From Burnout to Breakthrough — How Bret Johnson Built a 90% Referral Business and Found His Freedom 🔥

What if success in real estate wasn’t about selling more homes…

…but about designing a life you don’t want to escape from?

This week on the R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast, we sit down with our brother, industry veteran, and quiet powerhouse Bret Johnson — a 21-year real estate pro who’s done it all: brokerages, teams, tech, market crashes, reinvention… and finally freedom.

Bret unpacks:

✅ How he built a business that runs 90% on referrals (without buying leads)

✅ Why the “admin first” model saved his sanity — and his profits

✅ The real reason most agents stay stuck in models that don’t serve them

✅ His biggest business failure (and how it led to his best life yet)

Plus: what a preschool graduation has to do with redefining success 🤯

This episode is part masterclass, part therapy session, and full of the kind of honest insight most people won’t say out loud.

📲 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube

#REALPodcast #ReferralRealEstate #BretJohnson #AgentFreedom #RealEstateLife #RealEstateSuccess #QuietCloser #BrickDriven #RealBroker #AgentAttraction #CRMPower

🎙 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!

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Transcript

Duane Murphy (00:00)

That's how every one of these goes. Hey, it's another episode of Real Estate Agent Life, REAL. I'm here today with a phenomenal panel. Can't wait, but I'm co-hosting with my good friend, Mr. Shane Kilby. Sweet home Alabama. And our thoughts are to the state of Alabama, because they've just been getting rocked by storms like nonstop.

Shane Kilby (00:03)

Yeah, ain't it though?

From Sui Home, Alabama, don't forget to let them know.

Duane Murphy (00:30)

So, and I'm Duane Murphy from Wisconsin. We're not tornado free, but we're not Alabama. So we'll take that. And today, I tell you what, I am stoked. So even though I know Brett really, really well, we both do, and it's always great when you can do this with friends. Who do we got today, Shane?

Shane Kilby (00:51)

So it is our brother from another mother, Brett Johnson, from the small market, the small bite-sized market of Phoenix, Arizona market, ⁓ which is what last time I checked is like 100,000 agents in that market, Brett.

Duane Murphy (00:53)

Hmm.

Bret (01:08)

We're at 83,000, gentlemen. It's a hell of a time.

Shane Kilby (01:14)

He's got more agents in his market than I do in my entire market is a population So Brett Brett comes with a world of knowledge and expertise around the real estate industry investments ⁓ You know, he's been in the game now. How long you been the game Brett?

Bret (01:34)

21 years and licensed.

Shane Kilby (01:37)

21

years. 21 years and recently made a big transition with his team over to real. And he is a happy father of two beautiful children and a beautiful wife. And we've known we've had the pleasure of knowing Brett now, I guess probably half of your real estate career. We met we met through a

tech platform, Commissions Inc, I do believe. And we've built some really good relationships along the way. We're also a part of some mastermind groups together. And we exchange a lot ⁓ of solutions, lot of help one another overcome a lot of hurdles in the business. so Brett, tell us a little bit about your backstory. What brought you into real estate? How'd you end up in this profession?

Duane Murphy (02:07)

Mm-hmm.

Bret (02:33)

Yeah, I to think back that long, but I was at ASU, right out of high school, went out to Arizona States and enjoyed myself thoroughly there. But my mom had actually been a 30 year agent in Colorado, where I'm from. And so I'd always kind of enjoyed watching her put deals together that, know, wheeling and dealing idea. And so I kind of knew going into ASU that that's really what I wanted to do for a career. So my mom had connected me with another agent out here that had some connections for, you know, residential and

commercial agents at the time. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to get into. So my senior year at ASU, was able to get an internship with Lester and Patricia Cox. They were my mentors and they ran a big team, big business, both commercial and residential in the Tempe market where ASU is at. So I started there 2004 as an intern, ended up getting the license. They took me under their wing and worked, I think, about a decade with that team. Everything from

It's a lowly agent, obviously an intern to start. I ended up becoming a sales manager. Ultimately, I took over two locations as a designated broker and ran kind of a boutique deal at the time. We were kind of heavy into the REO markets and got my feet wet in pretty much everything at that point, obviously through the crash. And then in 2016, I kind of closed up shop on the two locations. took about 27, I think, agents with us.

to another broker in Mesa, Gilbert area of Arizona and just started Realty Network Group, which was our current team. I was with Realty Executives there for all the way until last October when I took the team over to Real Broker and we've been there ever since. I'm enjoying it. So full gamut of different things, but long career, I guess.

Shane Kilby (04:19)

So let me ask you this, so along the way, and this kind of a running joke, you know, with several guests when we have these opportunities. and you know, when's the last time that you've considered just burning it all to the ground?

