🔥 From Cold Calls to Billion-Dollar Listings — How Sean Zubor Built One of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Brokerages 🔥

If you’re ready to level up, this is the episode you don’t want to miss.

In this fire-packed conversation, we sit down with Sean Zubor, co-founder and managing partner of Stonehaus Realty, one of Canada's fastest-growing real estate brokerages. Sean drops a masterclass on what it really takes to scale your business from the trenches to the top — and how to build an empire that empowers others to win big.

From his humble beginnings as a former MMA fighter and car salesman to closing $3 billion+ in annual sales, Sean’s story is raw, inspiring, and unapologetically real. He built his business brick-by-brick, strategy-by-strategy, leveraging a killer combo of work ethic, fearless prospecting, branding, and team culture.

💣 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

• How to scale from solo agent to leading a billion-dollar brokerage
• Why intentional discomfort is the greatest training ground for success
• The exact mental frameworks that helped Sean cold call billionaires — with confidenceWhy most agents get stuck chasing shiny objects instead of building a brand that converts
• Sean’s “board of directors” method for life and business mentorshipThe trap of new agents skipping the grind and going straight to teams (and how to fix it)

🎙 Thank You for Tuning in to the R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast!

We appreciate you joining us for another powerful episode where we dive deep into the world of real estate, mindset, and business growth. If you found value in this conversation, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your network!

👉 Never Miss an Episode!

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📍 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@R.E.A.L.RealEstateAgentLif-l6z

📲 Stay Connected & Join the Conversation!

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Transcript

Shane Kilby (00:00)
you

Duane Murphy (00:02)
And I think we're live. All right, here we go. Well, welcome to Real Estate Agent Life. This is where we bring some of the best in the business together to help you move your real estate career forward. And today, Shane, who do we have on the podcast?

Shane Kilby (00:04)
We are live.

Today we have an old friend of ours, Sean Zubor. He is the co-founder and the managing partner of Stonehouse Realty in Canada. And today he is a visionary leader transforming the real estate brokerage model. A few milestones and then we'll let him uncover some of the others. A few of his achievements thus far is he has built one of Canada's fastest growing real estate brokerages

He's very deeply passionate about entrepreneurship, mentorship, and agent success. And I should add to that, Ben, a great father figure to his two young boys. He focuses on cutting edge technology and agent first culture. What you guys are gonna grab out of this episode is you guys are gonna get some insight to scaling a team, scaling a brokerage, and a little bit of insight of how he has built his powerhouse team. He is part of the evolution of real estate.

and the trends that shape the industry itself. So stay tuned. We're gonna get into some deep dives on some game changing strategies to help agents level up both on the solo aspect, the team aspect, and even as a brokerage as well. So get ready for a high energy conversation packed with lots of insights. What's up, my man? How are you?

Sean Zubor (01:40)
Great, great man. Thank you so much guys for having me here. I'm looking forward to a good conversation, a good chat. And that was very kind of you. I don't know if I'm that much of a thought or leader, but I'll take any good thing I can get.

Shane Kilby (01:54)
Well, you know, we've known each other for quite some time and every time I go back and do a little bit of deep dive on you, there's more things that are more accolades that are landing on that list. And I'm like, we got to kind of get this into a concise set of bullets, man. I'm going to spend seven minutes discussing the achievements of Sean Zubor and Stonehouse Realty. You guys have built an amazing organization. It's like,

Hollywood in California, I Hollywood Canada right for this Stonehouse Realty you guys have done an amazing job with that So tell us a little bit about Sean's backstory like like how did you get into real estate?

Sean Zubor (02:38)
So long story long, I come from, my parents escaped communist Hungary in the 70s. So when they came to Canada, you know, the same old story, my dad was a Marine engineer, my mom was a midwife, but none of their paperwork meant anything. So my dad became a long haul truck driver, my mom was an esthetician, and I was like ingrained this crazy work ethic since a kid, right? So.

Duane Murphy (02:58)
Peace.

Sean Zubor (03:07)
So, you alright there, Glen? He's doing good.

Duane Murphy (03:10)
Good, so I think I'm mute button.

Shane Kilby (03:14)
Full

disclosure for all the guys and gals out there listening or watching this podcast episode. Dwayne is suffering from one of the influenza. So if you see him dive out of the shots, we will edit those out. You won't be able to see those on the video and it's a podcast. So you won't be able to hear him when he goes off camera. So pick up where you left off, Sean.

Duane Murphy (03:25)
Thank you.

Sorry,

John, as

Sean Zubor (03:37)
What?

Duane Murphy (03:37)
I go getting all deep in his story and I'm just like, dying. This is real.

Shane Kilby (03:41)
Thank

Sean Zubor (03:42)
At the end of the

day, I admire you, bro. I think I would have called it thick, so I love it. So yeah, back to the story. Basically, parents immigrated here, hard work ethic. I've seen that since I was a kid. I was always obsessed. I have a natural, and it's done me good and bad, but extremely competitive nature. So I was national karate champion, Pan-American champion when I was a kid.

Duane Murphy (03:47)
You

Sean Zubor (04:10)
I fought MMA most of my life and competed professionally in that for a while as well. So I was always trying to do better and grow. That being said, I've never, since 15, I've never really, I worked at a mill, but next to that, that was just while I was, you know, on the weekends or whatever. But since 15 years old, I've never had a non-commissioned job my entire life. So I've never had a paycheck. That's just a regular reoccurring paycheck.

So for me, a lot of people ask like, how did you go from having a steady income to not? I've never really had to have that issue. I've always been commissioned. So I've never known what it's like to know what I'm going to get paid next month. but basically just transferred from, I went from fighting, and doing MMA, pro semi-pro back then it was technically illegal in Canada. So we got paid, but it was all on the native reserves and so on and so forth.

And then I was running car dealerships, selling cars for a while. So was doing the car business. My ex-wife's, my ex-mother-in-law, guess, she was a mortgage broker for one of the, or the biggest bank in Canada. And she basically said, Hey man, like if you want to marry my daughter, you cannot be a car salesman. So I'm like, okay, so what can I do next? I ended up in mortgages, absolutely hated it. And not so much the mortgage business itself, but it was very commodity based and personally I don't like.

Duane Murphy (05:29)
Thank

Sean Zubor (05:38)
being in a commodity type business, I want to be able to add additional value other than just the rate. So it didn't really mesh well with me. So one day, and I was only in that business for about three or four years ago, in 2013, I got licensed and my business partner that I own the brokerage with, he was one of my realtors that I would be sending referrals to as mortgage broker and receiving them. I did his personal mortgage. I'm like, oh wow, this guy's making 400 grand a year. It does nothing. I'm like, I'm in the wrong business, right? So.

I just basically transferred and three weeks later I was in real estate and I took my work ethic from the car business and everything, transferred that over, did six deals in my first six weeks and kind of went from there.

Shane Kilby (06:19)
That's interesting. What I heard in those first couple of sentences there was that you know what it's like to survive. And Dwayne and I have talked about this a lot, off camera, on camera. That's a key ingredient in success in any profession, but especially in a profession such as ours where

You hear the media talk about a market shift, but we all know behind closed doors, the market never stopped shifting. And that survival mentality is why I would imagine that you probably keep a good handle on your P and L, but it's not something that you have to look at every day of the week. Right. You know that you get up and grind, you set that standard for the people around you and you hold that line.

From there, you know that the rest, as far as the money per se, will take care of itself, within reason, of course. So let me ask you. Yeah, go ahead.

Sean Zubor (07:26)
Yeah, it's funny that you say that. It's actually

now I've switched over to, oh, I got this zoom in zoom out feature with my hands. funny that you guys. Exactly. And I talk with my hands so much as horrible. Um, it's funny that you mentioned that I've actually now changed myself to being much more diligent on my peeling it, PNLs and so on and so forth. And I'll be, I'll be real with you guys. It's not that.

Duane Murphy (07:33)
Okay.

Shane Kilby (07:37)
I've got that same camera. You have to keep your hands down.

Duane Murphy (07:42)
you

Shane Kilby (07:45)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Zubor (07:55)
I've made millions and it's always been good and it's always you go through cycles in life, right? the one thing I can really say is that even right now I've reinvested in so many things probably the most cash for I've been in a very long time, but I can tell you a few things is And this is something that I continue to tell myself is a I'm a huge believer in a lot of the things when it comes to so is ism and the obstacles the way When you're find something challenging is usually when the greatest things about to happen, right?

