up in a few minutes, but let's, I got a couple other business things. Then we'll get to one of my favorite parts, which is rapid fire. So that was sellers, which I love. Buyers Any, any specific strategies that you use for buyers you know that is maybe unique or different, or one of our listeners could say, geez, let me put that in play.

Scott:

Well, so, when it comes to buyers, you may have to pay for an advertisement fee, because I'm going to kind of advertise my business right now on this, because ultimately, I love buyers I do. Have I had the most success with buyers? No, but at the end of the day, buyers are one of two things they're either tire kickers or they're serious about this whole thing. And for the ones that I have been able to help buy a house, it has been the most wonderful experience ever. They've come out, they've come, they've looked at the home, they've fallen in love with it. Hey, we want to see this house or we want to buy this house right now. Let's put it in an offer. But my biggest thing when it comes to the buyers is they've gotten so used to the I guess you could call it new school way of doing things of hey, we just want to see the houses online, just set up a, just set up a us up on a search and we'll let you know when we want to see a house. And that does it both well for me, because my method of doing things is a lot different than everybody out here and, for an example, the buyer that I helped that we found the market off property. I got it married and I actually am working with Carmen Rice, who is in my office right now Well, not in here right now, but it's she works out of our office and I'm helping her buyers find a home.

Scott:

And I took a list of homes, just like I did with my buyers, and I found 20 homes that had sold 10 plus years ago that met the criteria of the home, and I got Carmen's people narrowed down to 85 homes and with my buyer I took it from 60 down to 20. And I told my buyer I said, give me your top 10 and then give me your top, your top like, and then your next top 10 after those 10. And I went door to door saying, hey, are you interested in selling? I took a letter and it was four homes that I had to go to before I found my buyer a home and we found it again $10,000 below the what they would have put it on the market for At an interest rate. That was fantastic because of the lender that we were using.

Scott:

So really and truly, it's the I guess you could say, the old school method of saying, hey, are you interested in selling? If you are, then I'm going to help you find a home. That so you're not left out in the cold, and so that's how I'm trying to run my business, but I haven't had the movement with it, honestly, because of interest rates. I have a lot of people who's wanting to buy, but the interest rates for them aren't voting well and I'm navigating through that. But that's that's how I work with my buyers and I want people to know that.

Scott:

If, if you don't have and it's not a knock against all these other agents out here but if you don't have an agent that's willing to put his month, his mouth where his feet or put his feet where his mouth is, if I'm going to find you a home, no matter what it takes, then why are you working with them? Because if they're just going to set you up on search at the end of the day, how are they finding you a home any quicker than you do? Because they're Zillow, rillitor, redfin, all that stuff out there. What makes us any different than that? It's the fact that we have access to the history of the MLS. We need to be going through the history of the MLS to find you a home, to say, hey, let me go out here and let me doorknock for you and let me see what these people say, and maybe we can find you something quicker than it just coming to you at a specific point, if that makes sense.

Gary:

It will make tremendous sense. You know, one of the things we talk about often is how important it is for any one of us, individually or company, to be an index to the market. And we've got to create opportunities, not just to your point I get a listing, I put it on the MLS. I get a buyer, I put them on the auto search. You know, we've got to create opportunities, and what I think is really interesting and exciting that you've just shared is we have data.

Gary:

Think about this the average homeowner home has appreciated between 40 and 50 percent since you got in the real estate business, because we had 13, 7, 15, 9. So the equity that these people, these individuals, have built up. If you're going back 10 years, you're gonna go back and find somebody that they just may not have thought about, and I do think that 2024 is about being. It's so interesting to me. You've used the term old fashioned three times. I actually think that your strategies are disruptive because I don't believe many people are doing it to the degree that you're doing it. So I commend you and I congratulate you and it's the long game. It's the long game.

Scott:

Oh, it absolutely is. It's the hard and long game and I love it. But to anybody who's getting, who listens to this and is either just now getting in or they've been in for two years and they've had a little bit of success because of how easy the market was, because and I'll be the first one to admit market was easy in 2020, 2021, 2022 because everybody's wanting to sell at that point. But if you're just getting into this and it's like it's gotten hard, like there's one thing that you have that everybody else has, in that only the people with like Greg Kootoo, melanie Fink, stuff like that where they have 20 years of experience, is they have the experience of 20 years of seeing all these different homes, seeing this place grow.

Scott:

Well, we have the same thing they have of the MLS and we can go back all the way. So I can go all the way back to 2000, before the market crashed, and see what people paid for homes and then pull up those homes and be like, hey, we have access to this, let's use it. And so, for anybody who's just getting into this business, do not hesitate to do the hard work of going back and telling your people what about these homes, because that is the same knowledge that any of these other agents who's been in this industry for a long time. You, kootoo Fink, mark Bardot, love that man to death, but I have the same knowledge at this point that y'all do, and we have access to it. We just don't use it like we should, in my opinion. So don't hesitate to do it. If you're new, don't hesitate to go back. Don't just set them up on a search. Go out there and knock on these doors, love it absolutely love it.

Gary:

You know, quite frankly, you know, scott and I prepared for this and I known that we were gonna do door knocking and use data to find and create sellers and buyers. I would have been even more excited about getting with you than I already was, but I certainly was looking forward to this. So we're gonna do as I told Scott I said. You know, these podcasts are kind of and I've shared this variety of times they're kind of funny because the first couple of minutes, you know, you're kind of finding your way. I relate it to vacation. You know, the first couple of days of vacation you're getting settled. Then all of a sudden you can relax a little bit and then you're getting ready to go home.

