Realty Life
Veteran realtor and industry leader Ken McLachlan talks with real people about their passions, their accomplishments and the moments that changed their lives. Realty Life is an inspirational and powerful look at how life turns and the journeys that follow.
Realty Life
Building a 20-Agent Real Estate Team
What if chaos was your greatest motivator?
In this high-octane episode of the Realty Life Podcast, host Ken McLachlan sits down with Steven Sarasin, a powerhouse realtor and team leader whose life story is as intense as his daily drive.
From leaving home at 16 to care for his girlfriend’s family, to building one of the fastest-growing real estate teams in Ontario, Steven opens up about trauma, tenacity, and transformation.
They explore how adversity can be fuel, how ADHD shaped Steven's career path, and what it's really like to lead a 20-person team in a tough market.
Listen For:
7:10 The Deathbed Promise That Changed Everything
13:55 Planning vs. Flow: How Steven Sets Goals He Never Re-Reads
20:03 What It Really Takes to Run a 20-Person Real Estate Team
22:53 From Supercars to Simplicity: Redefining Success
31:25 Burning the Boats: Betting 100% on Himself”
Guest: Steven Sarasin
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Steven Sarasin (00:00):
You mentioned the Energizer Bunny and I very much run off other people's energy. So if I got good energy around me, it keeps me going and I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I just need some sort of motivation or some sort of reason to do what needs to be done.
Ken McLachlan (00:27):
Hey everyone, it's Ken McLachlan from Realty Life Podcast. I want to welcome everybody here today. I'm excited as I always am, to do podcasts with friends of mine in the, not always the real estate industry, but mostly the real estate industry, and get a little bit of insight of what goes on in our industry and these podcasts. If you've been listening to them, and I've been doing these for, I got to guess now, two years or more even, there's a lot of podcasts out there that I really don't get into the how do you do your business type of thing. What do you do for prospecting and all that stuff. It's really about the things that you have challenges with in your life and how you've gotten there and how did you become who you are today. So that's what these podcasts are all about. I tend to want to dig deeper in that avenue if I can, and that's a preamble to today. So this is going to be really exciting for me because I get to talk to a guy that he's got a different way I think of doing business and a really interesting and exciting way of doing business and a history along with it. And I think, I mean this as a compliment. He's like the energetic bunny he gets out there ever Ready Bunny, I think it is like that. He gets out there, Energizer
Steven Sarasin (01:42):
Bunny,
Ken McLachlan (01:42):
Oh wait, I got to introduce you. He's speaking up here. But lots of energy, lots of commitment, lots of absolutely delivers the goods for his clients and everything else. So we're going to find out a lot about that, where he comes by it naturally or he actually worked for it or what he did on that. So for his energy, that is, so I really want have a warm welcome to Steve Sarason. Welcome, Steve.
Steven Sarasin (02:05):
Thank you. Thanks for having me. It's exciting.
Ken McLachlan (02:07):
This is fun.
Steven Sarasin (02:08):
It is.
Ken McLachlan (02:08):
Yeah. We're going to have some fun with this. So if you always, am I right to classify you as an energetic, and I'm going to use the word again, this is a compliment that you live a life. I believe. This is what I see. Anyway. Okay, so correct me as I go along this. So it's not a life of chaos that's not, and that's a complimentary word I want to use on that, but a life of that. You're out there doing a lot of stuff every day, a lot of energy, a lot of stuff going around and stuff like that. Is that how you operate or is that natural for you?
Steven Sarasin (02:41):
I mean, that's how I've always operated since as far back as I can remember. It's always, it's hard to explain, but I'm always maxed out.
Ken McLachlan (02:52):
Always maxed out.
Steven Sarasin (02:54):
Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (02:54):
When did you get in this business? How long have you been in it?
Steven Sarasin (02:59):
I've been around 10 years now.
Ken McLachlan (03:01):
10 years now. And give me the background prior to the real estate, Steve Sarason real estate team. What did you do before that?
Steven Sarasin (03:08):
So I grew up doing a lot of different things. I have a DHD, so I had a lot of different jobs. I didn't like working for anybody, so I moved around a lot. But every job that I left, I always could have gone back. I always had a good relationship, but I just could never understand doing the same thing for nine hours a day, eight hours a day, and not being able to take your dog to the vet or do other things that you needed to do. So I thought my time was more valuable. So I grew up in contracting, so concrete, masonry, laboring, building houses, working for family here and there, and then doing a lot of my own hustles. I deliver Chinese food, lots of random jobs and different jobs, but I always focused around sales,
Ken McLachlan (03:51):
Always sales and always did. No, your family was in the building business. Tell me about that. Did you do work with your dad or your uncles or whatever it is, or how did you work that?