That's the first thing. The second thing is, is once you've gone through difficult things, once you've, I'll give you a perfect example. Everybody asks me, Sean, how are you so comfortable on the phone cold calling? How are you comfortable? You know, I'm literally cold calling multi billionaires and billionaires to do their projects now to sell high rises and towers and stuff, right? The reality is, when you've fought in the cage and somebody's literally trying to kill you and punch you in the face legally,

Right? Everything else seems a lot easier. And I'm not saying that you have to do MMA or I'm not saying you have to do anything. But once you start challenging yourself generally in life, once you start doing difficult things consistently and constantly, everything that most people find difficult becomes a lot easier. Right? So I always tell everybody you're scared to do a cold call, just cold call a bunch of them. Don't worry about the rejection. The reality is everybody's been cold called. I can guarantee you.

You've even maybe told somebody to F off before on the phone because you were so pissed because it got got you at the wrong moment. You were trying to have a romantic dinner or whatever, whatever. And somebody trying to pitch you something. You forgot about them five seconds later. The only person that really remembers is the person that made the call. They're more dramatically affected than the person that they're actually calling. Right. And so the point when I say this is when I and you're right in the past, I never really looked at my PNLs at all. Now I'm using a couple of companies like CCU and stuff to make sure everything is running.

super smooth, but the reality is the reason why I never looked at my PNLs is because when I'm like, shit, my bank account is not where it's supposed to be. I know I can turn it on. I know because I've done it in the past. I've been through that fear process. I've been through that issue. Now I'm not recommending this because far too many agents are on this roller coaster of making money, losing money, making money, losing money. But if you can rely on your skill sets and you know what they say is that

I'm pretty sure it's a Navy SEAL saying, but the reality is, it's not, you don't rise to your goals, you don't rise to your ambitions, you fall to your training, right? And you drop to the level of your training. And if your level of your training is this high, and you know you can make 30 calls and book an appointment and get a deal done, right? All of a sudden, your confidence level's a lot higher. All of a sudden, you can live less stress in your life. There's a lot of other things that you can do that'll benefit you in the long run. So to answer your question,

Yeah, it's for me. It's I've always purposely Tried to do as many difficult things as I possibly can sometimes to a detriment, right? But that's also created some of the success that I've

Shane Kilby (11:05)
So intentional discomfort, intentional discomfort.

Sean Zubor (11:07)
the time.

And the problem is too, is I'm highly competitive. So when I start reading books like, you know, Goggins and all these other guys, then I'm like, oh, that guy can do it. I can do it. And then I sign up for 100k ultra marathon and I'm running four months later and I have no fucking clue what I'm doing. I did it. it is

Duane Murphy (11:23)
Thank

Shane Kilby (11:28)
Yeah, I remember

like, I was working through a 75 hard and of course there's Sean over creating his own version. Like, I don't know, it was like 255 day hard, something I was like.

Of course, it was a night you create your own version like yeah, he's about to scare everybody around him off They're all gonna leave because 75 heart is is demanding enough and he's got his version of it Which makes 75 hard look like a cakewalk, right? So what did you call that? What do you remember?

Sean Zubor (12:07)
was called the hundred. So basically, it was for 100 days, you had to run or walk 10k a day to training sessions. It was basically everything with 75 hard was just a little bit more and for 100 days. Yeah. And it was good. was doing it because I was sorry.

Shane Kilby (12:09)
Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all.

Duane Murphy (12:22)
So neither one of you are talking,

I was just saying neither one of you are talking me into that. Shane talked me into the same thing a hundred times. I did get all the way through it, did it. It was an awesome experience, right? The mental is more so than the physical part of it. But yeah, the outside, doing the outside workouts when it was like 10 below zero in these blizzards and snow storms, I was like, all right, I earned this.

Sean Zubor (12:29)
Hahaha

Duane Murphy (12:51)
Yeah

Sean Zubor (12:52)
Yo,

for me, the hardest part of that whole thing was drinking the four liters of water. I had the hardest time doing that. I don't drink much anyway, so that wasn't okay. I was at, like I said, it was selfish. I was trying to bring other people to train with me because I was actually running more than 10K because I was training for the 100K ultra that I was doing. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Duane Murphy (13:12)
Yeah,

it's funny that you say that, it seems like it'd be so easy, right? Four liters for you, a gallon for us, right? That it'd be so easy to do that. But I found like towards all of a it the end of the day and I'm like, man, like I got, I gotta slam all this water yet to make my timeline, right? And then it's like, okay, I'm gonna have like three hours of sleep tonight because I'm gonna be up every like 30 minutes going to the bathroom because I waited way too long to consume all my water. Lesson learned.

Sean Zubor (13:39)
Call away.

Call away.

Shane Kilby (13:41)
Here's the thing, here's what a challenge like that does though. mean, those are designed for, I mean, they're for everybody, but they're really designed for entrepreneurs, right? And those in leadership that need to be stronger discipline-wise, mentally-wise, there's some physical stuff in there naturally, the physical stuff wasn't, those programs aren't written for

No offense to couch potatoes. I love you the same, but they're meant for people who are already putting in 12 hours a day, you know, already working six, seven, eight days a week. You know, they're already grinding. They're already dealing with the stresses. They're already looking at a bottle to ease their, you know, stress and anxiety. And it's that way to create that intentional discomfort because in entrepreneurship,

We're faced with unintentional discomfort every day of our life and business and we love it or we wouldn't continue to do it. What it does is it exposes us in some of the areas that we think we're super strong mentally and when we're really not. It's just like, for example, on Andy's version, if you look at the five things, it's like,

For any of the three of us, three or four of those are, it's a breeze. It's like, that's not until I do it anyway. But it's that one, it's that one curve ball that catches us, whether it be alcohol. Cause I mean, like, I mean, how many, how many times do we go 75 days without an environment for a social drink, not just getting hammered, but just a social drink, right? And it makes it awkward because here you are, you know, someone's going to see you ordering a Sprite.

or tonic with a lime and they're like, you're not drinking. Like, what's up? Like, I know you're not pregnant. Right? So why you drinking?

Duane Murphy (15:37)
I didn't like number

five hard during deer camp in Wisconsin and all the guys literally almost ostracized me from deer camp because they're like, what do you mean you're not drinking? Like the entire deer camp, you're not going to have a single drink. And I'm like,

Shane Kilby (15:42)
Bye!

Well,

that's the way guys are. We're always like, when we go to camp, stuff like it's like a fraternity. And guys are just drilling on you, like you guys already know what people, your buddies will call you when you're not doing what they do, right? So it's, but it forces you to have that uncomfortable conversation to disclose what your purpose is and intention is with that challenge, right? Here's what's funny about it though.

When you do it wholeheartedly and you don't, you don't stray from the process, all of those, out of all those people that give you grief and hard time, if you watch closely, some of those end up going down the same path. They're like, okay, like he made it through that hazing and he's still on that journey. So maybe there's something to that. Maybe I'll give it a shot too. And here's the thing about it. Like at the end of, you know, your version or Andy's version,

There's nothing bad that comes out of it right you are built to handle the weight of the world I went to fit I did I failed at it a couple times because I was always trying to get the right timing around away from hunting camp because it's a hard hard time to go away from real estate conventions and in in events and stuff like that, but what I come to realize is like

That's why they designed it that way. You're not going to go three months away from the industry that you serve in any way, form or fashion. So at the end of that, when I finally did it right, I think it's the third time, third round at it, then I went ahead on through the Live Hard version, which is a little different because you intentionally come off the program for a month and then you go back on the program for a month and you add some additional tasks each time.

But yeah, it is weird how we will find, we will go out and find different ways to create that intentional discomfort or that intentional chaos in our lives to make us that much stronger to deal with the world's stress without snapping, right? We've always heard like, never let them see you sweat. Let them never see you fractious or anxious or angry or upset. like, okay, that's easier said than done.

So we got to find ways to do that. Let me ask you this. So I've followed you for years since we first met and I've seen you make some huge milestones, huge accolades. What would you say your biggest success in business has been thus far?

