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The Real Deal Podcast
Unlock the door to success in the dynamic world of real estate with your hosts, William Gomez & Alfredo Madrid. Join us as we dive into the inspiring journeys of loan officers and real estate agents, sharing their triumphs, challenges, and invaluable insights. Your key to navigating the ever-evolving landscape of real estate starts here.
The Real Deal Podcast
#5 What is the Perfect Age to Become a Realtor? -Tracy Ellis
Top-producing Realtor Tracy Ellis. Tracy shares how life's challenges became the seeds for her unwavering positivity, propelling her both personally and professionally.
Explore the layers of authentic connection beyond transactions, discovering how likability can be a golden ticket in real estate and beyond. Tracy's journey, starting anew in real estate at 55, celebrates the resilience and enduring value of showing up every day.
The conversation delves into the 'high five for the win' strategy, a daily engagement approach that cultivates and maintains customer relationships. Learn about the boundless opportunities in the industry for those willing to invest in relationships and themselves, regardless of age.
Wrap up the episode with inspiring anecdotes, including impromptu acts of kindness and the importance of playing the long game in both life and business. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom and actionable insights, designed to spark joy, inspiration, and equip you with tools to enrich your life and elevate your business practices.
I love how you started describing how great your father is before you went into the hardship, and I noticed that you do that with a lot of people when you talk about them your mother, anybody on your team, heck even just the brief interaction that we had here, you found a way to see the good. I love that. I think that it's very natural. I think that it's just super coming from your heart. Do you feel that that season of your life going through those hardships with your dad kind of taught you to do that? Is that something that comes from natural for you? Is that something you built? Because I think that that's probably where a lot of your that organic success has come from you. Is that you have chosen to see good.
Speaker 2:That's funny. I get made fun of on the team in a very beautiful way that I never see the bad in anybody. That everybody is in fact. Yeah, the humor that's tied to that because perhaps it's not that common. For you know, for everybody.
Speaker 2:I wrapped 35 years of full-time pastoral ministry with this conclusion there is a God who is good. He looked at you, breathed life into you and said dang, very good. And then he said now let's partner together, let's join hands, walk throughout all of creation and let's seek to do something good every single day. And that's it. That's the full story. That's the long and the short of it. That is my religious evolution to this date. Every day, go, do something good and in the moment that you do, you have encountered your God. Whoever that is, whatever version, I don't care, you have encountered your God and you have represented him well in front of someone else. So find something good that you can do today and honestly, and that has over time. When I see someone, I really do see the good and not the. It's not that the challenge isn't there, it is, and I think acknowledging that you know is real is fine. I don't live with my head in the cloud, but I do choose, you know, to be a cloud dweller.
Speaker 4:Hey see, ellis, welcome, welcome back. I want to say welcome back, but you've came on the Willpower podcast. It was a great conversation that we had. Alfredo and I have started a new podcast that's strictly just agents and lenders, top producing agents, top producing lenders. So, man who, who better to have on? I'm super excited for you, for you to be here and kind of share a little bit of what's been going on. It's been almost two years. You've been in the business now for over 10 years, so correct anniversary will come.
Speaker 2:I like to say end of April, first of May 2013. So it'll be 11 years in a couple of months, which is like crazy, yeah, lasting in any industry, and and and certainly you know we were just talking about how this industry is filled it. It's an industry that's fairly easy to get into. It's not necessarily an industry that is easy to stay in, because it requires work and I love.
Speaker 1:I love that you started at 55, which somebody could really use that as a reason as to why they didn't make it, as to why they weren't relevant in the market and you just chose to be relevant immediately, starting at 55. I love that about it.
Speaker 2:You know, interesting and and yes, and I have actually, I've actually said that we've got I think the youngest agent on our team is 24. Oh, to be 24 again and and to be in this industry? Sure, I think that's the. I can look at it from from every, I think, from every spectrum and say if I'm young, I would be in this industry.
Speaker 2:So I would leverage myself in this industry and I would do whatever it takes to stay. And if I'm old and I'm looking for a new opportunity, I would get into this industry. And obviously there are a few things that factor into that as to how fast people travel in the industry. You know how quickly you you get up and running. We just added, in fact we've got an event this coming Wednesday night and I do want to talk about events because there's a key here. There's a key here, but we've got an event from four to six at Waterfront Grill welcoming two new agents. One of those agents is Brian Shore. He's 55. Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was very successful in the entrance industry, sold out, moved to Tulsa and just kind of woke up and said, hey, I'm ready for a new adventure. And so we've known each other for a few years and he just got licensed and really super excited to partner with him Because I've been there. Yeah literally been there. So whether you're 24, 54, it doesn't matter. The opportunity is just as real in this industry and it's it's a very specific opportunity, but but I love people hearing that, because I just turned 44.
Speaker 2:And those voices oh, it would be 44.