Steven Sarasin (04:01):
Yeah, yeah. So my dad had, there were seven brothers and one sister in total. There's two left out of the eight siblings now. And I have no grandparents or anything left anymore, but they all did a mix of different things, a lot of building in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. So I would work with them growing up, and then I would do a lot of my own stuff as well.
Ken McLachlan (04:23):
What did you learn from that? I mean, being in that business, I know it's a tremendously hardworking business to be in, and especially working with family as well, there must have been a lot of energy around that, and we all have families. What was that like? What did you learn from that?
Steven Sarasin (04:40):
So what I learned is why I didn't want to continue doing it because all of my relatives and stuff that did that work all have really bad bodies and a lot of chronic pain, and it just destroyed their body. So I learned that I would rather that hard work be up here. I like to do it up here rather than physically.
Ken McLachlan (05:05):
And how long were you in that business?
Steven Sarasin (05:07):
I mean, I was on job sites since as far back as I can remember. So my whole life and since I've flipped and done a ton of properties myself too.
Ken McLachlan (05:20):
Yeah. So how did you transition into real estate?
Steven Sarasin (05:23):
You know what, I'll be honest. So my uncle that I look up to, he's 74 years old. He was a captain of the fire department, and he was the one that was a custom home builder and still does. And one day he called me, he was with my dad, and he called me and said, I think you should get into real estate. And I had already wanted to get into real estate, but the schooling and stuff is somebody with a DHD is difficult. So I just remember I was standing in the laundry room at my parents' house when they called, and I really looked up to my uncle. And so I started right away. I said, you know what? If he's saying it, then that kind of doubles down what I'm already wanting to get into. And the reason I didn't get into it earlier is I took on a lot of responsibilities at a young age that most people don't take on. I moved out of home at 16 and stuff, so it took me a little longer to get into the industry than what I wanted to because I still had to support a lot of people financially.
Ken McLachlan (06:12):
For many of us, we didn't have that choice to make that we, I don't know if you made it by choice or whatever, maybe if you want to share any of that you can. But to get out of your house at 16 when most of us are worrying about what do I wear to the dance or what music am I listening to, or what sport am I going to play? But you actually left the house and you had to fend for yourself.
Steven Sarasin (06:38):
And my parents are still married today, but both parents are on disability, and they were for pretty well most of my life due to health issues and stuff. And the big thing was is I had a girlfriend at a young age who I witnessed her dad pass away in the hospital, and I called my parents from the hospital after I witnessed him passing away and said, I got to move out. I got to take care of her now because she's not going to have anyone. So I ended up taking care of her and her two brothers, and even her mom and sometimes the mom's boyfriend, and we all moved in together. And
Ken McLachlan (07:10):
So, wait a minute, wait a minute. So you're 16, you witnessed this thing, this traumatic thing that happens with your girlfriend, and you make the decision to actually step up and look after her and her family and as a 16-year-old.
Steven Sarasin (07:27):
So I made a promise to her dad on his deathbed that day. Wow.
Ken McLachlan (07:32):
Do you
Steven Sarasin (07:32):
Understand? That's what I
Ken McLachlan (07:33):
Did. Amazing. That is to actually as a 16-year-old to do you look back at that at all, or
Steven Sarasin (07:39):
No, I've never really thought of it. Life has always been with stuff like that, so I've never really had a chance to look back on anything.
Ken McLachlan (07:47):
What, think about it. What was it like at that time? Do you remember?
Steven Sarasin (07:51):
I remember everything, yeah. And I remember where I was standing in the hospital when I called my parents, and I just looked at it like a motivation. You mentioned the Energizer Bunny and I very much run off other people's energy. So if I got good energy around me, it keeps me going and I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I just need some sort of motivation or some sort of reason to do what needs to be done.
Ken McLachlan (08:15):
Were you scared at 16 when you were doing that? Was it frightening?
Steven Sarasin (08:19):
No. No. Not at all.
Ken McLachlan (08:20):
No.
Steven Sarasin (08:20):
No.