Sean Zubor (18:36)
there's a few things. mean, I think it's my personal growth. I think is one thing that I'm proud of. think the thing that I like the most and what I break about the most is taking agents that have never been in the business before, getting them into seven figures their first year. Like I think that's something that I'm most proud of is, watching other agents utilize the things that I've learned from guys like you, from Patrick bed David, from

you know, all my other coaches, Tom Ferry, et cetera, et cetera. For me, it's, I think that's the most satisfying as far as, know, growing a business that does, I think last year we did about 3 billion in sales. Now personally, I'm listening. I'm trying to list over a billion dollars this year. These things are all really cool, right? Don't get me wrong. And down the line, it's going to be very financially blissful. But for me, I think I always, I always get

more especially the purchase. I always get better satisfaction from watching other people succeed than myself. It's just something that I've always enjoyed doing. Even when I did MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, I taught, you know, some Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu champions that are friends of mine now that are adults now, but there were 13 or 14 men. Those are things I brag about more than even when I was fighting. Right. So I think that's probably the thing that I enjoy the most is, and that's what I enjoy about the whole leadership aspect and creating a business is seeing

you know, something A, that was created from nothing that never existed to now watching people implement the same things that I became successful with and using it themselves.

Shane Kilby (20:16)
Yeah, that's...

Sean Zubor (20:17)
And I'll throw it in the park and pull it.

Shane, I don't even know if you remember how we originally met. Do you remember?

Shane Kilby (20:22)
Was it Commission's Inc. wasn't it? Yeah.

Sean Zubor (20:25)
It was, yes.

So for those of you that don't know, so it was my first or second year in real estate. So this must've been 2014, 2015. So it's been a while now. It's been 10 years plus. And I started off just doing nothing but like cold calling, door knocking. And I was doing fairly well, don't get me wrong. And you know, any kind of social prospecting I could, but I wanted something, cause I came from a car business. I wanted something that was more of like,

guaranteed, you pay five bucks, you get a lead kind of thing. And back then, Sync, Commissions Inc, we had the second platform in Canada, right? And there was a really big Facebook page. Shane, I thought probably owned part of it because he talked more on it than anybody else, right? And there was some massive.

Shane Kilby (21:13)
I'd never to get my

royalty check from that by the way. I need to go back and do some auditing

Sean Zubor (21:19)
I swear everybody else asked questions and so on and so forth. And I remember I reached out to Shane like DM or message or whatever you want to call it. And I'm like, Hey man, can I hop on the phone with you for like half an hour, an hour? Just want to pick your brain on how you're building your team, how you're running your systems, how you're et cetera, et cetera. And then we talked for like two or three hours. and yeah, I basically told me everything inside and out. And I think that's where our mentality was very similar. She was very forth giving even on that.

commission website or Facebook page, you told everybody everything you possibly could. And that really was the pinnacle that changed my business from a sales job, me out there, you know, basically replacing the car business with real estate, just out there selling, you know, as many homes as I personally can to being like, okay, this is an actual business. Then I went into learning, you know, reading a bunch of books and getting some other mentors in the States as well. But basically Shane system is what I implemented right off the hop.

And that's what grew my team. And in Canada, at that point, one of the main reasons I reached out to you as well as there was really no teams back in 2013, 2016, was one of the teams were like mom and pop or, you know, dad and son or mom, daughter, son, whatever, something like that, family related. There wasn't mega teams. There wasn't any of those things in place. So I got commissioned, Zayk, started running scripts. We did our scripts to kind of match our clientele a little bit better. Got an admin.

Duane Murphy (22:26)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (22:29)
And we'll-

Sean Zubor (22:45)
Did a hundred deals, started, and then I didn't even, people just started joining the team. Then we kind of grew it up to a point where it went to about 20 something agents. And everybody's like, who is this? What are they doing? I went from in that year being probably like out of a hundred agents, top 10 in my office to battling for one and two position, right? With somebody that was making 2 million bucks a year for the last 25 years, right? Just over building the business of leveraging and learning exactly what to do about it. So.

Yeah, big shout out to Shane and thank you so much for that.

Shane Kilby (23:19)
Well,

it was know, it was you know, it was a was a pleasure to do that I mean in that sense I mean, I think that's how we we all get to that next level of success is you know connecting with the right people and those right if you ever notice like the most influential people in that space whatever space that might be are always the ones who are giving it away like the I learned I've learned

early on that the ones who act like they have a secret or disclose that they have a secret, they don't have a secret. What they are is scared that you're going to pass their mile marker. They're scared you're going to pass them up, maybe I'm incorrect on this assumption, but I've always made the most strides by getting in those rooms where I felt like I was the smallest fish in that pond.

And I've made the mistake a couple of times of staying in those rooms when I was, I'm not going to say the biggest fish in that pond, but I was much bigger in that pond than when I originally started. And I got comfortable. I got comfortable in that space, in that aquarium, in that pond. And since I've had to go back and remind myself like, you know, you need to move to another pond. You need to move to another level and get uncomfortable again. Right. So.

Yeah, man, that was a pleasure. You know, when I first, you know, set up that platform, you know, I went and looked at several different platforms and it, know, Commissions Inc is a hands down, it's a phenomenal platform. However, at the end of the day, it's the individuals that are driving this control panel behind the scenes in leading, guiding, directing, and coaching their people on what to do and how to do it and when to do it.

and then breathing that conviction and belief into them so that they will follow that path long enough to see the fruits of their labor. Because you know how it is, it's like agents when they first come in this business, like I know all three of us and I know several of the guests that we've had on here in the past, all the guests we've had on here in the past believe in the same process, in the same belief, like we want to see other people succeed.

When have you went to a big function or event or party to say, and how would it be if it was just you and a couple other people there? Right? That's not fun. Like you want to share that success. And I was proud to do that. And I thought it was really cool to connect with you. Like that's the first time I'd really connect with someone, you know, out of the States, you know? And so that was a pleasure. It was a learning benefit. It was a learning opportunity for me as well.

And again, it's a testament to say that with the right systems and the right processes and just a little bit of belief and conviction, if that individual's got that discipline, man, it's off to the races. And for the listeners and the viewers out there, I want you to, if you're just catching this or you missed this, he didn't say millions in production. And if you're in real estate, you understand this verbiage when we talk about $100 million producer, $10 million producer.

3 million dollar producer, right? We understand this verbiage. This guy's said the B word, the billion dollar word. Like that's insane. I mean, even if it is Canada and the pricing is a little different, it's still not that much different to meet those milestones. That is phenomenal, man. And a testament to you and that discipline. But here's the thing about it though.

There's no tip toe in success. You can't tip toe your way to success. You got to go all in. You got to go all in. And I think you said it best. Like that's been your way of thinking since the beginning. But it's more like, and you kind of made it kind of pictured it or presented it like in the ring or on the mat. But what he's basically saying, guys and gals, is it's the same as you having your back against the wall.

Right, if you can't put yourself in the ring or on the mat, it's like having your back against the wall. The difference is you put your back against the wall when your back's not really against the wall because you don't ever want to be in that position where your back is truly against the we're all there from time to time. We're all there from time to time. And Dwayne, you know this, and I know Sean, you do too, that when your back is against the wall and there's nowhere to go but.

Straight ahead just like tackling your fear whether it's video where there's phones or whatever it might be you perform at your greatest and that comes from that David Goggins mindset and and that's a that's a deep mindset But you know a survival of the fittest and everybody's got it inside of them. Let me ask you this

Duane Murphy (28:13)
you

Sean Zubor (28:23)
One of the

I learned, sorry Shane, one of the things I learned when it came to, I got taught this actually by Cardone years and years ago, is that he resets, and this is something that I've started to do, his zero. So what I mean by that is, and this is how you can artificially create your back against the wall. So A, and I won't get into too much investment stuff, but realistically there shouldn't be a whole ton of cash in your accounts. You should be,

sending it out investments one way or another. And I hope that every realtor invest in real estate. Otherwise, it's kind of hypocritical. But on that aside, one of the things he said is, and this was something that stood out to me, is that most people's zero is zero, right? So when they get to their bank account shows a fat goose egg in there and there's nothing there, they're freaking out. They're getting onto credit lines. They're going on to credit cards. And that's when their back is against the wall. And that's when they're running forward.