Bret (04:33)

You guys know me well. I think that's the running tally, isn't it? What's the, what's the bet up to right now? How much money that I'm going to do it again? Yeah, I have a tendency to not to say I don't, I don't dislike change. I have no problem with it. And I think that's kind of the, interesting part with real estate, right? We get to run these careers the way we really see fit. And that's what I love about being an entrepreneur. ⁓

Shane Kilby (04:42)

I think we're up to 750. ⁓

Bret (05:03)

You know, our mastermind, the lion's den is so cool to get to see, you know, both of your business, for instance, big brokerages, lots of agents, you know, the pros and cons that come with that. And then just kind of seeing what aligned with me. And I think the, best part of this career is the ability to really find what makes you happy and what your definition of success is. And it's been really my goal the last probably five years to find that truly what is my big why, ⁓ and just align my business to, to match that.

And I think that's been the best part. So to answer your question, right now we've got three agents. I've got a dedicated admin, my business partner, Becky's with me 20 years. was actually her, worked with her as the intern ⁓ with Lester and Pat. And she's been with me ever since my right hand and really runs a great ship for us. So unique setup, but I'm sure we'll get into that here today as we talk.

Shane Kilby (05:56)

Yeah, it's a...

Duane Murphy (05:56)

What I was going

to say the you had mentioned, right? The real estate industry, right? Gives you the opportunity to just kind of create what it is that you want. Make it look like what you want. ⁓ You know, find your, find your happiness, right? And whatever model or version or whatever that may look like, whether that's right, solo or team or right, or a hybrid in between that somewhere, right? Independent.

franchise, under a brokerage, under a cloud, that may be. And the great thing I think with real estate as well, and you've proven it a few times, right, is that you can change directions, right? You can just say, right, maybe this isn't quite what I'm looking for, this isn't quite what I want, right? I think I wanna do, right, it's not making me happy, it's not filling my bucket, right?

I'm gonna pivot and go a different direction. And you proved that you can do that. And you can do that a few different times and go, okay, what do I want this to look like? It's not what I envisioned or maybe it's not what's truly making me happy. life is short, shoot, let's pivot. And ⁓ I tell you what, I give you massive props. I know we give you some jabs. And by the way, I'm taking the under. ⁓

Just keep that mind when I catch that bat, taking the under. you know, but an honest reality of it, I give you massive props, you know, for having the, you know, the schmutzahs, right? To like take and pivot and go, hey, this isn't what I want it to be. I'm wiping this dry erase board and I'm gonna redesign this and I'm gonna, here it is, right?

And kudos to you, my friend, for having the courage ⁓ to do that and to, you know what, say, if I got to do it more than once, I'm going to do it more than once. And massive props for that. tell you what, most are too scared to do that. They would rather be miserable and hate life than have the courage to say, you know what, I'm going to

I'm going to choose a different direction and the same path, same funnel, but I'm going choose maybe a little different direction and make this look a little different. ⁓ Massive props to you for that.

Shane Kilby (08:32)

Yeah, so and one thing, so two things I want to mention. One for full transparency for any listeners out there, like don't let this guy fool you, right? Yeah, I've got a big, you know, messy middle, called a big brokerage and what have you. We've had lots of success. It's been a great ride. I have no regrets. ⁓ You know, it's not as profitable as I envisioned, but that's okay. I've taken a lot of

Bret (08:44)

So.

Shane Kilby (09:01)

Equity away in other areas of the business has created a lot of opportunities and opportunities to have connections relationship like this but and the way to cut me off from wrong like folks this this guy right here is Probably the closest thing to a guru as far as the X's and O's the the processes the systems and like in and we know a few individuals but none any better at making

Those shiny nickels produce results, produce profit, produce revenue, whereas a lot of times we're all guilty of trying to find ways to make life easier on our agents, because at the end it makes life easier for us. And we get this shiny nickel, we're all into it for a few days, then it's like a stack of toys at Christmas, on to the next one. And it just sits in the corner, collects dust, waters down ROI, waters down profit.

And we may never use it. It may sit there and eat dollars out of our revenue stream for months, years. So this guy is awesome at that. And secondly, you know, ⁓ he's been in the business 21 years. If you heard there, his business partner is his admin, his right hand. And this is not his spouse. Because I know personally, this is not his spouse. And I would probably be willing to bet.

Duane Murphy (10:27)

You

Shane Kilby (10:29)

that from that long time relationship, that that's probably been a big rock, a big anchor to his success and sanity in the business. agents a lot of times, Brett, know this, Dwayne, you know this, like when we come out of the shoot, we had some success, like, we need to scale, I need a buyer's agent, I need some assistance, need some showing assistance and all these different things, I've seen all these fancy words, I need some of those.