Speaker 1:But it just goes to show, I have those voices creeping in on many, many occasions going like man, you can't get on social media at this point, like you can't, like that's for the young kids, that's for Will, right, and so, like there's all these like thoughts that I have about like why I may not be relevant. So it's awesome to hear you talk about hey, like I came in and I chose to be relevant Will's. He's one of the things that makes him so great. He's like a big milestone. I'm checking this off by this age, by this age and by this age, and that can help you, but it could also like start to like get in there.
Speaker 4:I mean, you'd hit the nail right in the head. This is. I'm a few days away from my 20s being over and I'm like having a mini midlife crisis Pre-mid. So a quick recap Tracy for people that have never heard your name. So Alfredo came out and said it. You started in the business when you were 55, you were doing ministry for over 20 years. Was it 26 years? Actually 35. 35 years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, proud of that man how many lives have you lived so? And then you come into the business, you close over 50 deals your first year and then you just been up ever since then. Now it's funny last time that you came on, I made it a point to talk about how, from 2021 to 2022, on 2022 being a down year your team excelled and did better than the year before. And same conversation because if we thought that 2021 was a big drop to 2022, 2022 to 2023 was an even more shock to everybody. And you guys did 180 something transactions for over 50 million last year.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we wrapped 22 record year. So we did 196 transactions and 54.3 million, and that was 2022. And interest rates were like still at 3% and for the first quarter of the year, close to first half of the year, yeah, yeah, and hit 2023. And in record time, you know, rates went from three to 8% or whatever. And so we always set our projections in October each year. And so each individual person on the team looks at the dream they have and hold for their life and what will it take to finance that dream. So the business plan comes out of you know what you want to accomplish, you know in your life, and so we set our projections in October for 2023. And then we wrapped the year and it was a record year in 2022.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden, everything shifted and that was the first time in my part of being in the industry that we'd had. Others would say that we've had some shifts, but when rates went to eight, it was a definite shift, and so we didn't change our projections. You know. We didn't go back and go. Oh, my goodness, we just continued to keep, you know, nose to the grindstone and just doing real estate all year 2023. And so we did. We wrapped with 186 transactions and 53.2 million, I believe. So the year before we did 50,. Locally, we did 54.3, I think, and then 53.2. So we didn't hit where we wanted to be, but we were not disappointed with what 2023 looked like, having gone through, you know, having gone through all of that, and so that was, but that's still just getting up every day and being consistent in the business that we you know that we're in.
Speaker 1:What is the messaging that you're delivering to your team? To help them be economy proof right. It's just so easy to start going like, well, the market's down, everybody else is down. You know, misery loves companies, so everybody. Just when they're down, they wanna. There's some comfort in finding out that somebody else is down too. So you know if you it's not by accident that you still had a great year. What is the mindset, what is the messaging that you have with your team?
Speaker 2:Great question and honestly, let's just take the Tulsa market we're a million, 16, a million, 20 population, big population, real estate is happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is never stopped. It never, ever, ever stops. The only thing that stops is your mindset. So if you buy into the fact that, oh, because rates have changed, ain't nobody gonna buy, then you're convincing yourself. So it really is an understanding and we actually demonstrate that regularly to the team by saying these are the conversations that are happening, these are the leads that are developing.
Speaker 2:I was on the phone this morning and it was a call that I took. That was regarding care for my mother who's 86, and I took her parasailing May of last year. I come from good genes, alfredo, so I took a parasailing at 85 years of age. It's amazing the funny story behind fun story behind that she fell New Year's Day, broke her hip and fractured her ankle and crushed her heel at 86. And she's never had a broken bone, never been in a hospital, never had anesthesia, anything like that. So watching her hit that point of vulnerability was incredible. And they drove a rod down her femur and reattached and so I know Will you've come through? So I want you to know, at 86, they've drove a rod down her femur. They could not do surgery on the heel but it crushed it. He said it looked like they dropped it from 30 feet.
Speaker 2:That's how crushed the heel was. That makes mine look like nothing Dude well. And so they've casted the right foot for six weeks and then a boot for four I want you to know at 86,. The woman has been up on the parallel bar, hopping on one foot down and back. Yeah, incredible.
Speaker 2:So I took a call this morning of somebody who was trying to find me because of home health and it was all that type of stuff. And we're always demonstrating, alfredo, to the team that real estate is never, ever, not happening. So the lady has called because she can organize home health and all of that type of stuff. And she picked up on because when I answer the phone, hey, tracy, with Keller Williams and the Ellis team, how can I help? And so she's like I just need you to know.
Speaker 2:I appreciate real estate agents. You guys are the hardest working people on the planet. You work 24 hours a day. You guys never quit. And I said well, I said I get accused of that and then I get accused of never working. So I said I'm somewhere between the two extremes and I said, before I hang up, I said what are your real estate plans for this year? Let into a conversation that she wants to buy an investment property, and she actually wants to buy another home, move into it and turn hers into an investment property. She said is there any way that you could help me with that? Now that's a phone call coming from a healthcare worker scheduling in-home health for my 86 year old mother, and yet it's real estate happening. Does that make sense? 100%, and we do that absolutely every day and in fact I had an agent in the office and they always shake their head because they're like how do you do?