Ken McLachlan (08:22):
I can't believe it. I mean, to me, I, I remember trying to go back to when I was 16, was a pimply little kid with hair. And I guess what happens is that if you are in a situation that you have to make a decision to do something, you actually make it and you do that type of
Steven Sarasin (08:41):
Thing. And that's how I run my business, that all of my life is always putting myself into situations that are bigger than my decision so that I'm forced to have to do things that I might not normally do.
Ken McLachlan (08:54):
You're actually motivated tough situations.
Steven Sarasin (08:57):
Yeah, that's exactly in
Ken McLachlan (08:58):
Your life. And if you don't have, so let me dig a little deeper here from Mr. Psychologist, Ken, which I'm not, don't have. Do you find yourself if you don't have that chaos or situation in your life that you actually create
Steven Sarasin (09:13):
It? Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent.
Ken McLachlan (09:15):
Yeah. Yeah.
Steven Sarasin (09:16):
Always.
Ken McLachlan (09:16):
Yeah. You have to thrive on it. You have to get, and there's a lot of people like that. I was like that for a lot of years that I have to, everything's going so well right now. I better screw things up so I can actually make them better. That makes
Steven Sarasin (09:27):
Sense. I've just always been screwing them up and not in a bad way, but intentionally creating that
Ken McLachlan (09:33):
Chaos. Yes, it's comfortable. You don't want to be comfortable what you're doing and living a comfortable life, which is really frigging boring.
Steven Sarasin (09:41):
Yeah, that's right.
Ken McLachlan (09:41):
I imagine you would go crazy. I always tell people once I get comfortable, I'm really dangerous
Steven Sarasin (09:47):
Because
Ken McLachlan (09:48):
I imagine you were the same way
Steven Sarasin (09:50):
I told myself since a kid. I literally remember, and it's not the greatest thing, but when I was a kid, I would sometimes listen to depressing music or put myself into a bit of a depressed mood because I have to either be really happy or really sad if I'm in the middle and normal, as most people call it, I feel like there's something wrong. I don't know how to live in an okay moment. It's either got to be extreme down or extreme up.
Ken McLachlan (10:14):
Yeah, yeah, I know. That's just the way it is, isn't it?
Steven Sarasin (10:17):
Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (10:18):
For you. Yeah. So I always ask people what their life was like when they were 13, but you were 16. I get what you did, the decision you made, and that really to me was the cornerstone of your life at the beginning. You made the choice to step up and do something. Do you remember where you were when you were 13?
Steven Sarasin (10:37):
Yeah, I think so. I was kind of a popular kid, not the top three, I would say popular in school, but four or five maybe. I had a lot of friends, always hustling to make money, cutting lawns, raking leaves, knocking on doors for all that kind of stuff. Always go, go, go. I always wanted to be able to do what I wanted and nobody could ever tell me I couldn't do something for whatever reason.
Ken McLachlan (11:05):
Where'd she learn that from? I mean, is that your dad like that or family or
Steven Sarasin (11:09):
No, no, I'm a bit of, I have a brother and a sister and we're totally different. I am the one that when my parents went to bed or at night, they didn't know if I was going to be in calling him from another country the next day or married somewhere or a kid or they stressed out a lot about me. But I also felt it was my obligation to look out for them, not them look out for me.
Ken McLachlan (11:32):
So your life is not boring.
Steven Sarasin (11:34):
No, no, it's not.
Ken McLachlan (11:36):
And if it was boring, it's going to be a real big problem.
Steven Sarasin (11:39):
Right.
Ken McLachlan (11:41):
So you transitioned into real estate and you tell everybody where you live. What?
Steven Sarasin (11:48):
So right now, I'm Georgina Brock Market, so just slightly north of New Market. And we used to have to tell people, do Toronto, do you know new market and then keep going north. And then they would be like, I've never heard of that now
Ken McLachlan (11:59):
Until the earth stops. Yeah,
Steven Sarasin (12:01):
Yeah, exactly. So those are the markets that I traded. And then 2013 I had a little bit of a, I don't know if it was depression, I just had one night where a bunch of buddies were over, we were snowmobile and stuff, and a switch just flipped in my head and I said, I got to get out of here. I got to move and do something and move somewhere new and surround myself around people that are why what happened? Just because it was a small town, Tim Horton's, everybody hangs out every night. There's fights and there's all this stuff going on and drama. Everybody knows everybody's business, but I knew that if I wanted to grow, I had to get around other cultures and I had to be around people with different backgrounds so that I could learn from them to get to the next level.