Brett, let me ask you this. So did you start out going, I don't need those things. I need someone to keep me between the navigational beacons. Or was that a tested, tried and true process of elimination?

Bret (11:10)

Well, I think it kind of fell into my lap. Luckily. mean, I've, gotta say I've had a lot of good luck. Um, I guess we call it that, right. But it comes with the hard work that is behind the scenes. Um, you know, I blessed to really find this mentor and in less than Pat and to be able to see how to run a business, um, at ran the operations. Lester was always the visionary and you know, we were in coaching programs, different things. got to literally be firsthand witness to all the trials and tribulations of running a business from both sides admin and.

from the marketing or rainmaker, if you want to call it CEO type thing. It was kind of that idea of the E-Myth, right? That integrator and visionary and realizing what I was best at and what I wasn't and being an intern, you know, seeing the operations side, I knew really right away that wasn't going to be my cup of tea. And I would need to have those types of people in place to really succeed. So luckily, Becky and I have been able to work together for so long. I she truly is, you know, so integral to our

growth to really even finding our new vision and why we've made some changes over the years in this. Lord knows we've made a lot of mistakes. We've spent a lot of money, lost a lot of money, different things. But I think just having that peace of mind now where I'm happy, I know the vision that I have and I can be profitable without having my ego in the way of needing to sell those 500 homes a year and be number one. And it wasn't about the rewards anymore. It was about how do I find

Happiness and if I got to go to work every day is it is it a job or is it something I find? Passion and and I gotta say I'm truly happy again in this, you know, I don't need to sell hundred homes We'll do half of that this year, but all at a profit level that makes sense I don't have the headaches and all of this stuff that you know come with running big brokerages and teams like I used to so It's just kind of finding your why I think you start there and then from there I I will say nice thing is joining masterminds some more like lines then right?

I get to watch you guys test a lot of these shiny nickels. I get to see the pros, the cons, and I'm very hesitant to jump into that. I used to be your shoes, right? I'd buy everything. I'd try it out. I love change. I love technology. I mean, that's something my mentor taught me and was always great at as well. But it's something that I don't need to bring on more headaches if I'm not going to use it. And I'd rather just kind of figure out what makes sense and just to grow upon that.

Duane Murphy (13:20)

Ahem.

Bret (13:33)

I guess just trial and error comes with that, having that person in place, the number one hire was always gotta be your admin ⁓ to answer that earlier question. And when you have that in place, then you can spend your time working on the business and really grow in those other areas. Because nothing slips you the cracks, I guess, in the back end.

Duane Murphy (13:50)

Yeah, so speaking of business, right, and we'll stay in that lane. ⁓

Man, 21 years. That's great, because Shane, you got what? ET19?

Shane Kilby (14:03)

Yeah, it's 2006, so coming up on 20 years.

Duane Murphy (14:06)

Okay.

I was going to say I'm coming up on 20 as well. it's, kind of ironic that all three of us literally started all about the same, the same time, you know, Brett probably got a little taste of that market pre-crash. Um, whereas Shane and I pretty much all we got instantly was that crap sandwich almost instantaneously, right? We didn't get it. We didn't get really much of a taste of it, but, uh, um, so stay in that line of business. Uh, what would you,

Bret (14:21)

I thought it was the easiest thing ever.

Shane Kilby (14:27)

Bye.

Duane Murphy (14:36)

What would you if you had to pick one thing? What would be your biggest biggest success in business?

Bret (14:46)

Good question. ⁓

Honestly, I success to me is again, having the ability to live the life on my terms. What I mean by that is if I want to, yesterday I had my daughter's ⁓ preschool graduation, right? It was at 1230 in the afternoon on a, was that Tuesday, Wednesday? I don't know what day it is. You know, most people were showing up in their workloads, their scrubs, you know, they're having to take time off. I literally could set my schedule. I could be there for my family. Now don't get me wrong, I work.

a ton and my wife will say probably too much, right? And thank God she's an incredible mom and just the true rock of our family to be able to stay at home and take care of our two daughters and really support that and allow me to have this freedom to do it. But success to me is being able live on those terms, right? If I want something, I have the ability to do it and I don't have to report to somebody and take that time. So I think as far as business is concerned is getting to the level where

got out of my own head and it wasn't the competition that I have always been taught. was, you know, don't look at me now, but an athlete back in the day, like I've, I've all been very competitive to want to drive and be number one and to be ranking and, know, and that has always driven me. And I think it was the realization, like, I don't need that anymore. If I can spend time with my family and have go to those recitals or whatever that is gymnastics, but still support them and have endless opportunity. Like that's what I'm looking for. And I don't need to sell more than.