Right? Well, if you artificially said, okay, my new zero is a hundred grand, 200 grand, a million bucks, and it starts dipping below that, it's go time. And instead having this, and a lot of people are debt motivated, so I don't necessarily say or recommend that as a good way to be motivated. However, if you're debt motivated in the fact that, I got $20,000 or $5,000, whatever it is a month, 500 bucks, coming out every month.

to this investment fund. So I need to make sure that that kind of money is in there. It allows you to be more accountable to yourself. One of the things that I've done and Shane kind of touched on it before is now super tracking my PNLs, which I never used to do before, but it's just looking at your accounts every morning. You know, we're blinded by how much we have or don't have all the time, right? So I think it's to be on track and to be able to create this accountability platform for yourself is huge. And one of the things about

Duane Murphy (29:58)
Oof.

Sean Zubor (30:19)
coaching, training, all these other types of things. I mentioned, I've been blessed to be able to be coached by some of the best in the world. Like I got coached for six months by Patrick McDavid, by Cardone Guys, by Tom Ferriero just spoke at one of his conferences last week. Like I talk, I'm now talking to Brad Lee here and there about doing business. So it's just on his podcast. So when you're, like you said, Shane, every single time when you're trying to level up into the next category of people, I want to be the loser in the room.

You know what mean? I always am chasing that. And for everybody else that sounds egotistical and please don't take it this way, but I may be more advanced or above at this particular time. Those are people I want to share my wealth and knowledge with, right? Those are the people I want to help. Those are the people that I'm going to surround myself. But I know what I'm going to be. That is more of a giving opportunity. Whereas I'm going to be learning from the people that I want to emulate and more like be like, right?

And it's funny that you said this, Shay, that's exactly how you worked to me at the beginning. And you guys are still doing this by even doing the podcast. I know you're running a brokerage the same way is that when you meet these hyper successful people, like when I was at Brad's place in Vegas doing this podcast, right? For an hour before and an hour after, like any question I had, it was never like, can't tell you that never like it's

Spilling guts. Hey, you want to see this? I'm gonna hook you up with this guy. I'm gonna hook you up with that guy. Like he's a connector. He doesn't hold back anything. It's like no, you can't meet my connections. No, it's like what connection you need man. I'll put you towards it. And he knows the reality is is A naturally and I think you guys are the same are givers and want to help as much as possible. But the reality is that returns and is reciprocated 10 times over every single time. Right? Like I'm just about to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Duane Murphy (32:06)
you

Sean Zubor (32:11)
into his coaching systems and stuff like that, because I'm going to start a coaching company here to do all these things with. So and he doesn't do it for that. He's a business guy. Don't get me wrong. He wants to get paid, but he doesn't do it for that. Right. So kind of like what you're saying is if you feel like you're not being challenged by the people that you're around, there's a big issue. You know, I sat and I was just going through these. I got a big change, a lot of changes business wise coming over the next year or so. And I sat in a room and I'm part of this Vancouver club downtown.

Duane Murphy (32:19)
you

Thank

Sean Zubor (32:41)
which I very rarely ever go to, but it's kind of like a private club. I went there because it was cheaper than renting an office space downtown. I could be clients to be honest, right? It's 80 % of the, I get along with the staff more than most of the members. Let's just put it that way. It's just we're different people. But if one guy, there's a hunting and fishing club there. And so one of the guys there, I get along with, well, this guy just sold this company for three and a half, sorry, $350 million, right? Tech guy, loaded. And I think he's like,

Duane Murphy (32:48)
Thank you.

Sean Zubor (33:11)
around my age, around 40 something. So anyways, I started talking to him about, I'm freaking out. Like I'm going to be at, I'm going to be at a real zero here in the next bit here because I'm reinvesting everything and so on and so forth, right? Like I'm freaking out, right? And he's like, listen, man, he's like, if I'm not freaking out every three years, I got a problem. I'm like, I'm just going to retire every three years. If I'm not freaking out at least once, I know I'm in bigger trouble than if I wasn't freaking out. So

The reason why I say this is not just a lesson of like, put yourself through hard times, but it really resonated with me. It's like, I had a guy that just sold his project or business for $350 million, right? Now I don't feel so bad. Now I'm like, okay, listen, like this, this guy's telling me, don't worry about it. It's no big deal. This is the cycle of business, the way you're supposed to be doing. You're not going to be doing this. You're moving backwards, right? So having that group of people around you,

that are at the level that you want to be or even above is absolutely huge. In the last five or six years, I can genuinely say I've probably spent three or $400,000 on coaching. Like I will pay to be in that room. And when I'm in that room, I'm forcing my friendship. Like we are now friends, congratulations, right?

It's genuine. Like I'm telling them straight up. like, I'm not here necessarily. Like I want to learn. I want to get coached. I'm not here necessarily for a specific reason. It's like, I want to build a relationship because that relationship is 10 times more valuable over the long run. Right. Then, you know, I got Tom Ferry's cell phone number. You know, I can text the guy and ask him. This guy's literally got probably 20 or 30 people that are doing over a billion dollars a year in sales. Right. On his, on his, in his coaching program. Right. I got Brad Leo's texting him.

like three weeks ago kind of thing, right? And he's in his jet texting me back. I'm just like, what planet am I on right now that I can talk to these cool guys? You know what I mean? Like it is very humbling, but very cool to be in. And a lot of these places I paid to be, to get my foot in the door because the truth is, is if you don't pay sometimes, and I'm not saying you have to pay to meet cool people by any means, but the reality is there's only 24 hours in a day, right? So to be able to get that attention.

Shane Kilby (35:08)
now.

Thank

Duane Murphy (35:27)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Zubor (35:29)
It's an investment in yourself. They can't talk to everybody all the time. Right. So anyway, it's just my two cents on.

Duane Murphy (35:35)
And even

though, like you said, you have to sometimes pay to be in those rooms. You have to pay to be in certain groups and you have to pay to surround yourself with others that are on another level because that's the level you want to get to. And again, they only have so much time. There can only be so many in that circle. so their time is valuable. Their time is worth money, just like yours is, just like ours is. So if you got to pay to in order to get that, then you do.

But ultimately you still, right, and hopefully everybody catches that, you still have to have the ability to build a relationship. You still have to have the ability to bring some value to that, right? Because they're not gonna surround themselves with and spend their time on someone who's not gonna have any value, right? Even if it's just up and coming value, right? So you still have to be able to A, right? Be able to have a relationship, be able to build a relationship, right?

And still beta brings some value and that's you know, that's a huge thing. So You drop some huge names in that in that all of them I follow right and it's like, okay I'm looking at my phone. No, I don't have that cell number or that one So I don't have any of those but You've got some monster people around you so coming up through in life in business who's been What would you say? Who's been your greatest influence?

Sean Zubor (37:02)
that's a tough question.

wouldn't say, I think I learned most of my real estate systems or a lot of the systems I learned from the Tom Ferry organization. I can say that a hundred percent. Now, I, like I said, I just spoke at one of his conferences and I've done it a few times now. Now I don't necessarily go for like the tips and the tricks and like what he's doing on these big conferences now. And my real estate coach, Aaron Chua, he's amazing guy. He,

Like I don't use him for real estate coaching. here we go again. that's it. I don't use him necessarily for like how to do deals or even how to build my team. Now it's now he's like helping me with YouTube specifically because he's pro. So I think at the beginning, when you start, you're more of a generalist, right? So you want to learn. And this is, know, to take a step back and I kind of jumped forward there. These people I've all started working with next to Tom.

everybody else I've all started working with within the last couple of years, right? So the brokerage already had 400 plus agents. already doing like it was, it was like, like we're saying, I'm always just trying to level up and step up one, right? So I'm not trying to tell anybody to like, go from here and then go, go spend a hundred thousand dollars to be in the room with Grant Cardone. Like I'm not saying that that makes sense.

Right at the beginning. So right at the beginning, my generalist is like, I want to learn from people that are doing, you're, if you're starting this year in real estate and they're like, how do I make, how do I do 40 deals? How do I do 30 deals? Well, the best and easiest and cheapest way to do it is go find somebody and either join their team that will show you how to do that. That has done that multiple times before, right? Or find a mentor that you're going to pay 500 bucks a month for or whatever it is that has done it.

and you were just gonna follow their system and repeat it. And then once you get to that, that's when I kind of upgraded my coaches or not necessarily upgrade my coach, because that sounds horrible, but I'm become more niche specific. So what I look at it is, is in my life, and this is actually something that I've learned from the Cardone guys, is I look at my life like a board of directors, right? The problem is, is that there's too many gurus.