(12:39):
So what did you do? How did you do that? The next morning I woke up and I found, this was 2013 January on New Year's, and I found a place in Richmond Hill, and I just randomly moved to Richmond Hill and said, I'll keep my place up here for a few months until I make sure that Richmond Hill is okay. But I didn't end up doing that. I just moved straight. And I remember one of the first couple of nights just sleeping in this condo going, wow, this is new. And walking across the street to try to get something to eat, and I didn't understand. It was a lot of Chinese restaurants and stuff, and I didn't speak the language and I ordered food. And when it came time to pay, I didn't have any cash and I couldn't communicate the person. I was scared. And then I went to an ATM and they trusted me until I came back. And that was kind of the start of it. That
Ken McLachlan (13:23):
Was your start?
Steven Sarasin (13:23):
Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (13:25):
And how long did you live in Richmond Hill? Tell me about
Steven Sarasin (13:29):
That. A total of there was a 1, 2, 3 different condos and then a slight year over in Scarborough when I got a place with a bunch of buddies. So four different places over eight years
Ken McLachlan (13:43):
To I want you to share your philosophy of planning and your business and your life. Are you set that you actually sit down and you plan things out?
Steven Sarasin (13:55):
No.
Ken McLachlan (13:56):
No. I feel like, so tell me, how's that work for you in life and business? How do you go from, do you sit down at the beginning of the year and say, look, I'm going to get my goal setting, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, or
Steven Sarasin (14:08):
I do. Over the last four or five years, I do kind of make a business plan at the beginning of every year, but I never go back to it. I make it that one time. I spend a few hours to make it, and then I find usually when I do look back on it midway three quarters of the way through the year I'm doing it. So I have to believe at this point it's the universe. I put it out into the universe and the universe guides me to reach it.
Ken McLachlan (14:32):
Do you think so do you think that's how it happens? Or do you think that you are so freaking street smart that there's nothing, my sense of you and what I know of you is that nothing is going to get you ever. No. I mean, you're going to have setbacks, you're going to have different problems. We all do, but at the end of the day, you're going to make it.
Steven Sarasin (14:52):
I will tell you that in the last 12 months, I've never experienced so many setbacks and so many the toughest things ever. And I did deal with a lot of tough things when I was a kid, but I don't know. I feel like it's been horrible and I'm at a point where I just live one day at a time. I try to make it, I live a morning and then I live an evening and there's a lot of big things. So I've really had to learn delayed gratification, which is something I never, ever could deal with, was delayed gratification. Did you have to slow down a bit? I would say I haven't slowed down. I've ramped up, but only because I have a plan to slow down a little bit. But I have some big hurdles and humps that I got to get over before I could do that. I have a vision now for the first time ever.
Ken McLachlan (15:40):
Okay. So share with me and others your typical day.
Steven Sarasin (15:45):
Honestly, typical day now with the kids and stuff is I wake up earlier. I wake up maybe between six 30 and seven, and it's honestly, I have a personal trainer, which is good a few times a week, but it's honestly just seems like putting out fires for morning till night.
Ken McLachlan (16:02):
What do you mean share that non-real estate conversation with people that pretend they don't even know what you're talking about?
Steven Sarasin (16:08):
I mean, it's just with a team and with kids and with all of the things that are going on and the different things I have in my life every day there's a lot of difficult conversations that need to be had, which I used to run away from and try to avoid. And there's a lot of stuff that people have no idea that goes on that you have to battle with and you have to make it through.
Ken McLachlan (16:32):
I'm going to try to dig a little deeper.
Steven Sarasin (16:35):
Okay. I'm an open book. I will share anything.
Ken McLachlan (16:37):
I know, I know. But I want to know that I, what's important I think, is for people to know that all of us have difficulty and we have to deal with things we have to deal with, make decisions. And life isn't just rosy all the time. There's always different problems that come up and you, like me and other people are faced with problems on a daily basis and you can't run away from them. You have to face them. That's why I wanted to find out what your day is. So you are actually saying that you are no different than anybody else. You have these problems that come up, and the last 12 months have been really difficult. The market's been difficult. We've had a lot of different things happening, but you're not running away from it. You're actually digging down. You have to do the work and make it happen. And so what's your day? You get up early, you do, you face these problems
Steven Sarasin (17:24):
And I face the problems, right? I got to try to put deals together and we carry a lot of listings and we always have new team members and their issues and stuff like that. And I just kind of try to deal with the toughest stuff I can and I procrastinate some stuff until, but it doesn't have to be done today. I'll put it off and I've come to the conclusion that you're not going to have a day that feels like you, everything you need to complete with at this level, all different.