50 homes a year or whatever that is to do it and still have that life. So it's only been the last couple years where I've really realized I needed to make some shifts and get out of my own paradigms, I guess, to find that. And so it's an interesting scenario. You've been through a lot of different ups and downs and I've worn so many hats that I'm kind of refreshing to feel like, and we've talked about this off the scenes, but to feel like I finally found that passion again, I guess.

Shane Kilby (16:42)

Yeah, that's good. know, it's when that why falls into place, it begins to lay everything out just the way that you want it. Because at the end of the day, I know for me, early on, was limitless hours I could work to make limitless income. And it wasn't income I was chasing. It was the flexibility and the freedom.

you know, to work 18 hours today and tomorrow to take three days off, you know, like we did this past weekend, right? You put in, still got the 40 hour work week in the first three days of the week and then recovered the rest of those days with very special people. ⁓ You know, the same people that wake up and everybody's angry or angry because they don't have coffee and don't talk to me till I'm working on my laptop for 30 minutes with fresh coffee. So.

But no, is, it's that freedom. It's that freedom. And when we teach class, I ⁓ always want to get this out of the way, right? Like, who are you, where are you from, what's your goal in this class, and why real estate? It's like, I like looking at pretty houses, I love watching HGTV, I want to be an interior decorator, I think I could do staging. All these things, it's like, huh.

Well, we do see who's going to not make it very long in this business if they don't get that mindset right. Yeah. So, so, so thanks for sharing that. it's also want to point out, like, if you, you, if you listen to, or watch this at a later date and time and you have a team or you're ever considering putting a team together, I hope that you pay close attention to know that you don't need agents to, to run the extra leads that you've got. If you're really producing success and results.

more than what you can handle. It's that key in that admin that'll keep your feet grounded and keep you happy at home. So ⁓ what about the, you know, the biggest success you've had in business? Like, I mean, you, you shared, you've had big teams, right? You've, you've had consistent success. We were all very well. That's why we, you know, one of the many reasons we love hanging out with you so much, but what would you say your biggest success has been thus far in business?

Bret (18:54)

One.

Well, we've had some huge years and numbers. mean, profitability has always driven me. think what I would say most recently is getting to a point now where the majority, and I should, I'm usually pretty good at tracking my numbers. I don't have it in front of me now, but I would say that, you know, oddly enough, they always say around 70 % as your referral and past clients, I've always run well over 85, as high as even 95%. And to get to that point where now I have the flexibility where I know

There's business there. I don't worry about where my next deal is going to come from. There is predictability, but I don't have to chase the internet leads. I don't have to constantly be throwing money at this stuff to get it. I can love on the clients that I have, our client for life systems, our concierge programs. All of these moving parts are so plugged in and dialed in. And a lot of this is a testament to Becky's hard work to really build this.

to where I get to enjoy working with those type of clients, right? And those are the ones I wanna do business with, are those people that already know, like, can trust me and are referring me, my raving fans, if you will. So I think my biggest success is being able to create a business now where I grinded on internet leads my entire career, right? And I built this business on that, but now I don't have to do that anymore. And if I find joy in being able to pick up the phone and talk to a client.

Today alone, I've had two past clients reach out, know, what is my home worth? What are we doing? And just knowing that I could pick up the phone and talk to them, shoot the shit and have a good time. Like that's the type of business I wanted for years as opposed to chasing that Zillow lead that's, you know, I'm just one of 10 agents are talking to, right? So it's predictability, I think with a way to know my systems will be in place and actually have the ability to work with the type of client.

Shane Kilby (20:48)

Very well stated, very well stated. What would you say to agents or even myself or Dwayne? What would you say that there's one thing to focus on to build an 80, 90 % referral business? What would you say is the most important thing?

Bret (21:05)

Well, I think you always have to look at the lifetime value of the client, right? So we start with this mindset of, don't want to work a certain price range maybe, or I don't want to drive an hour out of town to do that type of client. But in reality, if you service the client properly, the endless amount of income that can come from that opportunity is what really drives me, I guess. One of my ⁓ other masterminds years ago did a big study on the lifetime value out of a...

Chicago, I think it was University of Illinois in Champaign and they talked about what buyers and sellers were looking for right and it's information about obviously their homes and locations but the number one thing was how little you may make on that first deal but what that can correlate to and we're talking millions of dollars in gross commission income from one small you know and joins market 250,000 or whatever it is hundred thousand

You know, and so I had my number one client bought well over 100 homes from me, multiple sales, sold many of those, started on a $30,000 lead back in the foreclosure days, right? And never even met with him. It was another lead that worked for him that I met with. She introduced me to him and the rest was history. His daughter actually works with me now as an agent. you know, who knows what can come from that, but. ⁓

I think what you got to do is get out of your head. I've interviewed agents over the years and like, only want to work listings or I got to only be in Scottsdale, the, you know, our big market out here. And in reality, if you service the client, right, you do a system where they're going to work your way and you're not the holding to them, you know, driving you all over the place and, having to change your way, right. Then you can actually run this predictably and be excited about it. And so I actually still produce, I, you know, don't have any problems sitting at a kitchen table on a listing appointment.