Speaker 2:that you know it happened yesterday. One of our youngest agents was in there newest agent, and he happens to be the youngest and he's like dude, it's like watching a master at work. I said, no, it's actually understanding. Real estate is never, ever not happening. And so you have this conversation consistently with people.
Speaker 2:I was in the dentist chair on Tuesday morning at eight o'clock. Dentists always want to talk to you when they've got their hands in your mouth and anyway, and Chris Trisonella, fantastic dentist, and I could just tell by the conversation that he's starting to toy with. Hey, I've got this home in midtown, I love it, but it's increased in value. And so and I'm always punching people like dude it's time for you to sell, it's time for you to reap the profits, it's time for you to move on. Oh no, I can't do that. And yet it's always that conversation. So tell me what's happening in the market, tell me what's so. Point is, it's a mindset. We demonstrate it because it's real, it's not something that you manufacture. But I will also say, for every person that gets it, there's a thousand that don't.
Speaker 4:Right. Well, we just went through those numbers before we got on the podcast, as far as the amount of agents that we have and the amount of volume that's being done by such a small percentage of agents. And it's crazy, and I think it goes back to mindset, because even the story that you told us about your mom, I mean that would you say that? That's where are you getting your mindset from to be able to kind of, you know, so, push through the markets.
Speaker 2:It's a really, really great question and we are actually so with our team. We do training consistently and learning because knowledge is power. We just introduced we gave the book as one of the gifts in at our vision board session, our retreat in October of last year. We gave the book Build the life you want by Arthur C Brooks and Oprah, so they teamed up together to to write the book. He is a social scientist and has studied happiness and everybody wants to be happy and so the book is about how to be happy, or, and, and he talks about how people approach life, the affect with which we, you know, we approach happiness, and it's so interesting because there are four distinct ways that that plays, that that plays out. But he gets into and some of that gets into how your hardwired your genetics. So when you ask, where does that drive in that mindset come from? Undoubtedly some of it.
Speaker 2:You know, as a good gene pool, my father was I don't know if we talked about this or not most talented. He was MacGyver, before MacGyver ever existed. Okay, most talented individual on the planet and was phenomenal, self-taught musician, vocalist. But he was, you know, the electrician, the plumber of the car mechanic. He could do anything. Did not drink until he was 30 and Was dead at 44? From drinking Mm-hmm. Wow, that was your father. Yeah, yeah, so you're 44. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So he did not drink till he was 30 and he was dead at 44. So part of that, the last seven years of his life, were just pure hell on earth. And so, as having lived with that, I had an inner resolve as a kid that, because of a lot of inconsistency and uncertainty that you lived with, and so I remember distinctly and this was, you know, became the very core of my being that when I was in complete control of my day, every day would be a good day. And I remember, you know, I remember saying that to myself. You know, as a kid, I will not have bad days.
Speaker 2:So how much of that is genetics and I attribute that. And then watching my mother Navigate through those white waters, always saying your father loves you, he just has a problem. Your father and I'm one of six boys born in seven years, so this whole podcast could be about my mom. I'm one of six boys born in seven years and she never raised her voice and never had an emotional moment. She's the most calm, calm, you know. Just. She just is unreal and so so all of it, as far as you know, you asked the question.
Speaker 2:So how do you, you know, how do you continue that every day and look at that. So I come from, you know, a wonderful gene pool, but I will also say out of the circumstances of life, because there was a lot of trauma during that period of time, a lot of trauma that everyone who is in love with or in life with an alcoholic can tell you. That's just part of it. So out of that came a resolve that said one day I'll be in control of my life, one day I'll get to choose. You know what every day looks like and when I do.
Speaker 2:And Well, you've been around me for several years now and you can ask anybody that's on the team. You can ask anybody. I, that is what I choose every single day, and it's not hard at this point, it's learned. And so I tie that back to Arthur Brooks and and build the life. You want an idea of happy or being happy, or and he will basically get down to saying it's available for everyone. You have to want that and you have to understand. If you're not hardwired that way, then you're gonna have some additional work to do.
Speaker 1:I Love how you started describing how great your father is before you went into the hardship, and I noticed that you do that with a lot of people when you talk about them your mother, anybody on your team, heck even just the brief interaction that we had here, you found a way to see the good. I Love that. I think that it's very natural. I think that it's it's just super coming from your heart. Do you feel that that season of your life going through those hardships with your dad Kind of taught you to do that? Is that something comes real natural for you since you built? But I because I think that that's probably where a lot of your that Organic successes come from you is that you have chosen to see good.
Speaker 2:That's that's funny. I get made fun of on the team in a very beautiful way that I never see the bad in anybody, that that everybody is in fact. Yeah, the humor that's. That's tied to that, because perhaps it's not that common. For you know, for everybody.