Ken McLachlan (17:53):
Yeah. Tell us, how many team members do you
Steven Sarasin (17:55):
Have? I'll be honest, I don't really know right now. I think between 14 and 16, consistently onboarding new ones. Right now, actively as we're talking, there's emails going back and forth with new team members in the brokerage, but I will be at 20 in the next 30 days. So
Ken McLachlan (18:12):
20 is your number. How much help do you have to do that? I
Steven Sarasin (18:16):
Have have four full-time, I guess support staff and I will need to bring on more, but that's what I got right now.
Ken McLachlan (18:26):
So I mean, you talked about Georgina and all that different area, but I know that you actually go to Mississauga and take listings. You go to different places all over Ontario, actually you will do that, won't you?
Steven Sarasin (18:37):
Yeah. So me personally, I am a big on staying in my area that I know really, really well. And I do a lot of referral business, but now we have a lot of team members that have wanted to join us that serve those other areas and have served them for a long time. So yeah, we do cover quite a big range of area now. It's fun though.
Ken McLachlan (18:57):
It's fun. You having fun with it.
Steven Sarasin (18:58):
I am having fun with it, yes. If I knew all of this when I started it, I am a sucker for pain, so I probably still would've done it anyways, but I might've done it a little differently.
Ken McLachlan (19:09):
So let's get real for a minute. Okay.
(19:13):
I want you to tell me what really motivates you. Not that you're not being real already, by the way, but what motivates you? What it's like to run a business of real estate, what it's like to deal with 20 team members, how difficult that is and the administration help and all this stuff that you have on your plate and what are you faced with every day? I mean on that because want to know? I want people to understand from you that it's not just you putting a for sale sign up. There's a lot of stuff that goes on underneath it and there's a lot of frustration with it. It's a lot
(19:51):
Balancing the books and doing this and doing that type of thing. So let us dig in a little deeper on this. Okay. Tell us about what it's actually like being this 20 man operation or personal operation.
Steven Sarasin (20:03):
It is. The only thing I can say is I know the things that I've had to do and go through in my life and I just don't feel like it's cut out for everybody. I don't think everybody is capable of it. And what we're seeing in the last two years, a lot of people that I really looked up to when I got in the business have really fizzled out of the business. And if you look at that, it could scare me and say, look, these people have been in the business a long time, crushing it, never had a down year and now they've fallen off the face of the earth. But with the responsibilities that I take on by creating that chaos and stuff, I just know that the harder it gets, more people can't handle it and it's going to benefit me in the long run.
(20:43):
But I'll be honest, I used to have a lot of people to look up to that could give me advice. But the level that I'm kind of getting to in such a short period of time, I don't really know who to talk to. So it's lonely, it's stressful. You go home at the end of the day, and my partner is actually a big part of the business now, but even she doesn't know what's really going on in my mind or behind the scenes. Nobody really knows what it truly takes with especially to be growing in a market where everybody else is doing less or a lot of people are doing less to be doubling even from last year again and again, and to be not even two years as a team and have 20 people so far, there was no time to learn.
Ken McLachlan (21:26):
But there are a lot of team leaders out there in different markets than yours that you could pick up the phone. I mean, they would share this information. Do you ever do that? Well,
Steven Sarasin (21:37):
Finally, recently in the last week have found a couple of them, and that's what I'm focused on next. And I realize that's what I need in order to make it, to stay in this to the next level. Yeah. That's exciting. Yeah, it's exciting. I've somehow found, I lost my passion for a little while because there was just so much stress and so much negativity going on. But I've recently found my confidence again and I found my passion. And to be honest, I found it in rock bottom in the stress of it all. That's where I found it. And that's that extreme low I was talking about. And now I really feel really pumped and motivated to get through it.
Ken McLachlan (22:20):
Do you have a vision of what you look like in 10 years down the road?
Steven Sarasin (22:24):
10 years? No, one year? Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (22:29):
Well, no, you don't have a, how old are you, Steven?
Steven Sarasin (22:32):
I just turned
Ken McLachlan (22:33):
34. So you're a young man. I mean, you got a big future ahead of you. So you don't look at when I'm 55 or 50 what my life is going to look like. I'm going to be living on this cottage, I'm going to be doing this, I'm going to be traveling to whatever. I mean, do you have a vision of what that's like?