There's too many fake gurus, but there's even a ton of legitimate amazing gurus out there, right? But I just translate it when it comes into like dieting, because that's the easiest way to do it, right? If you do the keto diet, you'll lose weight and gain muscle. You do protein or whatever, you'll go vegan. I don't recommend it, but you'll probably lose weight. know, any of these types of things, right? If you do one specific type of diet, right? You'll probably do well.

But if you do all of them together at the same time, you're just going to be a fat fuck, right? So the reality is it's the same with business. So I look at, okay, who's going to be my trainer? This is my life. Who's going to be my trainer and diet? I trust exactly what he does. So I'm not going to go look for other 15 or other 20 because this maybe sounds easier. This part or whatever. No, this is the person I'm dedicating to for the next 90 days to a year, depending on what it is. I'm going to follow him. This is my guru right now on who I'm learning from YouTube and whatever they're teaching me.

I'm doing this 150%. This is the person on who I'm gonna, you know, learn my, you know, I'm gonna, my spirituality, you know, my relationship with God, this is the pastor I'm listening to, this is who I'm gonna go through. So every single aspect of my life, I have one person and I give them between 90 to a year to give the results that I know I can. And generally speaking, what I'm going to do is if I'm trying to boost things that I'm not good at, right?

like they're all going to be specific, then I'm going to choose something, a type of business or type of person that can let me or teach me how to grow and become better in that specific niche. Right. Or what I'll do is I'll find somebody that I would be my avatar in business. That's just like me and outdoorsman does everything has the same kind of would be a role model or very similar to who I am, but it's really good at something specific.

then I know I'm going to be able to mirror and match what he does or she does in business to be able to do. Right. So I don't I don't think at this point I can say there's one person that really stands out that is like guide or helps me with everything. What I have is specific people that are amazing at what they do in their specific niches that I go to on a general basis. And then I have people that I fall back onto that are more generalist.

Shane Kilby (41:47)
So what I heard in that very valuable.

Few words was that it wasn't it's you know Probably the greatest influence to you Sean in life and business is your coaching you know your coaches your you know your mentors and Like we all three know this like in an agents or buyers whoever's listening to this or watching this like

no matter where you are in that business journey, like coaching is critical, like a mentor is critical. And don't think that you're not going to get it all, all of that in one spot. And you're not necessarily going to get all of that for free, right? Here's the secret, right? Everything you need to know to have Sean's level of success.

is available to you free on YouTube. It's right there. The differentiating factor is the accountability. Someone that is focused enough to observe you and let you know where you're making mistakes and to hold you accountable to that. Sean also disclosed that fear is a good thing. Like,

And I was reflecting back on my life in business and outside of business and every crossroad I've ever been in, I've made the most progress from. Everyone. And it's like, when you said that three years, I didn't really think about it like that till you put it in that perspective. But that's a made perfectly because

You your backs against the wall you come out swinging You hit some base hits you hit some doubles you hit some grand slams You know year one you hitting in cruise control year two your the boats on plane like nothing can interrupt you and you're three like I know and you guys are probably saying well you're three like Man, it's just too comfortable Like the water is too smooth Everybody's smiling

It's starting to sound like Charlie Brown in the back of my ear. Like something's not right. I've got to go create a disruption myself. And what's happening under the surface is that tsunami, right? That earthquake under the surface is about to send the tidal wave into your camp and disrupt you if you don't find that disruption yourself. So agents in particular, like if you're in the beginning of this progress, understand that you're scared of a lot of things.

Like first if you're thinking about getting your license and you've had that that question in your head And you haven't pulled the trigger pull the trigger. That's fear talking pull the trigger go all in if you've got your license you're at that crossroad and you're like man, I just I'm going to all these orientations and all this administrative Learning in videos and all these different trainings. I've got to have I'm getting pulled in so many different directions my

my bank account running dry. Find someone that can provide you with tactical business creation opportunity. Now, I promise you all those administrative things that you're trying to learn, you'll be self-taught when you need those, right? Also, this is what I see a lot of, and you guys correct me if I'm wrong. I see agents when they come in this business, they're always,

just hyper-focused on splits and being solo or this, that, and the other. I I honestly wish that an agent didn't have an... I wish the states required that an agent be a part of a good team for the first two years. Because brokers like, Sean, you said you guys have 400 agents, is that right? That's amazing. That's another accolade in itself. But that's a perfect example.

Are you the managing broker? not at this point? Okay. Okay, so even three, so even three, so let's just say it's the four of you. So even with four of you guys at the wheel, that's dividing 100 each. Agents, need to be a part of a smaller, elite SEAL team, right? And it's not about the military mindset, but it is about being a part of a smaller group.

Sean Zubor (46:13)
No, we have three other minutes.

Duane Murphy (46:14)
Bless

you.

Shane Kilby (46:38)
that can stay attentive to your actions and how you're implementing those actions so that you can find traction. Like when I came in this business, I never asked what my split was. didn't care what my split was. What am I? What the math, math is a path. What will I be paid on a closed transaction? How does that work? Is there a capping? So what does that look like? Okay, cool. That's all I need to know. Now I know how to calculate my math to make sure it's accurate when I get paid. From there out,

I just need to put my head down and go and grind and create traction. I see so many agents, they come in as business, they'll sell their friends and family, the SOI business in the first 18 months, and now they're a guru. Now they want a team. I'm like, you probably need to just focus to become a rainmaker first and fail enough first.

before you turn around and go, I want all the money, want all the splits, I all these things, because you haven't hit that tsunami yet, right? You haven't hit that tsunami yet. So it was a great nugget. And I bounced around on a lot of different things right there. But Sean, that was some great, great insight right there. And I appreciate you for this. I got to get the Bradley button. Dwayne, I've got to have it. Dwayne will let me have the bomb button. Like, boom, I got to come up with something.

Duane Murphy (47:52)
No, we're not giving you bombs and stone effects.

The other day he accidentally stumbled across the fact that like if he does a little heart thing, all of a his does hearts. And I'm like, no, we are not turning any of that on for you. So, see it, we turn, No, no.

Sean Zubor (48:04)
I'm out of here.

do it.

Shane Kilby (48:10)
There it is!

Sean Zubor (48:15)
It's great. Actually, Brad Studios and say those like, I'm sure it's a multi-million dollar studios, pretty nuts being in it. But, know, it's funny that you said, Shane, that a lot of these agents. I'm a little bit jaded because we've had thousands of agents come through over the years and so on and so forth. And I can tell you that most people get into the real estate industry.

I hear two things every single time a brand new agent comes in. Like I can almost, I can almost when they're about to say it, just say it before they do. Cause I know it's exactly. I asked them, why did you get into the business? First thing everybody says, I want the freedom of time. I don't like working this nine to five, et cetera, et cetera. So I roll my eyes as hard as I possibly can because when you get into real estate, especially at beginning, it's, you know, 60 to 80 hours a week, if you want to make any money. And then the second thing I hear is,

I want to make 200K. Like this is like a magical number everybody in my area wants to make. I have no idea why, but it's 200K. And don't you know they've already calculated out that that's like 20 transactions or 15, or they have these numbers already figured, right? The hard part is when they realize it. So with our brokerage, we just implemented this actually last year, any brand new agent that comes to us, that's newly licensed, has to go under a mentorship program.

So they're with one of our seasoned agents and it's a 70 30 split till they're done their first five deals, right? Or if they're on a team, then they just, the team takes responsibility for it. Right? So because we've had so many times that a brand new agent came and all of a sudden their uncle wants to sell their $1.5 million, which is like our median house price, $1.5 million house in Langley or something like that. And they're going to do it for almost no commission because it's uncle.

And all of a sudden they're getting my managing broker to literally write the deal from front to back with no split. Right. So we completely kibosh that because I'd rather have agents that are going to treat it as a career than just a number in our brokerage. But it is something that the back to the coaching, the team, all these things, Shane, you're 150 % correct. You can find everything and anything you've ever needed on the internet without a doubt. Like Google chat GPT.

YouTube like it will teach you anything and everything, you know, there's two things that I think a coach and really Where it applies to is when somebody's actually done it before and knows you well, they focus this information on to you, right? So instead of you Looking at back to the diet thing if I google or go to YouTube and be like how to lose weight There's gonna be seven million videos all telling you a different thing to do and once again

When you do all of them at the same time, you just go with that. You don't get shredded, you don't get ripped because you're not doing the one program, right? But what do we do naturally? Naturally, we're like, ooh, butterfly, shiny star, I'm gonna try this one. this one said I'll lose 30 pounds in 12 minutes. Like, I'm gonna try that one. So all of a sudden we get these distractions that not only all of a sudden ruin everything because we're.

