135: POV - Your Brokerage Isn't The Problem

If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ve probably seen all the noise around brokerages, mergers, and who’s going where. And while it makes for great headlines… let’s have a real conversation.

Your logo isn’t what’s building your business. You are.

In this episode, we’re breaking down the reality behind brokerage hype and why constantly looking for the “better” logo, split, or system might actually be keeping you stuck. Because no brokerage can outwork a lack of consistency, lead generation, or follow-through.

Because at the end of the day, you don’t work for your brokerage… you run your own business within it.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking “maybe I just need a different brokerage,” this episode is your reality check (in the best way).

Like what you heard? Make sure to follow and review the podcast, and shoot us a message with your thoughts at 

contractsandchaos@gmail.com

@YourHomeGirl_CLT 

@Real.Life.Brenna

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Let's talk about the elephant in the real estate room right now.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Yes, the one that blew the internet up. If you are in or around real estate, this has been the topic. I feel like I like wanted to call it last week like Double R Ranch or something. So I was like, everyone is just talking about this like it's Yellowstone or something. Someone got taken to the train station last week and it's been put into AI.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

So like I've seen so many AI-generated images and like these merger graphics and everything like that that I'm just like, e boy. But the problem is, and that's what we're gonna talk about today, is that everybody's talking about the thing that isn't the point, right? And we're talking about the Remax and Reel merger that Reel has is working on, it's not finalized, acquiring Remax.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Right. And here's the thing, we're also not talking about that today. I don't want to add to the gossip list.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

I don't want to be to not add to the gossip list. You're absolutely correct. Because that's really all it is online.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Oh my god, there's so and there's so much misinformation out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

It's literally just like a massive collision of it, and I think what people are like shocked by, and we'll kind of lean into this a little bit more, is how different the two brokerages are, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Real is a very uh we're completely tech driven, cloud-based, that kind of thing. And Remax is one of the, I think they're one of the oldest franchises for real estate, right? They are, they are they're a huge, huge real estate company that is well known across the globe. Like you see that hot air balloon, and it's it's there, you know, people. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

And I think the one thing I want to make make very clear is for the people who are trying to figure this out, I think the most important part is these are going to be two brands that, as far as we know, as far as been announced so far, will be operating in parallel. Remax is not becoming real, real is not becoming Remax, correct, and we're not becoming real max. We're not making a baby. Yep. Um, it's one big company that owns two firms.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Correct, correct. And I think that that just goes, this is what we're kind of leaning into today is your brokerage doesn't make your business.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

No, your brokerage has never been the reason your business works. And like people, you know, I peep I've I have said, yeah, when I came to Real, I doubled my business that year. But it wasn't because of the firm. Correct. It was because of the people I met here, it was because of the effort I put in, it was because of the things I learned, but it was my actions when I changed firms. It was not the firm.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Well, I think that's what people get mixed up on too, because they're like, oh, you know, things are slowing down, like I've got I've got to do something new. And it's just like, you know, changing your font and your branding colors and all this, like I've just got to like shake it up. And you you don't know you don't have to do that because most agents get lost in the in the fact that they look at another agent that is successful and are like, oh wow, it must be where they're at, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yep. And and yeah, like and that that happens a lot. Like, oh, what's going on over there? Yeah, nothing. I'm just can more consistent now. This is this is a true like grass where I learned something new.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

A thousand percent. This is a true the grass is always greener, right? But sometimes the grass is greener over there because there's more crap over there too to fertilize that grass, but also grass is greener where you water it, where you take care of it, where you put effort into it. You can turn your grass into rich, beautiful green grass. Okay, because the truth about brokerages is the fact that they're a structure, right? They're the umbrella to your 1099 business.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

They can depending on the tools.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Correct. They they provide, you know, the structure. And by structure, I mean like, you know, a lot of us have um compliance departments to review our documents and things like that. They have admin for paying our checks and and and those kinds of things. They have tools like some offer marketing packages, some have a CRM system included, some like those kinds of things. It is your umbrella for you running your business because what a brokerage cannot provide you is things that we talk about on this podcast all the time. The discipline, the showing up and lead generating, calling your pipeline, working your leads, answering your phone.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yep, yeah, and they can't fix a lack of skill. They may have education, they may have training, which is awesome. I mean, I love ours, but if you don't go to it and you don't apply it, like Taylor says, like, oh, you didn't do it. That's on you.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

That sounds like a you problem. Because the that lack of skill is such a such a funny thing because people uh and I'm thinking about a specific post I saw on a real estate group. And listen to me, I have left 85% of the real estate groups that I was ever a part in because over the years, because A, it's just a hate fest in most of them. It really is. But there was one post that was talking about like um her brokerage wasn't offering a specific training on something that she was interested in, and this was like a dig at her brokerage, right, for not offering this we it wasn't something like generic, right? It was a one-off weird thing, and it was funny to me because the comments were almost completely split. There were comments that were like, Go on YouTube, right? Like, right, go look here, try this, look at that. And then there were other ones like, oh, shame on your brokerage. My brokerage offers that. You should obviously come work for us. And I was just like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

