From Prison Walls to Million-Dollar Closings: The Redemption Story of Scott Botelho

In this raw and riveting episode of R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life, we sit down with Scott Botelho, a former correctional officer turned million-dollar real estate producer and transformational leader.

Scott takes us on a rollercoaster journey — from working inside a prison at 19, building a network marketing empire, and battling a hidden addiction… to completely rebuilding his life, hitting rock bottom, and rising to become the #1 RE/MAX agent in Massachusetts and a top team leader with LPT Realty.

🔥 You’ll hear:

• The mindset shift that saved Scott’s life
• How network marketing introduced him to Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and personal development
• Why real estate is really about lead generation, not houses
• What it takes to build a business that runs on referrals and repeat clients
• His vulnerable battle with addiction and the turning point that led to 14 years of sobriety
• What he wishes every young agent and team leader knew before they hit burnout

Scott’s story is proof that rock bottom can be the start of a legacy. Whether you’re an aspiring agent, a struggling team leader, or just someone needing hope, this episode will light a fire in you.

Guest: Scott Botelho

Host: Shane Kilby

Co-Host: Duane Murphy

Duration: ~49 minutes

Tags: #RealEstate #Mindset #OvercomingAddiction #TeamLeader #LeadGeneration #JimRohn #ReferralBusiness #LPTRealty

Timestamps & Key Topics:

• 00:30 – Meet Scott Botelho: 24 years in real estate, from Remax to LPT
• 02:30 – From state prison job to personal development via network marketing
• 05:50 – How Amway, Jim Rohn & Zig Ziglar shifted Scott’s path forever
• 07:40 – Building a lead-gen real estate business on the side while working full-time
• 09:30 – The pain behind the success: addiction, Oxycontin, and the mask of success
• 14:00 – Rehab, divorce, rock bottom, and the real comeback story
• 17:00 – Mindset, mentorship, and why coaching changes everything
• 21:30 – Relationship capital in real estate: Why your industry reputation matters
• 26:00 – How to help new agents win FAST w

🎙 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

Shane Kilby (00:02)
We're live, Dwayne, take it away.

Duane Murphy (00:02)
All right, here we go.

Welcome to Real Estate Agent Life. I'm here today with my co-host, Mr. Shane Kilby, fresh off the beach. Look at that, he's looking all fresh and all relaxed, looking good, looking good. I'm Duane Murphy, and today, I tell you what, we've got somebody you're gonna love to talk with and hear from, and Shane, who do we got today?

Shane Kilby (00:27)
Today we have our special guest, Scott Botello. He is currently the team leader at Home and Key Group, brokered by LPT Realty. He is also a former broker owner of Home and Key Real Estate. He is a former broker associate at Remax with bringing years of seasoned industry and experience. Here's what's cool about Scott. Now Scott's been around the game for 24 years and counting, 24 years and counting. So you guys are gonna be in for some great insight.

He is known for his leadership, mentorship, and the ability to build strong, productive teams. He's very passionate about helping agents grow their business and live a more fulfilled, purpose-driven life. He's an advocate of the mindset, make the rest of your life the best of your life, a phrase that defines his personal and professional mission. He's a connector, a coach, and a strategic thinker committed to elevating the real estate industry and those that are part of it. Scott, welcome.

Duane Murphy (01:12)
Hmm.

Shane Kilby (01:26)
to the podcast. How are you my friend?

Scott Botelho (01:29)
I'm living the American dream. Thanks for having me. It's always an honor and a privilege to be able to share and collaborate with other real estate professionals. So thanks for having me. Great introduction. You came off the beach, me, nice and tan. That's high blood pressure. No beach here, no beach here, guy. Blood pressure. Yeah. Right?

Duane Murphy (01:46)
Scott you and I looked like brothers about

a week ago when I was that same color

Scott Botelho (01:52)
⁓ my god, everyone's like, you just come back from vacation? No, that's called blood pressure. But no, I love what I do, but you know, you can raise the blood pressure for sure. But no, thanks for-

Shane Kilby (02:00)
It's,

you know, it's, all joke and laugh at this statement, but when you're in a room of high level thinkers, real estate professionals who have been in the game for any period of time, the old saying is, if you haven't thought about burning it down and going to work at the fast food restaurant in the last week, then you're not really in it up to your eyeballs, right? So Scott, so tell us a little bit about your backstory.