Shane Kilby (51:07)
Thank you.

Duane Murphy (51:12)
you

Sean Zubor (51:31)
now in analysis paralysis instead of actually executing on the things that we're supposed to be doing. But we're also not going to be learning anything or building a business based on fundamentals and basics that best meet you or suit you in the long run. Right. So I think the coaching, the two biggest things is focusing the knowledge that you need at your specific level to what you need to do to grow because they've already been there before. And then obviously the accountability is huge, making sure that you're actually executing on your plan and the things that you've come up with.

Duane Murphy (52:00)
Yeah, I

Shane Kilby (52:00)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (52:01)
think that's phenomenal. I find so many newer agents in this business, right? They want to be the next TikTok star. They want to be the next Instagram. And it's like, okay, well, you have 10 followers and you're spending all your time on that and not following the basics that you can build a business on, right? The calling of the leads, the...

the, the practicing of your scripts, right? They're getting comfortable in the mirror and, knowing your presentation, knowing your value prop, right? Like, what do you bring into the table? And, they, right. They want to chase the shiny stuff. Cause right. Who does it? Right. It like, you know, like I want to put up some funny TikToks and I want to do some Instagram reels. And it's like, that's great. But, but you also have to feed your family. Right. And it's building. Yeah.

Shane Kilby (52:49)
Yep. How do you measure that ROI? How can you show me that ROI?

Duane Murphy (52:54)
Start with these building blocks and then you can blossom that into a huge business. can blossom into a massive thing, but you still have to master the basics.

Sean Zubor (52:54)
Whoa.

Yeah. You have to not only master the basics, but then also when it comes to social media, for example. So I had a guy on my team. He's no longer with me now, but he 56 deals his first year. Massive. A lot of them were pre-construction sales. We do a ton of pre-sales here. So towers going up, they sell them now and they don't close for five years kind of thing. Right. And he did 56 deals his first year. Majority of them were off TikTok. But this is one thing that he went through. He did all the cold calling at the beginning. He learned all the

basics, learned all the fundamentals, right? But the one thing, and this is heard of now because obviously social media markets have changed. This was in 2021 too, when everybody was making money, but I'm not trying to discredit him on this by any means, but this is one takeaway that most people don't realize either is when you say TikTok, social media, all these other types of things, they don't realize that he did up to 17 edited videos a day. You know, like he DMed hundreds of people.

Like the work, it's not, I'm doing one, and he was the one doing the TikTok. I'm doing one TikTok dance. No, he did three TikTok dances and then did five property tours, right? That blew up his social. So his social media following blew up, absolutely blew up and he did deals off it. From what I hear now, the deals have fizzled away and he's gone trying to do more of the coaching stuff. And we'll kind of go into the basics and fundamentals of leading a business first, kind of what you're saying.

Shane Kilby (54:08)
Thank

Sean Zubor (54:33)
But what I'm trying to say is, is even these guys, and I hear this all the time, well, I'm just going to go off to my Instagram and go off to my Facebook. Sure. I get it. Right. But guy, a guy that's learning all of that stuff right now, it is a full-time job. Like Brad Lee, for example, where he gets a ton of his business and stuff from, he's doing three to five podcasts a day, four days a week. So he's putting in like 20 plus hours just on podcasting. And he's got, imagine if you were starting that yourself.

He's got probably a $50,000 a month payroll just in the people to pay for editing, posting, and doing all the other work for it, right? So whatever you do, they think it's the easy way out, which I can see that being the case, right? But the reality is, is no, it's not the easy way out. You're just not, to be able to get a return in ROI on this type of social media presence, right? You actually have to do the work.

that you would be doing instead of picking up the phone and calling necessarily, you're just doing it in a different type of pillar, a different type of sphere, right? So, yeah.

Shane Kilby (55:38)
Yeah,

and you got it. Here's the thing, know, what, you know, I have this conversation as a real estate instructor too. It's like, look, cause I'll ask, you know, students and agents like, what do you despise the most about prospect? Like what form? Like, is it the phone calls? Is it like, or, and which one would you prefer to do? Like, and we're kind of, and not really baiting them into that conversation, but

I want to know like which one do you hate the most and which one do you dislike the least? Right? And it's like, if you don't want to make calls, don't make calls. But you're going to have to do something at 110 % all in. Right? If you're not going to make calls, you need to be putting out 20 videos a day. Right? If you're not going to be putting out 20 videos a day, you're going to need to knock 100 doors a day.

You're to to do something. You're to post cards. You're going to do something all in. And here's the thing when comes to these agents. I see them every day too. I want to be the social media agent. What value are you going to deliver? You don't know what you're doing yet. So if you want to get this following, what are they going to follow? I mean, your journey as you learn how to be a real estate agent? You'd better get a lot of followers because they're probably not going to trust very much into your capabilities yet. Why not?

Learn your craft and then share your craft out there to the masses but pick something and go a hundred miles an hour at it and go all in Just like you said though. They try to slice that pie in too many different pieces too many different directions and they get nowhere and they end up it is maybe it's different for you guys but I have a Method I can watch an agent for 90 days and they don't have to be a full-time agent They can be a transitioning agent with a plan to transition

Duane Murphy (57:11)
you

Thanks.

Shane Kilby (57:33)
Or even a part-time agent or whatever the case however we want to define that I can watch them in 90 days and observe their habits and I can tell you what they're gonna average from there on out the rest of their career and I think I'm about a 97 98 Percent perfect on that assumption on where they go in their income in real estate. So let me ask you this You know, this has been a great call great call if you guys have missed any part of this call definitely go back and

and listen to it again or even download the transcription of it. Sean, if you could go back in time, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 15 years in your professional career, what's one thing that you wish you knew then that you could share with a younger version of you or someone else that's coming down that path to help them achieve their greatest success in business?

Sean Zubor (58:34)
So I think there's two things that I would change looking backwards. personally, I'm a little bit of an extremist, as we've kind of chatted about before, and we know each other well, right? So I get sometimes extremely narrow-mindedly focused, right? And so if I could change anything,

I'm very, very careful to use this word because people take it completely incorrectly every single time I say it, but I would add more balance into my life. And so when I say balance into my business career in life, I don't mean necessarily like, I'm just gonna be very extremely clear. If you're on a trajectory like this, it's always gonna be 75 % or 70 % of your life is business, right? Like that is a reality, right? If you just, know, depends on the life you wanna create.

That's really what it kind of comes up to. But for myself, I went from fighting MMA, know, fighting at 170, walking around at 190, shredded, you know, my abs had abs, feeling great, et cetera, et cetera, to now I'm like all about money. All I care about is making my first million bucks, et cetera, et cetera. And I go from, you know, walking around at 185, 190 to 245 pounds. That fuck, right? So, and not working out, drinking too much. I would never say I was like an alcoholic, but

You know, I have a couple of drinks at the end of the night just to calm down. You're using it as an escape method. You know what I mean? So I've been on this Yo-Yo roller coaster since I've been on real estate because I've always put, you know, the priority has always been my kids, but next to my kids and even right now, like my kids during my kid time, it's like a hyper focus. Like I purposely try to take them just hunting, fishing, know, quadding or ATVing. I'm purposely trying to find a way where my cell phone doesn't work most of the time.

just so I can have that narrow focus during that time. But when it came to business is I feel like we always have to remember that it's the long game that we're in. health, and it's not just health. you're thinking about it, if you're the kind of person that is very, very motivated by money, I'm gonna tell you something extremely straightforward. You're in good shape and you look good, you're gonna make more money. Simple as that. And I know, listen, like I said, I was a fat guy.

My girlfriend calls 2018 Sean like the fat Sean, like the roly poly, like marshmallow man. Like you would not recognize me then versus now, right? And the reality is I was making money then, right? But the respect that you get, when you see somebody we're always judged, everybody judges, right? And you might get butt hurt by this comment, but the reality is, is that somebody looks at you naturally and if you're overweight or unhealthy, and I'm not saying you have to be shredded. That's not the point, right? But unhealthy looking.

they instantly think in the back of their head, you can't take care of yourself, how are you gonna take care of my business? So why have that obstacle in place? And that's strictly on the money side. Realistically for me, that didn't matter as much the money side, it's just how I felt. So I now have a hierarchy in my life. So when it comes to my hierarchy, and I know this sounds ass backwards, is it's me first.