Steven Sarasin (22:53):
Ever since I was a kid, I remember never being able to picture myself as an adult. I honestly didn't think I would make it. Really? Yeah, really. And no, because in the last six to 12 months, my priorities have completely shifted. I used to go on vacations six to eight times a year. I used to. I was kind of retired in a sense. That's the easiest way to put it. Until really after COVID, I kind of was really good at the things that I did, and I had a lot of different investments and things going on that I could always rely on. And then obviously everybody else after COVID, things shifted with markets and interest rates and all that stuff. So my priorities and with the kids and everything else involved, my priorities have shifted a lot in the last 12 months.
(23:38):
What I want for a lifestyle has really shifted a lot. So I'm still kind of trying to figure that out. I went from wanting all the material items and everything that I couldn't have when I was growing up, and I realized there was actually no excitement in any of that. And I've had some of the fastest cars and the nicest things, and I've gotten rid of some of that. And I forget what it was like to even own it. It's like I was a different person then. So now my vision is to build a good future for my kids and for my family, but also try to remove a little bit of that chaos and have a little bit, I don't even like the word balance. It'll never be balanced. But instead of 99 chaos, 1% I'd like to at least a 90 10 or an 85, 15,
Ken McLachlan (24:20):
Get down a little bit,
Steven Sarasin (24:21):
Get the energy off it a bit.
Ken McLachlan (24:23):
And you mentioned your kids. How many kids do you have?
Steven Sarasin (24:26):
I have two kids. I have a daughter. She's half Canadian, half Mexican. She's seven. She has turned seven. And then I have a little boy that's about to turn three.
Ken McLachlan (24:35):
Wow. That's energy there.
Steven Sarasin (24:37):
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Ken McLachlan (24:38):
Are they like you? He's a lot like me when I was younger. Oh yeah, your hands are going to get full, buddy.
(24:43):
All that type of thing. So 10 years down the road, it's more of taking the chaos down. I keep using the word chaos as if it's a bad thing, isn't when I want to reference to be really clear, the chaos I'm talking about is the energy that you live in, not craziness, none of that stuff. So the chaos that you have is maybe pushing that down a bit. And that comes with age, I think that comes with more maturity or whatever you want to call that. But having that and having a sense of that and your family growing and coming home at night and doing that type of thing like that. But you are clear that you want 20 people on your team. Why do you want to build a team that big? Why not have you a couple of administrators and maybe three or four real estate agents? Why 20?
Steven Sarasin (25:36):
So you know what? There's actually, it's a very good question. I can't wait to answer because there's two parts to it. I don't have a set number of 20, but what I did realize is when I started the team, I didn't know how to attract the right people. I didn't know where to find them, and I didn't know what a team would look like. But what I can tell you is when I started, I said I wanted a small high producing team, but I'm attracting a lot more business and I'm only adding team members as we get more business where we need that. And I'm also realizing the kind of team members I don't want and the kind of ones I want, I'm starting to attract new team members now that are very established and that are very hungry and that don't need me to motivate them like I was because they have kids and they have responsibilities and the bills are coming no matter what happens. So you can make excuses or you can make money to pay the bills. So my plan down the line is as the culture and everything of the team shifts, obviously changes are going to have to be made within the team. And my goal is to add and then maybe remove a little bit, add remove until I can have a robust,
Ken McLachlan (26:45):
Yeah, it's calling the herd they call it. And it's a matter of filling it up as much as you can and then letting the transition happen, not by itself, but through time people are going to appear and they're going to come and go.
Steven Sarasin (26:59):
My coach taught me something called top feeder. And you bring somebody on and they're new to your organization and they work really hard and they're next thing you know, they're really doing a good job. And it forces other people and other people in the organization to look and say this kind of, I don't think I'm a right fit. I got to get out of here, or I got to step up the game rather than trying to nag people and micromanage. It's kind of self. And I'm just noticing the type of people we're bringing on and just the way things in the business are changing. If I knew what I knew now a year ago, oh my God, I would've saved. It's embarrassing to look back at how I was a year ago and how I am now.
Ken McLachlan (27:43):
Well, you're changing the circumstances and who you are because of the circumstances. You're a different guy than you were back. Yeah, totally different. You're going to be totally different a year from now. I mean, my company, who I am, if you look back three years, there's no way that we're the same company, no way that I have the foundation of the same type of person, my integrity, my ethics, and all that good stuff. But the engagement in growing this stuff is what you're talking about. And it's so important to do this. It's so important. We're getting near the end. But I want to ask you a bit about, and this is really kind of a wimpy question, but are you having fun?