Duane Murphy (22:29)

you

Bret (22:54)

I have showing agents now, but I don't mind showing houses. I enjoy it because I'm working with people that I actually like to. And they're doing it my way. They're driving by homes first. They're letting me know when they want to see it. We know we're getting paid a certain amount because we have the systems in place. It's predictable. And that's what I enjoy the most about this, I guess. New agents just got to put the work in, though, too. Don't get me wrong. It doesn't happen overnight. But you can have that.

Duane Murphy (23:18)

Yeah, I've done exercises

like that before. always called it a, right. It's like going to the board. I mean, there's different versions of it, right. But I've done the, the lifeline, right. Essentially the tree, right. That came off of, right. That came off of an original lead, right. I can remember one still that, right. It came, it was a Zillow lead, right. So way back, way back, right. Before anybody really knew what Zillow was, I was an early adapter with that.

It was the Zillow lead that then turned into a home sale that they then referred me to somebody they knew. And then I helped them and then they referred me to someone else that they knew. And then the original one referred me to another one. then I was able to, through the power of the CRM and just knowing my business a little better, maybe than I do now, I was able to literally branch it all off and put all the, okay, well then this one came back around and I

sold their home and then helped them buy another one. And then, by the way, right, these all, I was able to, it was like shocking. Like, and again, I'm in a smaller market, right? But it was jaw dropping when you're like, I'm like, look at that. like, holy crap. Like I've made over a quarter million dollars in commission, right? Just off of that one lead.

Right. That one prospect, so, know, leads a nasty word, but that one prospect, right. Way back when, you know, that I gave amazing service to, right. And then kept in touch with and, the value of that. And it's still that tree is still giving fruit today. I mean, I've already, you know, I do a little bit of production still to keep my, keep my toes in the water and lead from the right lead from the front line.

Shane Kilby (25:04)

Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (25:13)

Hey, a couple of transactions, ⁓ you know, this year are from that tree. And that tree is damn near 20 years old and it's still giving fruit. ⁓ none. They already know you, love you and trust you.

Bret (25:27)

no acquisition costs really, right? Either at the other points. So the profitability of that is incredible.

And you're already doing, you guys do such a great job with your client for life and, know, vents and all of that. it was fun.

Shane Kilby (25:39)

Yeah, so

it's always been interesting to me to something I, this was wisdom, I guess, shared ⁓ from my grandfather and elders in general. it's, we talk about it all time to the point where it's cliche about relationships. It's about investing into the relationship. But when you stop and you think about

all of the connections like Justice Call for example, and how those dots connected, right? It's amazing because a lot of these dots, you guys are working a transaction right now from a referral from DeWayne from Wisconsin out to Arizona. And it's like, how did that come about? Well, you met it in Commission Zinc, right?

So how did you both end up at commissions? Well, this dot or that dot, know, it's the same thing with our transactions, you know, and those, fruits of those investments is it's, it's amazing. And, you know, I, it's, think it's easy today because we're just in a different, you know, we sound like our sound like our, grandparents, cause it's a different day and age, but it's so easy for an agent to bail themselves out.

in our, all of our systems and processes and pillars of opportunity, you can literally wait to the last 60 days, 45 days, even 30 days, 35 days before you're in a financial abyss and recover, right? Just that simple. None of the three, we've all three been in this for 20 years. The lead gen game and marketing game and business generation in general is different.

than when we started, right? We all started in the market crash. I don't know about y'all. I really didn't know that the market was crashing, I'm gonna lie. I mean, I would see headlines and stuff like that, but I had my head down forward. Yeah, I look back and I'm like, thank God we didn't have Facebook then like we do now, or even Google or Jack GP, because they had probably all said, nope, you need to go drive a street sweeper.

Duane Murphy (27:45)

as oblivious.

Bret (27:45)

Right.

you.

Shane Kilby (28:00)

you know, instead of trying to make it real estate right now. Because, I mean, if we'd looked at the odds like, you know, GPT, give me the odds of my success. Well, you know, when it was high, you know, and the market was great, you had a 13 % chance of being successful. Right? Now that you're in the abyss of it, you probably have a ⁓ 0.13 chance to survive this crash. So, ⁓ yeah, I've always liked to try to, you know, from time to time, you know, often,

reconnect those relationships, those dots, and hold that inventory accountable, right? Because what's the number? We've seen it. all said 150. I don't know how accurate that number is, ⁓ supposedly 150 contacts that know, like, and trust you, that you keep in close contact with, like, that's going to bring you all the business that you can handle in this business for the rest of your days.