Duane Murphy (1:01:31)
you

Sean Zubor (1:01:53)
Okay, and what I mean by that is my health and my mental well-being first, second is my kids, and don't get me wrong, like I would die for my kids, that's not even an issue, but I'll kind of go over this process. Second is my kids and obviously girlfriend, family, right? Third is my business, right? In this order. And the reason for that is, if I'm unhealthy, if I'm completely stressed out all the time, if I'm like wanting to blow my brains out because this shit's getting tough, right?

How am I gonna treat my kids? How am I gonna treat my family? How am I gonna treat the people around me? I'm not gonna treat them well, right? The reality is they're just gonna be add-on to where I am. And then if I have all of that okay, then my business becomes very good, right? And it's just, it is this trickle-down effect. And I'm gonna even say now, you know, it is what it is. I'm gonna put even God above all of that, but that's me personally. This is a new journey for me. But that's where I'm in my...

Duane Murphy (1:02:50)
you

Sean Zubor (1:02:50)
And I think

looking back, if I could change anything, the most important thing would be to structure this to be like no matter what I am forcing two hours a day of training and like self-improvement on me during this time, no matter what. If I'm working, if I have to work till midnight, that's what I'm going to be doing because otherwise this is where burnout, this is where you become unhealthy. It's not a long-term play. The second thing, and this is more business wise, looking back is

As I will, have always been in business as an executor and like a hunter, right? So I'm always like my biggest issues over the last probably 10 years of real status. I'm the worst at fault. The fucking worst. Like I, I'm like, want to cure the shit right now and move on to the next one. Right. And so I have lost. Now I have systems and I've become better at it. So, but I'm still comparatively to some brand new agents on my team. They follow up way better than I ever did. Right. But.

Shane Kilby (1:03:48)
yeah.

Sean Zubor (1:03:50)
I've always been like, call, call, call, call, knock, knock, knock, whatever I need to do, get business down, forward. And because of that, I've never, I never created up until recently, the easy side of the business, right? So I do get a lot of referrals, don't get me wrong, but where I went wrong is, and now what I teach to my team, to my brokerage, whoever who listens, and I can put this out there, is,

I have three levels of things that I focus on when it comes to my business. These are my three key factors when it comes to what I want my team to focus on. First priority is always going to be prospecting. And I do that's one and one B. here we go again. One B is going to be tracking, prospecting and tracking, right? When you can't track, you don't know what's going on, right? And if you're not prospecting, you're not creating new business, right? So that's the first thing.

The second thing, and this is where I, this is my regret, this is the one thing I would have done better, is brand. Build a brand. Right? So, and what I mean by this is, obviously social media is the easiest way to build a brand, but if you want to be somebody that is growing a business, that is going, the business is going to come to you more than you're going to have to hunt for it down the line, building a brand is key. And it's the easiest time in history to ever do it.

And so a brand is consistent. A brand is an avatar. A brand is who you are, right? And given to the public and consistently done every single day. I've learned this. So another guy that I kind of forced my friendship on, to be honest, I haven't talked to him in a while, but is, is Ryan Serhan from Million Dollar Listing. So Ryan, this is when we first started work a little bit past the first time we started Burlidge. think it was 2018, 2019. I, uh,

Duane Murphy (1:05:22)
Thanks.

Sean Zubor (1:05:43)
Cold called Ryan like a hundred times through his assistant. Finally got him to pick up the phone, had a conversation with him, flew to New York and said, hey, I want you to come speak in front of my brokerage and a whole bunch of people. Right? So once again, it's something I paid. So I ended up, wanted, I was very proud though, cause he wanted like 90,000 US or something. I got him down to like 25 for the day. So I was very proud of myself, but we ended up making this a recruiting event, bringing him to it.

But this is the one thing that I learned and was, and now I've learned it talking to Mauricio from the agency and just hearing all these stories, right? Is that, and this is not a, this is not a downplay of Ryan Serhant. He's one of the hardest working guys I've ever met. He is an absolute animal. He's a beast. So just to reiterate that, but most people don't realize that he was 10 months in the business when he got onto Million Dollar List in New York. He had never sold a house yet. He was only doing rentals.

Right? So one that once those shows started airing was he smashing the phones. Has he worked his ass off a hundred percent, right? Does he work as hard as we do, if not harder, a hundred percent, right? But the brand is massive. You look at the agency before they were on the TV shows, before they were on all these other things, they were in LA with a hundred and something agents in three locations. know, my buddy that was just talking about in Louisville, Kentucky, he owns an agency franchise, right?

And now they're at, don't want lie, but I think they're close to 2000 agents and, you know, hundreds of brokerages. It's a hundred million dollar business, right? So brand is extremely important. Do you build it? This is the difference though, as our earlier conversation is too many of us try to focus on building nothing but the brand and doing the TikTok dancing at the beginning and not doing the work, but it's doing everything accumulation over time. And the stronger your brand comes because of all of the experiences

and all of the wins that you've had along the way. And once you can create that brand, is, not only, for example, Patrick Bette David, he sold his business for about 400 million bucks. And so he grew that massive business. But how he grew that business was multiple different, very smart moves and decisions, but it was also partly because of his YouTube channel. It was partly because of the brand that he himself has created.

Duane Murphy (1:07:43)
Thanks

Sean Zubor (1:08:08)
And I think these are incredibly important things that I would have done a little bit differently to begin

Duane Murphy (1:08:12)
Wow.

Shane Kilby (1:08:14)
Man, that is absolutely like these. mean, either we're getting better at this, Duane, or we just keep bringing on the right people because it's...

Duane Murphy (1:08:25)
Yeah, I'm gonna lean towards I'm gonna lean towards the right people are on the bus on the screen cuz You yeah, so I'm gonna go a little slightly. Yeah, I'm gonna go slightly off script because you just Would be respectful of your time because you just served up like 22 dinners right there and everything Off of this I'm without a doubt and I you know, I know I've said it before but this truly is an episode that

Sean Zubor (1:08:37)
appreciate that.

Duane Murphy (1:08:53)
Once it comes out, know it's definitely gonna get favorited and something that I'm gonna re-digest, because there's some massive plays in there for someone at any level. There's stuff to be learned. So that was the main course. That was all massive amounts to eat on. So let me just stir up a little bit of dessert, and mostly it's just for selfish reasons, because all three people on today's screen, I know we all enjoy the outdoors immensely.

and in that time away and it's just another place. I know where it's where, I call it tree stand therapy, right? Swamp therapy, when I'm out duck hunting, there's every worry in the world goes away. Like it's just, something magical, right? So, and I see you've got a few behind you there. Really quickly, your favorite hunt that you've ever been on.

Like what would be like your number one? Like this was my, this is my favorite hunt today. Right. and then very quickly after that, what's, what's Sean's dream hunt? Like, like this is like, this is it. Like this is that, that one someday I'm knocking this off my bucket list.

Sean Zubor (1:10:12)
So funny enough, my favorite hunt. So I got into sheep hunting, like stone sheep hunting, what is it now, six, seven years ago. And it is type two kind of fun. And you guys know what type two fun is? Like while you're doing it, you're like, what the fuck am I doing? know, this is the dumbest thing I've ever done. Like I have kids, I'm definitely gonna die. There's grizzly bears chasing me, like worst case scenario.

And then when you're on the float plate on the way out, you're already booking your next one, right? Why are you got a celebratory beer? So I can say like I have the. The my favorite hunt, no, I'm going to say my favorite hunt was definitely my worst hunt while I was hunting and that was my first sheep hunt. So I was just on the health kick then. So losing, so I was still a little bit heavier, like maybe 225 or something like that. Right now I'm about 200 pounds. So, um.

We never hunted sheep before. I've never done a guided hunt before. So it's just me and my buddy Misha. And, you know, he was crazy enough to listen. I'm like, I got a great fucking idea. I'm like, we've got moose. We've got like all this stuff, right? Like, why don't we go try to hike into a mountain and shoot a sheep, shoot a ram? And so we flew in out of Dees Lake, which is like, for those that don't know, it's right below the Yukon basically. So it's way up.