I'm always amazed at the number of people who come into this industry saying, Well, I want to be an entrepreneur, because that's how I'm doing this, but then they expect it handed to them in a nice, neat little package. Yeah, and like you and I think are built differently. We did the we didn't know where to find it, so we went and found it. Yeah, like we found girls with grit, we found Taylor. But when we first started, we found YouTube, we found Instagram agents, we found Travis Everett.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

We found Travis Everett.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Like, literally, literally during licensing, like my uh my licensing class was terrible. So I started Googling and I found Travis, and like he's someone we need to get on here. He's I need to connect with that man.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Um, but I'm friends with him on Facebook, actually. He's super listen, he's so good. He teaches pre-licensing, but and my pre-licensing class was amazing. Actually, I'm about to do continuing education today, and I'm doing it with the same instructor that I had seven years ago because I've done CE with him for the last seven years because he's that good. But he had said something in class. He's like, listen, if you need extra resources, if you're an auditory learner, if like there are resources for you out there. And Travis Ebbett was one of the ones that he'd mentioned. And I would be because I drove back and forth to class was like an hour for me because it was in person.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

And so I was yeah, you were still in person when I see that's where I got lucky with COVID, everything that moved online.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

No, I was still in person. So um I would listen on the way and on the way home from class, I listened mowing the lawn, I listened bringing the kids to daycare, and it just like reiterated all of the information from class that quite frankly, and again, is useless when you get into this industry. But the point is, is like if you want it bad enough, you will figure out a way exactly to make it work without and we're not telling you if you need to make a change to a different brokerage to not do that. What we're saying is don't chase the shiny object.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah, and so like bringing this back to the merger. Here's here's what I think what you're gonna what both teams teams are bringing to the table. Real, we're nice and lean. We didn't have any debt until we decided to buy Remax. Right, you know, we're profitable, um, we're scalable because everything is cloud-based. We don't have to have brick and mortars, and we're tech driven. So, like, a lot of people are like, well, what does that even mean? So I actually met with an agent yesterday who's interested, and it's like all of our stuff is in one place. Like when I was with EXP, it was yeah, you had the world and you could talk to your bic there and take trainings there, but then you had to go to Sky Slope for this, and you had to go to this for that, and like everything was an external and I had to remember all these websites or have tabs like pinned. Everything is housed in one beautiful space. We have our own AI tool, like we we stay on top of and we build so that we can make it what our agents want. Yeah, REMAX, they still win because they have amazing brand recognition. I mean, I think nationally, they're like Alan Tate, I never heard of until I moved to the South. We don't have him in the Northeast.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

No, we don't have a name.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Century 21, we had in the Northeast, but I don't see a lot of them down here. Remax, though, everywhere. You see that hot air balloon, you literally see the hot air balloon at hot air balloon festivals all over the country.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Um, they have a much more global reach. Real is in the United States and Canada, but we have not made that global jump yet. So that's gonna give us more reach if we do eventually become one. Um and they have agent independence, they are a franchise setup. They so they're like a McDonald's. You can own your own office, which meant you you were the only one in that market. They wouldn't let a competing office open. So we all have good things, just like any firm.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

But it's what you do with that that matters. Exactly. What Brennan, what do you think during all of this that people should actually be paying attention to versus, oh my god, what's happening? They're buying this out.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

The same thing you should be focused on every other day that you're running your business. I mean, working in your database, using your follow-up methods, making sure that your conversion's on point, that you're not letting people like fall off the tracks, or that they're like, oh yeah, no, we actually met with another agent and decided to go with them. Why? What what was the missing link there? Your listing presentations, your buyer consults, the things that are going to move your business. Because in all of this, the important thing to remember is you are a 1099 independent contractor. Your business results in your actions. Now that's not saying you don't get a lead from your team or firm, whatever, a phone call, any kind anything like that. Your business directly coincides with the amount of work that you put into it. So you should, and I've said this before, I was actually one of the first things that was told to me when I um started in real estate. Nobody cares about the logo that is on your side in their yard. They're working with you because they want to work with you. It has nothing to do with the brokerage. I've been, this is I'm about to start year seven in real estate, which, oh my God, I've I know, me too. That's crazy. I've had one person, one person not hire me because I was not with the firm that they wanted.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I've had people ask me who my firm is, but they hired me because of it.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

One, because they wanted a Berkshire Hathaway agent. And I'm that's fine, that's fine. That that's their elimination old person.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

I don't even see it.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

If if that's how they're making decisions, like that's that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

That's like some people think Maseratis are great cars. I look at the engineering on them and go, I wouldn't give you a dime for it. Or a jab, because the electrical's gonna be shot. But that's to each their own.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

For so many of the agents that are in the comment sections right now, like yapping back and forth about which way is better and why it's better and why this sucks or why it doesn't suck, you're all missing the point. None of you are out doing the work that is growing your business. The people that are in the comment section being keyboard warriors are 90 days from now, maybe they'll see a little slowdown because we are focused on all of the wrong things.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Now, I'll admit, I've been in a couple of them. One, observing, but two, it's like the end of the day when I'm just like, what's going on? Scrolling. But there's a couple on TikTok where people like blatantly wrong about shit. And I was like, No, you're wrong. And I literally told the one agent, I said, Wow, for all of the misinformation in here, I really hope you do a better job fact-checking for your clients. Because it was so I was just like, What are you saying?