Steven Sarasin (28:23):
You know what? I guess kind of, I'm kind of having fun, but that's because I kind of see
Ken McLachlan (28:32):
No, don't mean, I don't mean are you partying? I'm not what I'm talking about. I mean, are you having fun with your life? Is your life fulfilling for you? Are you purposely doing stuff that make your enjoyment of what you're doing present?
Steven Sarasin (28:46):
Let's say this, my look on that is changed. It used to be a lot of vacations and I'm kind of upset and I have some resentment that I'm growing a bigger business, I'm doing more business, and I can't do those things and I can't get away. I feel like there's no way to actually have some downtime. So I'm not necessarily having fun right now, and my definition of fun has changed, but I know that if things work out and the universe provides and I keep a positive mind, I know I will have a different type of fund in the future and it will be that more fulfilling type of fund.
Ken McLachlan (29:21):
And you're clear on that
Steven Sarasin (29:23):
Right now is the toughest time in the business. And if I could go back to even two years ago, I thought things were tough back then, but they were not.
Ken McLachlan (29:33):
Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, things are tough and things are always, it doesn't matter what the market is like, there's always going to be tough times with it. And who we are in tough situations is who we actually are in life, I think. And that's what you're talking about is really digging down and doing the work, right?
Steven Sarasin (29:48):
Yeah. I went from avoiding anything tough to now looking forward to it, bring it on. I want it because I realize how much I thrive in those environments, and that's what has really changed. I just love, I've grown and learned a lot to the point where I don't even know where I'm headed because there's been so many positive changes through the hard that I've just come to realize that it's the way it's going to be.
Ken McLachlan (30:13):
Well, I think part of the thing we don't do enough of is give yourself some grace. Give yourself, listen, you're 34 years old. I'm a lot older than you, but you're 34. And look at you. You're doing fantastic. I mean, I know you know that. I know you. I'm not preaching to the choir here, but really give ourselves some grace and listen, let's have some fun with this. Let's enjoy it. Let's take some chances. Let's do the best we can,
(30:40):
Then go on from there. Really. And that's why I'm so proud to be working with you. You're doing that. You're actually living it. You're engaged every frigging day. The energy that you have and doing your job is contagious just to hang out with you. I know people that hang out with you and it's like, where are we going now? What are we doing? Let's go. That's exactly, but it's not crazy stuff. It's just like, let's get it done. What are you sitting there for? Let's make the best of it. Let's get up and dance. Let's do some stuff on that. And I'm really proud to work with you on that because it's really important. And from your own admission, you want to throw that back a bit, maybe 5% or 10%, which is great, whatever it happens. But that's with maturity, that's with getting older.
Steven Sarasin (31:25):
The only thing I can say, and I think it's the most important part, is this year I decided to burn every single ship and risk it all and put it all on the line and bet and bet only on myself. I'm a hundred percent betting on myself.
Ken McLachlan (31:41):
It's a great bet to have, bud. It's a really good bet to have. We're nearing the end of what we talked about or our podcast, and I want to make sure that I was allowed you the time to say anything that you wanted to say. And did I get everything across or did you get everything across or this something you want to add into it? Listen, I'm
Steven Sarasin (31:59):
Going to have a book in the future, and it's going to be a lot of things that people didn't know that I was going through and stuff, but I just want people to know that you can't believe everything you see online.
(32:14):
You got to understand that if you're doing the right thing and you have integrity and you have empathy and you work hard and you don't make excuses, you will get whatever you want to get. And there's a saying that says two years ago was something that you dreamed about before. And I look at that and I remember seeing people on stage imagining what it would be like to be where they are, and then getting there and then passing and passing and getting to the next level and keep growing. I love this type of stuff and I could talk forever and share everything, but I just want people to know that you got to just believe in yourself and do the thing and it will work.
Ken McLachlan (32:50):
So let's finish on that, but I want to dig just a little deeper on that. So how do you keep the faith in yourself? What do you do daily to do that for you?
Steven Sarasin (33:00):
I just know that no matter, as time goes on in life and in this business, I become more and more humble. I used to dress to the nines, now I dress like whatever. And the only thing I can say is that me personally, the success and stuff doesn't change me. It actually makes me more attuned to what's going on around me and to people and stuff. And I just feel like you got to just be positive.