Speaker 2:I wrapped 35 years of full-time pastoral ministry with this conclusion there is a God who is good. He looked at you, breathe life into you, and said dang, very good. And then he said now let's partner together, let's join hands, walk throughout all of creation and let's seek to do something good every single day. And that's it. That's the full story. That's the long and the short of it. That that is my, my religious evolution to this date.
Speaker 2:Every day, go, do something good and in the moment that you do, you have encountered your God. Whoever that is, whatever version, I don't care. You have encountered your God and you have represented him well in front of someone else. So find something good that you can do today and and honestly, and that has over time, when I see someone, I Really do see the good and not the child. Is not that the challenge isn't there, it is and I think, acknowledging that you know is is real, is is fine as well. I don't live with my head in the cloud, but I do choose you know, to you know to be a cloud dweller, love it and it's, it's.
Speaker 4:It sounds like you're telling yourself every day You're gonna have a good day and you're saying it's getting easier for you. One of the things that you talked about in the book is that everybody Wants to be happy, but there's a fine line on on people. I personally believe and there's so many studies out there that that say that humans want to reach a level to where they're avoiding pain, and Without pain there isn't any growth. So I'm curious if you have anything specific that you do on a day-to-day and a week-to-week to put yourself in certain scenarios when it keeps you growing. I mean certainly you're doing something.
Speaker 2:You know it's. It's funny. I live with pain every day. So I have L4, l5s one, and I've since 2002. It was a January day and it was beautiful outside, but but chili and my daughter oldest daughter had come up from college and I was waxing her car and all of a sudden I started. I after that had low back pain. It would but what I didn't know, didn't know what it was actually and I actually thought it was a kidney infection, ended up going to the chiropractor and that has led to Decades, long now, of living with.
Speaker 2:I was not a candidate for surgery, did not want surgery, wasn't a candidate for surgery, and and so I Live with pain, and sometimes substantial pain, every day and I have had to make pain my friend and not my enemy, so that I'm because I don't don't, when you go down that route and you're not a candidate for surgery, will take these pain pills and that just doesn't work for me. I mean, I don't. I get the whole addictive side of that, but that's, thank God is not. I don't lean into that at all. So I would just prefer to deal with the pain and not take the pain killers and I'm talking about Prescription type stuff, which is what they, they wanted, they wanted to do.
Speaker 2:So I do live with pain every day and it is a mindset that says, you know, look, this is I can learn from this. And I do believe every difficult situation that you find yourself in there's something to be learned, something to be gained. So, yeah, it's kind of on a daily that you know you push, you know you push through that and then I have to manage. You know how I, you know, maintain Physical health, what I can do or fix it go skiing and in February and you know you always want to be. You know I don't stop doing things, but I do pay attention, you know close attention to what my body's going. You know what my body's going through. So I think living in that is Is a, it's an educational environment if you don't resent it and if you don't just give in, you know, into the painful place and you live, live beyond that, which is the goal.
Speaker 1:One of the things I've noticed about your business looking outside, looking in, is that you have done a great job of Staying humble enough to do the little things, like you talked early in today's deal. We were in bold together at one point. I don't I don't know if you remember, but I just remember you having the same curiosity of what you needed to do as a Brand new agent that came in there, the same enthusiasm of like, hey, this is gonna change my business. And even here and you heard you talking with will on the previous podcast and here and you talked today I feel like you still have that humility about you. That's like that from a practical standpoint. How do you use that attitude to make sure you're doing those little things?
Speaker 2:So I still produce. So, even though we have you know, we have a large team. I Enjoy the chase behind this industry because it really honestly is. It's it's like a treasure hunt every single day when the phone rings, when you know, when you pick up the phone, when you encounter I have, and I've done it enough now to where I know that today is going to be exciting. It doesn't matter. I don't know if I told you this night it's one of the, and I Share it occasionally, but I was standing in line at Starbucks and this goes back to the real estate is happening all around us and this has been, gosh, been five or six years ago, so I had a few years.
Speaker 2:In standing in line at Starbucks. This older, very distinguished woman taps me on the shoulder, standing behind me. She taps me on the shoulder and I turn around and she says you're in here a lot and and truly in those formative years you know I was hanging out of Starbucks a lot. Probably should today and anyway. And I turned around and I said, well, yes, I am, you're in here as much as I am, and I also know two other Starbucks where you frequent, ones on Riverside and ones on 71st and she laughed and because I had, prior to real estate, had seen her in there on Sunday mornings dressed to the nines, she and her husband. And she laughed and I said now I have a reason for being here. I said my real estate office is just right behind us.
Speaker 2:Here we were at 91st and Yale and she said are you a real estate? And I'm like yeah, I am. She said, well, we need to sell our house. And I said well, then our paths have crossed for a reason. She said do you have a card? And I thought no, but I've got one in my car, I'll go get it. She said okay, and so she got her drink. I got my drink, went to the car, got it card, came in. Husband was retired surgeon and they wanted to sell their home. And make a long story short, they we listed the home, we held one open house and sold it to a doctor who came through and said if I buy this house, and his agent called the next day and said I'm going to make an offer and it's going to be embarrassing. I'm like no, I already know what your offer is, so let's make this thing happen. So and we did, and it was, it was beautiful, and they still come to our client client events today. So I say that that's the excitement, that's what's happening.