SPEAKER_02 13:44

I just told Alyssa before we started this that like I I'm such a like stay in my lane, mind my own business. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

I was I and I was trying very hard to be, but when the whole video is just wrong and he has like 30,000 followers, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

I was like, maybe he's just making money off those clicks, you know what I mean? Maybe that's right. Maybe that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Maybe because he's not out, I don't know, all of his videos are shot in the front seat of his car. I've never seen him actually in a house. So maybe I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Not so who does this actually impact?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Yes. It if you are brand dependent, you know, if you are in an area where who knows, maybe the locals only use Remax. Okay, well, you still get to be Remax. We're not taking that away from you. Um if you heavily rely on broker-provided leads, which we all know you shouldn't be doing. Um Reel's not that brokerage. I don't know if Remax is. I think that's probably a franchise-dependent thing. Um if you don't have your own systems, if you haven't figured out how to run your business or what your checklists are or your processes, then this might disturb your business because if you decide to switch from one to the other or say this is a different merger, your firm gets bought out, or your team. I know someone of a name we love just took her indie brokerage to EXP. So she sh but she and her team, very obviously, have their ducks in a row. So that probably didn't disrupt them other than they had to learn a new system for their files and stuff. Correct. So it doesn't matter if you know how to generate your own business, you have a strong process and tools or leverage, and you know how to convert. Like, because if that question comes up, you can just be like, Yeah, well, you know, like it's one company, two firms, one holding company that's gonna own both firms, but nothing changes on our end.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Well, and it's so funny because people like again, they're making it seem like we're becoming, like you said, like we're having this like baby baby real estate child, and that's not the case. It's no different than an I don't know, like General Mills owning like Kellogg's and like all of the different cereals. Right. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Where it's like the way I look at it is if we're gonna like refer to the baby reference, it's the holding company is your mom and your stepdad, and then the two firms are the stepkids. We're one family now, but we're not biologically related. Like we're not making a baby here. We are two very different companies. So, um Roxanne just deleted my notes.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Um Roxanne was making an appearance with her aggressive purring in the microphone. She's like, listen, guys, it's not that bad. Everything's fine. Let's just snuggle and forget about it.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Um, you know what it is? She heard you had CE class. She's like, oh, I'm ready. Because she's got through every online class I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

She loves a CE class. Um, things you can do right now, though, again, in the beginning I said, like, if you need to make a change, we're not telling you not to make a change, right? There are lots of agents that I know, and myself included, a change made my business better, right? What we don't want you to end up doing is every gosh, there are some agents I swear they're in a new brokerage every year. And it's just and but and I can't.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

And not even that, but they're always asking you, so what are you what's your brokerage or what's your secret? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 17:34

But it I'm doing my business, girl. That what that's the piece that like you have to look inside for that, right? It has nothing to do with what CRM, what brokerage is offering, or what your splits are, right? There when if you are looking for a change, those are things that I think you need to evaluate, like what you are missing personally, right? Because zero, there was another one too, like, well, they're gonna make five percent more on their commission at this at this firm, right? But sister hasn't closed a deal in you know nine months. So zero percent of zero or 85% of zero is still zero. Still zero, you know. Um, audit your business. Where are your deals actually coming from? This has been hard for me the last couple of years because like I've always been really listing heavy in the last couple of years. I've been working with a lot of buyers, right? So maybe, maybe shifting, and I mean I I am, but maybe for you shifting your processes and your intakes and like focusing more on where your business is for some of those systems and things like that. And fix your lead gen gaps, right? And I'm talking about the people that are falling through the gaps, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yes, you find out in the follow-up, I think is the most important part. Fortunes and the follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Yeah, fortunes and the follow-up because you don't want to find out that your neighbor bought another house and you're like, oh, well, what? You get the invite to the housewarming party, but miss the opportunity to have that, have that business because you just weren't present, you weren't focused, and you weren't following up. So it at the end of the day, and we're gonna wrap this up because I am getting on continuing education, the industry is consolidating, but that's not something new and unheard of. It's I think you'll see more of it in the coming years because of how the market is, because how older models are starting to shift a little bit, they're evolving. Um, and I think that I think that most of these are because they have the agents in mind, right? We want to take care, the industry wants to take care of the people that work in it. So if you're doing but the the moral of the story is if you are working your business, working in your business, doing the things that you say you're gonna do, showing up, doing the lead gen, calling your people being a resource, you're gonna win no matter no matter what logo is on your sign.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah, because if a merger can shake your business, you don't have a brokerage problem. You have a foundation problem. Like the foundation of your business is not solid. Um, so you should probably call a crawl space guy.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

And with that, we'll see you next week.