It's is literally a 26 hour drive from where I live like I'm pretty much on the border of the states like we're two hours away from Seattle 45 minutes from knowing how kind of thing and so anyways, it's way up there. It's past the panhandle like it's way up there, right and So we fly in it's about an hour. It's my second flying hunt We fly it but my first flying hump was a moose hunt fly in there There's no trails. There's no no, it's just mouth

right, like mountains and mountains and mountains. And so we're like, okay, it's a 15 day hunt. We're like, okay, this is gonna be no problem. We should get to the top of mountain where the sheep are in like a week or sorry, in a day, right? So it took us three and a half days, like bushing through the jungle. Like you got an 80, 90 pound pack on and you're just like, you can't see three feet in front of you because it's thick as shit.

And the funny thing is that was the craziest trip. Like I'm actually on my screensaver as a picture from that one. And we didn't even shoot any, no, we shot a goat on that trip, but we didn't shoot anything else. Like we didn't get any rams. We saw maybe a dozen at the very end, but it was the craziest experience ever. Like it was my first, I've been in the wild, like I live in British Columbia, like 90 % of it's unhabitable. You know what mean? Like it's all forest. You name it, I've shot every animal you can possibly think of.

mostly and that trip because how difficult it was and how much of a learning experience it was like I don't know if you guys have ever done this but like sheep hunting one of the biggest concerns is finding water right like people literally die because they run out of water or they get their trip cuts called and this was a drought season drought years first week of August which is opening so it was like probably 75 degrees up there so it's warm way up there

It bugs everywhere. We had mosquito nets on us 24 7. Like you go to sleep for three days after we left. I had ringing like buzz noises in my ears from like the mosquitoes when we had time. was completely messed up. But that's probably my most memorable trip ever. But every sheep hunt has been an absolute blast. it's now that I know the couple of the areas that we're going in, it becomes a little bit like recognizable areas. It becomes a little bit of your backyard, but

It's one of those things that the feeling of accomplishment if you shoot something or you don't shoot something, if you shoot something, it's like winning a lottery. It's amazing. The average unguided house hunt, sheep hunt is a 5 % success rate. Right. And even guided where you're spending up to a hundred thousand USD is about 50 to 60 % success rate. So it is one of the, it is the hardest admiral in North America to kill, but

It is the most rewarding and you are literally like this last one we did was a jet boat one. We had Grizzlies chasing us. Like I got some crazy stories I'll tell you. We didn't shoot anything on that trip, but it was, we saw a bunch of rams and sheep and so on and so forth, but nothing legal. But yeah, every single one it's an expedition. Like I feel like I'm living, you know, what they, how they lived 200 years ago kind of thing. So it's cool. As far as.

An actual, I would love to do Alaska too, even though it's the same, I would love to do a doll sheep hunt, which are like the full white sheep. And I'm actually talking to a buddy up there that might be able to get me in. But yeah, that would be probably my dream.

Shane Kilby (1:15:01)
So what you're saying is again another example of intentional discomfort.

Sean Zubor (1:15:07)
Totally. It's intentional disclosure. I put it this way, and I don't know if I was told this by somebody or if I just came up with it, but I look at it this way. When you're at like the Thanksgiving or Christmas table with all your friends and family and you're celebrating a good time, right? You're never going to brag about the fact that you just sat there and watched Netflix all day and drank too much beer and just watched the Super Bowl and this is nothing ever. What are you always bragging about? You're bragging about, hey man, I did a half marathon.

Shane Kilby (1:15:08)
intentional discomfort.

Sean Zubor (1:15:36)
or I lost 30 pounds, or I didn't. And the reason why you're bragging about this stuff or you're saying this is because it genuinely what makes you happy and makes you proud of yourself. And it's genuinely what builds confidence. People are like, how do you build confidence? Do hard shit. The more hard shit you've done, the more confidence you're gonna have in the long run, right? So for me, if you're looking to, and I know we talked about this earlier, like one of the key things when it comes to leadership in my personal opinion,

And one of the key things running a team or doing any of these things is by leading by example. Right? So you, Shane, you touched on it earlier. Like these guys are one year in the business and now they want to start a team because they did 20 deals or whatever. Like I always ask them, I'm like, man, like, would you follow you? Would you join your team? And 90 % of the time they're like, no, I'm like, of course not, man. You know, nobody yet like become somebody be the best once you're the best. And I'm not saying this to

or whatever, the reality is the first two agents that joined my team, right, I wasn't starting a team. They came to me because they're friends of friends or friends, right? And they're like, hey man, you're killing it. Can I learn what you're doing? And a lot of these agents are like, Sean, how do you recruit 10 agents a week onto your team if you want to? It's because I just put it out there. People want to learn from somebody that's done something already. Focus on becoming the best and leading by example and being the shining example of what...

they want to be and they will gravitate towards you, right? I do all this hardship for myself. It is 100 % selfish. I do it for myself. But the reality is, is that I tell them, hey man, get on the phone, make a hundred dollars today. I've had team leaders tell people to get on the phone, make a hundred dollars today and I asked them, when was the last time you made a hundred dollars? Oh, I've never done that. I'm like, well, tell me the script. Well, I don't know. I just gave it to them. I'm like, well, listen, man, how the fuck are they gonna follow you and listen to you?

Duane Murphy (1:17:06)
Thanks

Sean Zubor (1:17:30)
If you've never done that, teach them what you did to become successful. Don't teach them what I did to become successful because at the end of the day, if you don't know what you're doing, they're never gonna listen. They're never gonna follow. So anyways, just my two cents.

Shane Kilby (1:17:43)
I've

got to have the button. I've got to have the button. I'm going to have the button on the next time we do another one of these interviews. Give me a heart.

Duane Murphy (1:17:45)
Thank you.

Sean Zubor (1:17:46)
Thank

My heart works?

Shane Kilby (1:17:58)
well, it's, it's like the, it's like the old saying goes, it's, know, never take advice or input from someone that you wouldn't swap places with right now. Right. Don't take advice from anyone who's never been where you want to go. There's no point, right? It's, it's, it's going to go in one ear and out the other. you, you gave a perfect example.

Sean Zubor (1:17:58)
UGH

Shane Kilby (1:18:25)
It's like, how are you going to tell someone else to make $100? You haven't made $100. How are you going to pass the script off someone you have never, you you've never faced the hard part of learning that script and getting, and getting eaten alive with that script. And look, like today, it's no excuse for anyone to not face those little hurdles, even in private. Like you can role play with chat GPT. Like you can do, I do it going down the road. I will have the conversation and

In back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and you know and just keep sharpening that axe keep improving Like you nailed it like would would you follow you? Like that's golden like would you follow you? Well Sean it has been a killer killer episode and for everyone that's listening or are watching this episode of real estate agent life podcast

Sean Zubor (1:19:06)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (1:19:23)
If you have found value in this, then please do us a big favor. Like and share and give us a nice healthy five-star review on this thing. helps with the algorithms. If you know someone or yourself that would like to be a guest speaker on here, we've got a form in the description of the podcast. can fill that out and we'll contact you and see if we can't set up a time to.

Duane Murphy (1:19:30)
Next the box.

Shane Kilby (1:19:49)
to do this same type of interview, right? We're just here trying to bring real life stories of success, trials and tribulations back to others that are on this same path, the same journey, and to let you know that there are hardships from those that you see in the industry that are crushing it, like they've all had their trials and tribulations, that's something we always see the same.

Sean, if anyone here wants to connect with you, follow you for more information and just connect with you on a deeper level, how would they get in touch with Sean?

Sean Zubor (1:20:24)
follow me on Instagram. It's Sean Sean Zubor Z-U-B-O-R and I will come up there or I just started the YouTube channel right now so if you want to learn more about the stuff that I've been talking about today it's Sean Zubor as well. Sean. My dad really likes Sean Connery being graded here so. So Sean.

Duane Murphy (1:20:45)
Hahaha.

Shane Kilby (1:20:46)
You got both

of you have the same accent both you had the same accent so that's awesome And and ladies and gentlemen like if you follow him on social media like you you'll be glad you did like he's got he's got a killer Instagram page And I know he's gonna have a killer YouTube page as well And he puts out a lot of really really really good content. So absolutely do follow him and I think you'll be glad that you did

Duane Murphy (1:20:50)
Thank

Shane Kilby (1:21:10)
In the meantime, we appreciate everybody for watching and listening to this episode and we will connect with you guys real soon on another episode. Take care.

Duane Murphy (1:21:20)
Peace.