Bret (28:33)

So.

Shane Kilby (28:54)

So let's switch gears a little bit as my co-host likes to say let's switch gears and let's look at a different side of the coin You've had a massive success Along this journey you've built UI you found you you have refound your passion Your crush and as always I don't remember a moment that you weren't crushing it, but you're happy and you're crushing it that's awesome That's very exciting to me. I'm glad to hear that What has been your biggest failure in business?

Thus far we learned from our failures, but what has been your biggest failure so far?

Bret (29:29)

Well, I think...

One would be just not understanding models as well as I probably should have, right? I'm always quick to jump into something. I'll test anything and give it a shot. Um, you know, and maybe to my detriment, I'm too, too much on the fly with that. So, you know, I've tried things where I could run a brokerage hybrid teams within teams, a hundred percent teams under my way. You know, I've, try it all and I think, you know, I'm a people person. always love coaching. love mentoring agents.

So if I feel like there's a way that we can both beneficially win, I'm open to it, right? And I think part of my faults there are understanding the profitability that comes when you're switching that and you're not rigid with your models, right? And so mentors of mine have done it. Nope, it's my way or the highway. We stick to this. This is what keeps food on the table. This is how we're able to generate business and we don't deviate. And I think that probably there's some things to be said with that, you know, when you really dig into the numbers and go that route.

So I would say probably profitability for many years just wasn't there. And if I had it to do it over again, I'd have looked at maybe other ancillary ways, title, mortgage, stuff that you guys are well versed in, right? If you're gonna run those brokerages, you gotta truly understand that. But I think the other downside to mine is I still have a passion to work with the clients. Well, I don't have any problem working on the business and I've stepped out a little bit. You know, like I think what's really drives me is I like to work.

this business still. enjoy the people side of it. I just need time with my family as well. So to be able to have systems in place now, maybe I was slow in putting those together, or maybe I was just testing waters and wasn't fully committed to what I should have been and just stayed rigid. ⁓ Now I feel like I found what makes me happy. The profitability is there. It's just a matter of you always have to.

and fire everyone and start over and you've got a lot of lead flow and a lot of expenses, right? You've got to cut that ⁓ quickly, otherwise you bleed slowly out. And that's where I probably had the most recent, you know, as the markets have shifted. But obviously, thank goodness I've been able to get through all of that and still standing and still have a smile on my face as best I can, most days I guess. ⁓

Shane Kilby (31:46)

And that's because

you held on to your admin. You held on to your admin.

Bret (31:49)

I

honestly, I gotta say I'm still lucky had I, know, had Becky gone or something happened there. That's another headache that I would definitely be a tough day to have to deal with, I suppose. So good point.

Duane Murphy (32:01)

Yeah.

So, so with the success of failures, ⁓ obviously there's a path that got groomed there a little bit. ⁓ you said, ⁓ you know, your mom was in real estate back in the day and, but when you look at where you are now, right in, in life and in business and what you've done and created and, are still doing who's what's who or what's been your greatest influence in that.

And on that.

Bret (32:32)

Well, I always have said my parents, ⁓ number one, right? Like raised me the, the true role models that I look up to. mean, I talk about my dad and the stuff that he's taught me over the years, my mom, obviously in the business and just in life. ⁓ but I believe in coaching, right? think in anything, maybe it's my sports backgrounds, like, I'm not going to be the smartest person in the room at any point, or I'm always going to need improvement. And I can't do this on my own. So I think what.

Luckily, my mentor taught me early and I was able to fall into that situation, right? And I have a coach 24 seven, essentially on the team. I think you have to find the coaching. You have to find the mentorship and pay for it if that's what it takes, right? I still pay for coaching because there's a quicker way to do this. There's a lot of mistakes we've done that these folks have done time and time again, right? We don't have to recreate the wheel. We just gotta simply copy what works. And so I believe coaching is

The number one thing that anyone can get into it, you know, even if it's literally using chat GPT nowadays to help coach right at a free level, you've got to look at somebody that's got a proven system, something that you can align with and make sure it matches your type of business. Don't go doing cold calls if that's not what you're going to do, right? Find the mentor that's got the system. So honestly, they answer that question. Many coaches in my life, would say from life standpoint, my parents, number one, Lester and Pat are absolutely influential.

I would not be here today and I pretty much owe my entire career to them. They were truly everything for that. So I still talk to them as much as I can. I owe them another call here one of these days sooner, but it's great to be able to still be in that business.