(33:29):
Hard with everything that's going on, it's easy to get sucked into the negativity and blame that negativity for why you're where you are.
Ken McLachlan (33:36):
Yeah, they hear the noise. Yeah,
Steven Sarasin (33:38):
It's tough. And say, well, so-and-so is struggling, so that must be why I'm struggling. But I like to look at the people. When I look at people that are where I want to be or that are the top of the top in anything, I follow a lot. Lot of people in a lot of podcasts and stuff. I go, if they can do it, I can do it. That's number one. And that's just the way I don't get envious and I don't get jealous. I cheer them on because I as an entrepreneur know how hard it is already, and I know that they didn't get to where they are. They must have had even maybe harder struggles than I am, and I want to learn from that.
Ken McLachlan (34:14):
I know. So give me some stats here. I know in the business you do where I'm just going to make up numbers now. So if most people would have a listing and they might sell one in three listings, you have a higher percentage of success with a business that you take on, right?
Steven Sarasin (34:31):
Yeah. Like I said, with the chaos and stuff, I need something, a goal or I need something to motivate me. So me taking a listing that I know is not going to sell, is not going to motivate me. I know that nobody, the sellers, the buyer, me, nobody's going to get what they deserve for the time and effort and the result, so I won't do it.
Ken McLachlan (34:53):
So you really established the business of actually serving people that really need your help, right?
Steven Sarasin (34:58):
Yeah. I have examples of that from when I was brand new in the business. I started the business knowing that nobody, whether friends, family, nobody owes me a single thing. And it's on me to prove myself to those people. One thing I would like to say, because you mentioned that I'm young, I don't feel young because of the mental part of things, but over 70% of my clientele is 60 plus.
Ken McLachlan (35:23):
Wow.
Steven Sarasin (35:25):
And I'm working with more 75 to 85 year olds right now than I ever knew before I got into this business even.
Ken McLachlan (35:34):
Wow. Is that because of where you're working or the demographics up there, or Georgina? Are they old people
Steven Sarasin (35:40):
Or older people? No, no, not necessarily. But I think it's just because older generations and stuff really still believe in trust and respect and your
Ken McLachlan (35:51):
Word. Well, they want somebody that's going to get the job done too. I mean, that's the key to the whole thing. If people, I know this and I know that this is what you deliver, you actually deliver results. You actually do the job
Steven Sarasin (36:03):
Under promise, over deliver. And I know a lot of people use that now, but that's been my motto since 10 years ago.
Ken McLachlan (36:09):
Well, you're the best at it, buddy. I appreciate you doing this. And if people had to, and they should, if they want to get ahold of you, how do they get ahold of you?
Steven Sarasin (36:16):
They can Instagram at Steven Sarasin or type in Stevenson on Facebook. And I love to have these types of conversations. If anyone else out there is struggling, then I'd be happy to talk to them and
Ken McLachlan (36:27):
Spell Sarasin for them.
Steven Sarasin (36:29):
S-A-R-A-S-I-N.
Ken McLachlan (36:32):
Mr. Sarason, this has been a real privilege for me to have you here. Yeah, me too. It's been great. I'm very proud to work with you. I think you make a big difference with a lot of the clients that you work with. And I keep referencing your young age. I don't mean young as a negative. I think you have.
Steven Sarasin (36:47):
Yeah,
Ken McLachlan (36:48):
Of course. Such a great future ahead of you, and it's such a fantastic presence that you are in right now. So thank you for being here. And reach out to Steven. Do you want to give your cell number or is that something you don't want to?
Steven Sarasin (37:00):
Yeah, my number is 2 8 9 3 1 2 4 6 6 9. And if you Google my name, you'll find me very easily every,
Ken McLachlan (37:07):
Yeah. Mr. Sarason, thank you, sir. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thanks.
(37:14):
So here are my big three takeaways from my conversation with Steve Sarasin today. Choose hard on purpose. Steven intentionally puts himself in tough situations and thrives there using adversity and delayed gratification to stay driven. Steven wins with trust and results. He takes only listings he believes will sell under promises and over delivers, which has built deep trust, especially with his older clients. And he grows the right team, not just a big team. He's scaling towards 20. By attracting self-motivated pros, using top feeders to raise standards, adding support, and seeking peer mentors. Steven is very focused on living his life and being the best he can be. Thanks for listening to Realty Life. If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a rating and a review. Your support helps more people find the show.