Gary:

So we are wrapping up this episode of Reality Podcast. We're gonna do our rapid fire at the end and Scott and I got laughing about the last couple of guests, albeit incredible. You know I allowed rapid fire to not be rapid and so, like in my search to become a better interviewer in the podcast space, I get some good coaching Shout out to Ashley Bryant. So we're gonna do rapid fire and then I'm gonna wrap it up with the story about how we got here today, which I think also is a lesson that everyone on this listening today can say hey, there's probably something in my life that I need to go from point A to point B, so rapid fire. If you could have lunch with one person, who would it be?

Scott:

My grandmother one more time, because she passed away a couple of years ago and she had dementia well before then and my favorite thing was sitting down with her when she made her homemade pizzas and just talking to her about my day. So probably my grandmother.

Gary:

Beautiful. Do you have a book recommendation for our listeners today?

Scott:

Honestly, no, I'm not a big book reader. You sent me two books. I've started reading one of them. Can I remember the name of it? No, I can't, but I'm not a big book reader. But if there is one book that I recommend that I have read from cover to cover, it'd be the Hatchet, because it's about not giving up in the moments when life gets hard. It's about a kid who goes off in struggles and all this stuff in the wilderness because he makes some stupid decisions, and that's us as human beings. So if you haven't read it or ever heard of the Hatchet, read that Honestly. There you go.

Gary:

Love it. Favorite movie you got one out there that you just hang on to.

Scott:

Everybody laughs at me whenever I say this Toy Story 4. Toy Story 4. Because of the meaning of how, in that movie, andy from Toy Story, as we all know, gives his toys to a kid who was younger than him because he was going off to be an adult. He didn't need it at that point. And I feel like us as human beings and I'm guilty of this we've got to be willing to give up things to people who needs it more than us. And I believe if we all did that just a little bit more than what we do now, this world would be a better place, in my opinion.

Gary:

Well said, Well said. We did do a little preamble on this. I said favorite podcast. I'm giving him a hall pass because he's going to have one, one A and one B. So your favorite podcasts.

Scott:

So it's. I have three, one and one A is Ed Milet and Patrick Bet David, if you've never listened to them, definitely need to, because they are very motivational, that they have taken businesses and just warmed them up and they give life lessons and experiences of your personal life and also business. And then, of course, I do listen to yours, gary, because of just the real estate knowledge, the education that I get from it and the real estate world fantastic and I honestly can say you'll never find something that's more down to earth for real estate. Did this podcast?

Gary:

So I forgot to send Scott a note that says reality cannot be on that list. But the podcast is really good because we have great guests and the great guests obviously continue today. So I'm going to share the story about how we got here because I think it's a lesson that people can take with them. Which is our goal is pretty simple In our 30, 40 minutes we want everyone to get three things that they can, that will resonate with them, that can help them in their business, grow their business or grow their quality of life, and or both. So, long story short, was with Scott in September and I think it was at a fun day where we were raising money for public education. He talked about Toy Story 4. And I said Scott, you need to be on podcast. He said I'm not.

Gary:

He already mentioned today that this public eye is not his thing and he said nope, nope. I said fine, and we kind of went on our way and the fourth quarter happened. I get an email from him in January. Basically, I'm ready, I'm ready. And so we traded a couple emails, couple text messages, we lined up a phone call and he said to me he said you know what, I'm going to step out of my comfort zone. You asked me to be on it. I said no and over the next four months my journey took me to yes.

Gary:

So a couple of things. Number one, I want to say thank you for being here this morning, being with us today. I think the information you have provided invaluable. Number two, I want to thank you for stepping outside of your comfort zone and you did it really well. I mean, I've got two pages and notes here, so I'm going to take some of this to our team that is out listening, and if you see me at a sales meeting or an event in the next 90 days, you can bet I'm going to be a little old school, old fashioned or fundamental driven. Courtesy of Scott McCurry. So I'm going to turn it to Scott for one final thought, one bit of advice to give everyone listening today, 2024, one piece of advice.

Scott:

Listen to your guts and do not be scared to say yes. So, ultimately, when Gary the reason why Gary asked me to be on the podcast to go back is because I came to him and I said love your podcast, I've listened to every episode so far and you've had a lot of big hitters. But what about the little guy? What about that guy who has got his nose to the grind on a daily basis and hasn't yet become that quote unquote big hitter? And then I immediately he looked at me and said well, why don't you put your mouth where your mouth like, why don't you put your action where your mouth is? And why don't you be on my podcast? And I said no, I was like nope, not doing it and I pride myself on it. And my gut was sitting there turning, saying just do it like, be that guy, be the guy who talks.

Scott:

I guess you could say for the little guy, for the little man, and say be on that podcast, motivate somebody on the podcast who listens to it, who's terrified to do something or who isn't taking that step because they're scared. And sometimes you've got to take something on faith and take that. Stay up, not knowing what's on the other side and I preached this in my home and love my wife to death, meaning her is going back and forth on this, on certain aspects of our life. But you've got to take stuff on faith and she has done, said the same thing to me and I'm like no, no, and it turns around that I actually do and it's successful. So trust your gut, take something that is happening to you and take it on faith that you're going to come out on the other side.

Scott:

Okay, and don't hesitate to do something just because it's a scary thing to do. Okay. That's really truly the biggest advice that I got. If you're new to this and you've been in from the three to five year market where most real estate agents get out, keep going. Time is hard. Learn to adjust. The old I think it's the marine aspect. We learn to adjust on the fly. So if things aren't going as well as it did in 21, 22, 23, flip it on his head, figure it out. But I bet that would be my biggest advice.

Gary:

Love it. Don't be afraid to say yes. Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone, and I wrote this down, even if you don't know what is at the end. So to Scott McCurry, thank you. Reality Podcast listeners without you, there's not us. Love being with you today. My friend, have a great day. Good luck at your broker's open. We'll talk soon. Yes, sir Of you.

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Gary Scott

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