Shane Kilby (34:14)

Yeah, it's good to, you you are a true, you know, industry icon, industry role model, because I mean, that's the, know, I'd come across a quote or, you know, just a piece earlier today or this morning. And it was about, you know, so many, and I'm sure in every industry, but so many in this industry come up through the assistance and the help and development of someone else.

And then, you know, they move to this next level and act, you know, and act as if, they're portrayed as if they just created all of this success and aren't humble enough to give credit where credit's due for whatever fear that they may have from, you know, making that known. I've always thought that it was great.

Great. Thank you in a way to show that gratitude and appreciation is to is to always make those people known and recognize for that so So Brett, I know you got a crazy schedule and a family to get back to as you got you just had a little one graduate You know, is it k5? it was it outer? She's cool

Bret (35:15)

Absolutely.

Preschool, so heading into the

garden here next. So yeah, one of those things at times.

Shane Kilby (35:30)

⁓ My

mother-in-law told me, our 10-year-old now, she told me when she hits first grade, it's all over. And that's been the fastest five years, four years. I mean, she's going into fifth grade. She was just now fighting. I was just now dealing with the mask of K-5 and now she's going into fifth grade. It's amazing.

Duane Murphy (35:55)

She also laid down today on video that she's getting all A's next year. She got four A's and one B this year. And she said, hey, my fifth grade, I'm getting all A's.

Shane Kilby (36:01)

Well

Hey, she's

Bret (36:09)

She'll

do it too. Yup. I love it.

Shane Kilby (36:10)

taken to the prisoners. She likes the way it pays. She's been, she's got some pretty good closing bonuses in there. ⁓ you know, it's, teamwork with her and her mom. It's, you know, it's, it's, the relationship they have is, interesting, but, it's definitely one to be respected because they both may be crying, but if you try to intervene, you will be crying. So you got to pick your battles and, choose wisely. ⁓ Brett.

You know, very grateful for your time today, as always, and it's always a good time to connect. Looking back at the last 21 years, ⁓ what is a key piece of advice that you wish a younger version of Brett would have known or Dwayne or Shane or someone else has come and done that same pathway? What's something that you can give back?

and contribute to a younger version of yourself coming down the same pathway.

Bret (37:12)

Well, I mean, there's a million ways to answer that, right? I guess from an agent standpoint, if you're just getting in the business to go a map angle, I think the number one thing that has been crucial in my business outside of those coaching and mentor relationships, right? We talked about earlier is working as CRM. ⁓ As dumb as that may sound, we talked about how we met, right? And the relationships and how this business is everything around that.

If you're not using some type of CRM and technology that keeps it all together, keeps it flowing, automation's aside, I mean, that is the true key to real estate in my opinion. ⁓ Because you can have the best coaching, can have, know, know everyone, know they can trust you, but if you're gonna drop the ball or let things slip through the cracks, like you're just leaving money on the table. So I think that's something I still do to this day. We've had many different ones, sync how we first met, right guys? But. ⁓

But stick to that. There's no right one. It's whatever you're going to use. You heard the cliche. But use that. Drive your business. And just keep going with those things. ⁓ It's probably the number one thing of advice I'd give, especially on a new agent.

Shane Kilby (38:22)

Yeah, well, folks, you know, whether you've been in the business six weeks, six days, six years, 16 years, like you've heard it from, you know, a very successful ⁓ seasoned agent, right? If those relationships, your best friend or the relationship you haven't met in business yet, if they mean something to you, you need to have them in a place that

that their relationship is protected. And I do believe that's in a CRM. Whichever flavor you want to go with, it doesn't matter. They all do the same thing. But get one that's going to not allow you to drop the ball with that relationship because you may never be able to replace it or put it back to where it was.

Duane Murphy (39:11)

Yeah,

that's such a huge nugget that I think it's overlooked in the world of the gram and talking and I don't whatever else the kids call it, but the world of Facebook and it's, well, I'm Facebook friends with them. And it's like, the same, right? And there's some that are, well, they even keep that part separate. They're like, well, I'm not even friends with them on Facebook. I'm like,

How do you stay in touch with them at all then? Because you're not using your CRM, right? But the CRM, just to elaborate on your point there, man, after a little while, even in the short go, but that three to five year mark typically, man, that's what makes this business easy. Everyone's like, oh, real estate's so hard. No, that is the easy button.

If you got your CRM dialed and you're using it religiously and you got it up to date and I mean, is truly, right? I mean, you said it, 85 % or more of past clientele, it's the keys to the kingdom. The keys to the kingdom, right? It's the, you can't get an easier way to make a lifestyle that most are envious of.

Shane Kilby (40:38)

And it's predictable income. Predictable income.