Speaker 2:So, whether it's me answering the phone this morning, whether it's me standing in line of Starbucks, when I walk into the bank, you know, and Jay says hey, you know, and honestly, it's how you present yourself and how you the energy with which. So, to frame what you said a moment ago, alfredo, it's about energy. What energy do you give off, what in? And that's a conscientious decision. When I walk into the room, I want the energy to to elevate substantially.
Speaker 2:I want to contribute in a way that leaves everybody else feeling better, that we've spent some time together, and part of that is core temperament. Part of that is back to Arthur C Brooks and the book Build the Life you Want, which I love the fact that we're watching this and it's like a 10 video series that goes with it, so it's absolutely fabulous. And one of the one of the four affects is the cheerleader. And I said everybody wants to be the cheerleader, because the cheerleader, you're above the midline on your happiness and you don't ever get below the midline, so you're always happy and everybody wants to be the, you know, wants to be the cheerleader. So some of that is is hardwired and but, but a lot of it is choice as well, and so bringing energy that people want to be a part of and we all know we're in control of that. We don't necessarily, we don't necessarily understand that we have a choice in it. Per say, some people bring the energy down in a room.
Speaker 2:Sure, I mean in a conversation and in a in a moment. So it is a conscientious decision, but it's also not something that is inauthentic. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, and then will the other. On the last call, you guys had said we all have the 24 hours, the same 24 hours, and what I'm hearing you say is you capitalize on every interaction, from a adding some sort of value to the other person, whether it's just making them feel better about themselves, whether you're welcome, welcoming every. I think it's so important to welcome people into your presence. You do a good job, but you're taking every opportunity that you can to do that.
Speaker 2:You know it's, it's and this is goes back, it goes back to the mantra, to something good today. So I was subbing in for one of our agents and was showing a home, which I don't hardly ever get to work with buyers, but I was at the house and we had the clients were in there and actually the agent was there too it's funny who happened to be my daughter. She's on our real estate team, which is one of my greatest joys, and she was with the clients. The doorbell ring. So the house is vacant at stage doorbell rings. So I go to the door and I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back, I'm saying this as an example. The doorbell rings and standing at the door were four boys and they were like 14 or whatever, and they have got this makeshift cardboard box with chocolate bars in it and one of them had to make shift cardboard box with peanut butter, crackers and stuff like that. Okay.
Speaker 2:And they've got, I get. I just get so tickled and and they're like we are a part of a basketball team at our local school here and I didn't even catch all of it, but we're raising money because we've got to go play some games and would you like to buy a chocolate bar? And I said so. I said tell me again, so what?
Speaker 3:are you guys are doing, and you know, and you know you got an idea of someone legitimate not legitimate, but regardless.
Speaker 2:I got a 14 year old here, you know. I said well, I said, well, how many? I said add up what you got. And he's like what do you mean? I thought, well, just whatever you all have there, because I had a box and had a box over here, and I think there might have been three of these, of these boxes, and I said I said, well, you all add that up, let me go to my car and get my wallet. And so when it came back, they were adding up and can actually was just, it was worth the moment. I mean, the moment was priceless and they'd come up with $118 worth of you know what they had. And I saw it. I said okay, so, and I just I normally don't carry cash, but every once in a while you just get fortunate and so I pulled $100 bill and a $20 bill out and I said okay. So I said, here you go, I'll take, I'll take all of them and they're like I just the expression was just priceless because it's so hard to yeah hey, would you like to?
Speaker 2:would you like to buy a candy bar? Right, and the motivation behind that for them. And so they started to hand me the box and I said, no guys, here's the deal, I'm in sales and so what I want you to do is to take these same candy bars, and here's your goal. Before you close out the day, you go sell all these candy bars again. So now you don't have 120, you've got 240 bucks. And they said are you serious? I'm like yeah, but I said you got to go do it. You got to go do it today.
Speaker 2:Now I get chills telling that story as fresh. It just happened this last week and it's not because I'm trying to pat myself on the back. It is everybody's out there trying to make it. Everybody's out there trying their best. And if you're 14 years old and you're knocking on doors and you're hoping somebody might buy a candy bar to encourage them, to motivate them, and sometimes we forget that it's easy to do good and it's not about an amount, it's just, and and that that tripped the trigger for me, because we all have to be reminded of that and sometimes the good that comes from that for the, for the us isn't. And the reason that it's the right thing to do is because what it does for you, it's not just what it does, you know, for them. But and then you're like, oh dang, that was so good, that was so real, and and you want to do it. You know, you want to do it again and you want to do it again and I did.