Duane Murphy (40:38)

It's the CRM that does it.

I say it all the time, right? When I have a new agent class, like, one of the biggest regrets that I have, right? Early in my business, I had started with Top Producer, right? Because my broker's like, oh, you got to have Top Producer, you got to have CRM. Because my agency at that time, right? Even though was one of the largest around.

didn't provide a CRM, didn't provide anything free, right? I'm saying to go pay for it. So, right, I'm buying top producer. I'm not making any money, none, zero, right? There's no leads. There's, right, I don't know. They're like, there's a phone, there's a desk and a chair. Like, I don't know, go call someone, right? Go sell a house. And then, oh, by the way, go pay for the CRM and go pay for this go pay for that. And so I, you know, after like six months, I'm like, hell, I can't even afford my mortgage or my car payment.

keep big gas in my car, much less pay for his top producer thing that I don't know how to operate. Right. Yeah. So I dropped it. I got rid of it. Right. And it was another year or two before I really got going on a CRM of any sort. Um, AK right. Commissioned zinc back in the day. And Mike, like all that clientele from there to really getting dialed into a CRM. I, you know, I kind of pissed them all away a little bit. And it's like,

Shane Kilby (41:41)

that I'm not producing on.

Bret (41:43)

Yeah.

Duane Murphy (42:04)

You know, and it just, made the business a lot harder than it had to be. And you know, and now knowing what a lifetime value to steal your wording, right? A life, the lifetime value of a, of a client, right? That of most of which turn into friends, right? Friends and family to us. ⁓ Boy, I mean, it's almost immeasurable. And ⁓ you know, you're not out of the park there with that, with that CRM. Woo.

Shane Kilby (42:30)

Yeah, so Brett, we don't want to take any more of your time. So if I could take all your time, but if.

Duane Murphy (42:39)

Yeah,

Bret (42:39)

guys.

Duane Murphy (42:40)

if all three of us got jazz, I mean, we were talking already 30 minutes before the sucker started rolling.

Bret (42:42)

Yeah.

Shane Kilby (42:45)

You know how much we talk when we get together, you know? So,

⁓ Brett, let me ask you this. So if someone's listening or consuming this podcast now or into the future, what's the best way for them to reach out to you, whether locally or halfway across the globe to connect for referrals or just to pick your brain on business in general?

Bret (43:06)

Yeah, I'm open book. always answer my phone. You my direct cell phone. It's 602-502-6468. I've got a video blog, Real Estate with Brett. It's Brettwith1t.com. You can watch some of my videos. It just sends for coaching and various things. I do some agent training too. Just more of a passion of mine. We call it our Better Together Academy, but you can check some of that out. It's bettertogether.academy for a lot of trainings, free resources.

I've got tons of different videos and things too if that helps anyone. But just give me a call, text me, whatever is easiest. Always an open book, like I said, and happy to help coach whatever I can do. So happy.

Shane Kilby (43:45)

Well

guys, he's got a 90-

Duane Murphy (43:45)

If they dig

far enough, they can find some TV episodes, right?

Bret (43:49)

What's that? Oh, shit, yeah. Got a little HQTV back in the day and a few other things. Must have leaves, I'm sure. free beer.

Shane Kilby (43:57)

But for real though,

he's carrying an 80 to 90 % referral book of business. So if you're planning to hang around long in this business and be profitable without chasing skinny margins and being one of 10 other agents trying to chase down, hunt down, sedate a lead so that you can get the signature on a contract, you might want to reach out to him. You might want to tap into that academy that he's put on and that coaching. This is conversation, just a connection.

Brett's a good person to know, good person to know. Dwayne, take us out of here, my friend.

Duane Murphy (44:31)

Hey, I tell you what, we appreciate all of you that have listened to this episode, the rest of the episodes, ⁓ whatever it may be. We truly, truly appreciate it. It's because of your love and support that this keeps growing, that we can talk to amazing people like Brett and bring you talent from all over the United States and actually United States and beyond, because we have crossed the border. So on an episode, so right beyond.

Shane Kilby (44:56)

across the board.

Duane Murphy (44:59)

the beyond the US even so if you like what you're hearing please subscribe if you feel the need or you feel ⁓ moved to do so we always love a five-star review helps us grow in that algorithm up there in Google land and ⁓ hey for from everybody here at real estate agent life are you this is us saying goodbye and saying peace

Shane Kilby (45:25)

Peace.

00:00 Introduction and Background of the Panel

05:56 The Importance of Finding Your Why

12:10 Building a Referral-Based Business

18:07 Lessons Learned and Future Directions

24:44 The Long-Term Value of Relationships

33:00 Influences and Mentorship

43:06 Connecting with Brett