Speaker 2:I subsequently followed up the next two days and it happened to be with watching some teenagers have dinner, you know, and I was three boys and they were having a great and they were probably that same range, and anyway I they got ready to leave and I said, hey guys, let me let me have your ticket. And they're like, what do you mean? I said, let me have your. And they had ordered like boys, do you know? Just the three boys you know, eating together and one of them was gonna go pay, and so again, I'm not I honestly I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, but I will tell you this it is so easy for us to get locked into our own wants, needs and desires and to forget that the key to life is how.
Speaker 2:That's how we live into others, how we invest in it. Alfredo, you've got a fabulous reputation from William and from so many other people that I know who know you, and you invest in other people consistently and that the reward behind that and sometimes people have a hard time figuring it out you know we cling too tightly because we think there's not enough and there's more than enough.
Speaker 4:I couldn't agree with that more. One of the things that really stuck with me is when Alfredo shared a quote me, that by six Ziggler that said if you help others get what they want, you're ultimately gonna get what you want. And Alfredo, you know, when I met him I don't think he mentioned anything about recruiting me for about. I've known you for at least like a year and the, but the first thing that he did when I first met him is he just added value to me, and every single time I would talk to him he would just add value to me. Besides that, that time where he took me golfing and just made me feel bad he told me he was on the high school team.
Speaker 1:He didn't tell me it was an elective story.
Speaker 4:But anyways, I really I appreciate, like you're just a wealth of just. I think that you take everything that happens to you in life and then you just make it like a life lesson when people, I think, are walking out their door thinking like when am I ever gonna get that, that feeling?
Speaker 4:but it's like you make those moments happen so if I'm hearing anything that you're telling me and and if we're correlating it to the production that you have done over the last ten years, is you, you enjoy what you do, you love what you do and you know that you're willing to do it 24-7. And so anybody that's coming into the to the industry or starting over because, whether you've been in the industry for ten years, 20 years or you just started, 2024 is a new year, starting from zero. What would you tell an agent that maybe? Or a loan officer both, both of them that didn't have the year that they wanted to, last year?
Speaker 2:so great, great question, this industry, the lending industry and virtually every single industry that we can talk about when we're gonna engage in a good work. It all comes down to the phrase that we've all heard a thousand times know me, like me, trust me, we'll do business together. So we've got a ranch and we were remodeling a hundred-year-old farmhouse, and from inside out you know, adding a second level.
Speaker 2:It was a big deal in 2017 and it came time for and because it's a secondary place, we're trying to keep maintenance like to zero. So we were adding old-fashioned boredom baton, but it was vinyl siding. So new product, expensive product, but cool product because you get the same look but you don't have any maintenance. There's never, never, never gonna have to paint it. And so I had made contact with a company. So truck rolls up and out, pop.
Speaker 2:You know two young guys like their 20s and they're like hey, so that they do siding, and I'm like and they had their phone and they said here's a, you know, here's some pictures of some, you know, some, some work that we've done and everything. The moment that I interacted with them and I distinctly remember this and I've actually talked about it the moment that I interacted with them, I was like ain't no one. I like you. And I remembered conscientiously saying to myself we will do business together and I really don't care what your price is now, all things considered. Of course, you know you care, but you don't care, and sure enough. So we signed the deal and said great, how quick can you get to it? That's the only time I ever saw them, because they sent a crew out. Obviously, you know, I've in my mind I thought these two young bucks are gonna come out here and they're gonna side you know they're gonna side the house and you know I've done them a solid and they'll do a great job. And and no, they had a whole crew, they're just brilliant. You know, they just sent a crew out to you know, to do the work. Know me, like me, trust me, we'll do business together. So you ask that. So I say to our team on the regular that if your likability is below the 50 percentile, you can need to work on being likable. So one of the greatest assets in any it's not this industry or let it's anything is being likable. You know, genuinely finding the good in others.
Speaker 2:We live in a society that teaches us to be critical. All media, virtually, almost. You know all programming. You know that we lean into. It's the negative, it's the fear factor that grabs the attention and people can't you know, and so you get sucked into the negative dynamic of life and it's as addictive as any drug, any illegal drug. That is out there, the negativity, and so I think as individuals it's so easy to be seduced by that and, depending on your core temperament, your, your, your affect of life, whether positive or whether happy or unhappy man, it's a, it's a nail in the coffin. So there's many answers to that question, I'm sure. But I think, if anything, we have to understand that if you're enthusiastic about what you do and you're likable that you enjoy it, the good that comes, it's going to flow to you. That followed with the simple basic disciplines of whatever the industry requires. I don't know if that makes any sense or not it does. Being likable is huge in this industry.
Speaker 1:I do have a follow-up question, just again. I keep referencing back some of the things that I heard on the last podcast, but you mentioned that there's only five activities that you should be doing right and I'd like to give the listener in these situations like practical stuff, like what can I go? Do you went through them super fast on that one right because you have a memorized right, so I would love for you to go through those activities and be like you know, practically speaking. Activity number one this is what I do. Activity number two this is what I do. Could you go through those, because I think, as loan officers and realtors that are listening to this, you can take those things and just you. Yeah, get started.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny. So Because we our history with our team is to take somebody who has been in one industry and move them into real estate.
Speaker 2:So, maybe they've been successful in one arena and they decide to step you know, step into real estate. So we have literally Broken down what I consider to be the science of Real estate. So if you understand the science behind something, you understand how it works. The difficulty is, I get licensed and yet I don't know how it works. So tell me how it works.
Speaker 2:So, literally, with with two of our new individuals, we've got Brian Shaw that's brand new and Shelly Kay, shelly Kaler, shelly Kay and shelly Kay staging that are brand new on the team. And then I've said guys, I know this is basic, but we're gonna start with the science. And so we start rafting through and the number one thing is I'm licensed, what now? Right, and there are only five things that you do to make you know, to find success in this industry and ultimately to make money, because everybody gets in Saying, hey, I, you know, I need to make some money. And they don't change. Lead generate is the first Lead follow-up. And, by the way, each of you have talked about bold. Which business objective? A life by design, not by default. That's a Keller Williams training program. I I completed 13 of those.
Speaker 4:You have a punch card, remember yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a lot, man, I tell you, and so it. And yet out of that, you know, you know have come some, you know have come some, some great disciplines, but that it took me about four going through it three or four times to separate lead generate from the second, which is lead follow-up. I Mean I would just wrap it into leads. Oh, you got to go create leads. I'm good at what I do, okay, and I'm. My commitment is to get better and we talked about that in our team lunch and learn yesterday. It's one thing to be good at something. Sometimes you can be so good at something you won't stop doing something To in order to incorporate something new, because technology is changing and it's easier today than this. You know this ever been. So lead generate and lead follow-up. I literally it took me a while to separate the two.
Speaker 2:Lead generate is the first time you generate a lead. So this morning I'm talking to Mark Keto on the phone. That's a lead and I got her name and I got a phone number and I got her email address because she wants to buy an investment property and I have the capacity to help her in that and I can help her globally, it doesn't matter where she wants to buy, and so lead generate, lead follow-up is Anything I do after the fact. So I took her name, I took her number, I took her email address and I put it into my phone and immediately put it into my CRM, because I'm gonna talk to so many people today I'm not going to remember anything about her, you know, three hours from now or very little. So I have the great capacity to forget, to just turn loose of something that's not critical for the moment and yet she needs to, you know. So I have to be able to, to track that. So the the difference in lead generate and lead follow-up is Substantial, and so we've broken it down into what do I have to do? When do I have to do it? Who do I have to do it with? What do I have to say? That's the science that I'm getting at. So lead generate, lead follow-up are the two things and those things have to happen of a morning when you're fresh and when you're working, so nine to noon's, lead generate and lead follow-up, and the science again behind that is 20 engagements a day.
Speaker 2:20 engagements a day, and always aiming for that one singular appointment with a qualified buyer or a qualified seller or Someone that's needing assistance in real estate. Those numbers don't change, they don't lie. I don't know that they're specific to real estate, but I know they're true to real estate, that the highest producers in real estate have 20 engagements a day and they book an appointment a day minimum of one appointment a day. And If you do that you'll have more success. You will have to have resources and help because you can't keep up with everything. Okay, so I live by that every day. I know that today I will have 20 engagements and I track those engagements. And that's another thing too. And this is I Don't want to get too far off point here, but I've had crutches because I track every single lead that I make every single month. So I'll have 50 or 60 leads that I've generated in the course of a month and so, but my crutch has been and the challenge that every single age.
Speaker 2:So Seth Campbell came to town and said that every successful agent makes the exact same mistake. If you're, if you're good and you're successful, you take your eyes off your database. You'll go hire a transaction coordinator, you'll hire some help and you ignore your database. And he's exactly right. And that's why, on our team. We are helping and holding accountable every single person to not make those same mistakes. Because you get up every day and you've got to go hunt in order to you know, in order to eat, and what the technology allows today is for people to stay in touch with you, because you're staying in touch with them.
Speaker 2:And I do want to talk about events. I don't want to get off that too far from there and it factors into the hoop walk where, when that we're talking about. So lead, generate, lead, follow-up, and and here's the thing if you, if you Can't remember who those people are, or can't remember to go back and touch base with them, then that opportunity just goes by the wayside. So lead, generate, lead, follow-up. Set and go on appointments. It's the third thing. If you're not doing the first two, you'll never have an appointment to go on. So set and go on appointments.
Speaker 2:I've got an appointment as soon as I leave here today, gentlemen that has bought several million dollars with the real estate fist in the last year or two and so, and it's his birthday, birthday luncheon, because he told me I owed him that. So I said, yeah, I guess I'll buy your lunch. And so, anyway, he literally stepped in yesterday to our office and we had our big team lunch and learn. We had 15, 20 people there or whatever, and and he's, I love him to death. He's, I've known him for a long time and he's like hey, you said you're gonna buy my lunch and I like yeah, but not right now.
Speaker 2:Go grab a sandwich in the room next door and let's call it happy birthday and so anyway. So he text me this morning. You know you do lunch and I'm like on his defense.
Speaker 4:I mean the commission that you made from how I mean hopefully you're taking them. So, william, he says the exact same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I made a lot of money off. I made those year.
Speaker 4:I'm like man this guy is. He talks a little different. For how much money she's making. It sounds like.
Speaker 2:Leads, generate lead, follow-up, set and go on appointments. Appointments can be lunch, it can be coffee. An appointment can be me walking into Bank of Oklahoma to make a deposit and, by the way, I never drive through, I always walk in, love it. I'm gonna go get coffee, I park and I walk in Because I want interaction with the person behind the counter if I'm gonna make a deposit. So I said, well, won't you? Just, you know why don't you take a picture of those checks and won't you send it in? Because I'm not interacting with anybody. I Want my 20 engagements today to be live and to be real and to be natural and to be authentic. And I want to see and this is probably the diamond here I want the unknown to be revealed. I can't wait, I want, I want the Excitement, the exhilaration, I want the thrill of the unknown. I want it to be revealed today and I don't know what it's gonna be.
Speaker 1:And because you have a goal. You're searching for opportunities non-stop because 20 you have to have 20 engagements. So you are searching for those 20 engagements and you're looking for them at every moment.
Speaker 4:I love that. It's our RIS particular activity system. Yeah, you're loving you're constantly thinking of that, so you're gonna hit that rather than just be like oh, I'm gonna go and work today at the office and not have a goal.
Speaker 2:No, so set and go on appointments, those appointments for that's, that's fun, because that was three. Yeah, what kind? Yeah, and then write and negotiate offers or take listings. So again, I'm not gonna write an offer if I'm not doing the first. You know, the first three and then the fourth is Having critical conversations that allow us to get better. It used to be called scripting scripting.
Speaker 1:That's number five.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's number five correct and scripting is so. It's so cold sounding and I don't want to be that person. I have a skill set to come alongside somebody who has a specific need. I just want to interact with the person who has that need. So I'm not selling anything. I'm just simply being showing up at the right time in the right place with the right, you know, with the right person and so yeah.
Speaker 2:So basically, those critical conversations are helping people better understand why it's still the right time to invest in real estate as opposed to waiting until the rates drop, or why our market Valuations are not going to plummet. We don't have that level of inventory. It's a different story than it was in 2008, 2009. So those are the five and then we break that down. Even we break it down into where it's achievable.
Speaker 2:So we go back to 20 engagements a day. We have what we call high five for the win, and it takes 20 engagements and it makes it easy, and it's five phone calls or text, five handwritten no cards, five social media engagements and five people that you add to your CRM. So I'm just like I did this morning. You know I got gotta add five. You know gotta add five day. So we take those 20 engagements. Now, as you ratchet your career, you're gonna want those to be more. You know more specific, more, and they will they get easier. But if you're wondering, like if I take somebody brand new, you ask that question a minute ago what do you do? You practice the basics, you get in every day and you make your 20 engagements. What does it take to get that done? How long does it take you? Yeah?
Speaker 1:well, I want to respect your time. We're you got ahead to that lunch you got to pay for and and this is gone by now I got. I got one shoot like super important. Last question when do you get your style from man? You're always just, you're always dressed to the nines. You got the cool shoes on all the time. I mean like, is that you get that from your mom too? She, I know she has a pretty youthful heart, you know.
Speaker 2:She does you still dress?
Speaker 4:like a pastor like.
Speaker 1:Not denominational pastor dress dress code. I mean, there's just a dress code, I so.
Speaker 2:I've come to say, say it's so interesting what you get known for, yeah, and Well, let's not forget, you're known for being up every bolt. That's your thing yeah. You know as it. So I have two daughters, once an interior designer and the other was fashion, fashion marketing, and so I don't get any buys. I mean there's no, there's no freebies out there. I mean you're not allowed to unless we're harsh critics, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we get some harsh, we get some harsh critics, you know, interesting, yeah. So I think that taps into probably had your of you know, had you have charted a different, you know path. And I love design, I love design, I love the intricacies of design when it comes to to style it's. I think it's something that's obviously it's very personal, but it's very intentional as well, but it's also something that that I'm intrigued by. So, had life had charted a different path, you know, I could have seen being involved in design at different levels.
Speaker 2:My oldest daughter's an interior designer, and so that's very mechanical. So it's not just picking out wallpaper and picking out you know, whatever it's. How does the flow work? How does the you know, how does the space work? Yes, it's all about the feel that you get from that. So, but I tell people today, if you're you're old and when you're old you have few choices at least choose to show up Well you know, and it sounds like you've designed an amazing business, an amazing life, and I really enjoyed having you here today man, it has been a privilege and we have to do it again.
Speaker 4:Sir, I told you last time and you're back in here. So, tracy, thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it and I'm excited for people to Get at least one thing out of this and start implementing in their life.
Speaker 1:So I should write anything else. This is Tracy Ellis, and he's the real deal. Hey guys, thank you all. Blessings blessings, thank you.