Scott Botelho (02:24)
Amen.

Duane Murphy (02:25)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (02:29)
Who is Scott Botello and how did you get in the real estate profession?

Scott Botelho (02:34)
I got in there. Well, that's a great question. So I got in the real estate profession. Really, I was trying to find a way out of prison. Now don't take that the wrong way. I worked in a prison for 20 years, right? So I worked there. I didn't live there. I was looking for a way to get out. know, ⁓ I was, you know, my family was middle-class. My dad was a civil servant. He was a captain of a local police department. My mother was a stay-at-home mom.

You know, I wasn't this great academic scholar, you know, so as I was approaching graduating high school, you know, my father said, hey, listen, you got two choices. You either go to school full time or you work full time. And school was not for me. I was a straight C student. I'm, when I love something, like really, I'm all in, but all that other stuff, I didn't apply myself. So school wasn't really an option for me.

I didn't have any skills, ⁓ so civil service looked like a good way for me. So at 19 years old, I started working in a state prison. Not a great environment, guys. ⁓ And so I started there. It didn't take too long to realize that this is really not a great place to work. Positivity is not there for sure, right? And so believe it or not, I look like I'm mean and this and that, but I'm really not. I was in high school.

Junior high class clown, high school class clown, and now I'm going into, I look like I should work there, right? But I'm really, that's not who I am internally. And so I was like, I gotta find a way out of this thing. And so ironically, I got introduced to network marketing. I am probably about 10 years at the prison. I got introduced to network marketing. I don't know if you guys follow like Steve Harvey. If you have a list, one of the, I can still hear him saying it at 19 years old, he got introduced to Amway.

Shane Kilby (04:18)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Botelho (04:24)
That wasn't what changed his life, but when he got introduced to Amway, he got introduced to personal development. That's what changed his life. I had that same ⁓ experience. So when I joined network marketing, I exposed to people like Jim Rohn, Zig Zigla, and personal development, all those things, know, work out on yourself when you're doing your job. You know, order for things to change, you have to change. You know, don't wish it was easier, wish you was better. Don't, you know, all those things and learning to work on the mind.

And I had this awesome business building across the country. And I'm like, this is my ticket out of the prison. It was a nutrition company, by the way. And so the guy that sponsored me into that business, he was a captain at the prison. He was doing so well. He probably was doubling his income at the time. He quits to do that full time. The guy that sponsored him was another correction officer. Right. So by the way, we all went to high school together. Right. So we had a saying where we grew up.

What do you call a Portugese from New Bedford? He's either a fisherman or a prison god. That's what he ended up doing. Well, these two guys, ⁓ You know, by the way, you know, they built these huge businesses and kept with it and they lived an incredible life. But long story short, they both quit. My income was now at the point where I was making as much money at the prison as I was on my little part-time gig in network marketing. And so I was the next logical guy to quit. And that was my ticket out.

Duane Murphy (05:26)
No.

Scott Botelho (05:52)
And then bam, one night the owner of the company at 43 years old, this is a health and nutrition company, he goes to bed, he doesn't wake up, he dies. Checks, like, so first off, people are like, what's in the products, right? By the way, it's a multi-billion dollar company still today. But in the interim, everybody's checks go down, people are wondering, is there something wrong with the products?

Duane Murphy (06:00)
Oof.

Scott Botelho (06:15)
The guy's 43 years old, he dies, they don't really have this great contingent plan with the company, how are we gonna run? This guy was the face of the company, he was the company. So all of our checks went right down and I'm like, my God, what am I gonna do? And I'm watching my ex-father-in-law at the time, he was a real estate broker. And I'm watching him and I'm like, wait a minute, if I take the same skills that I learned in network marketing, because they learned about the...

the law of sowing and reaping, the law of averages, all those things, objection handling, it was the same thing, right? It's just selling a different product. I said, I think I could do this. And so was like, real estate is gonna be my ticket out. And so, 24 years ago, I decided, let's go for this. And I started working part-time at the company, my follow-on was the vice president of a little boutique real estate company. My first year there, I'm working full-time at the prison.

I'm the number one agent at the office. Not that they were big producers, but I did right off the beginning. I hired a coach, Todd Bates from Denver, Colorado. You can still find his stuff on YouTube. He passed away, but he was awesome. He was a marketing guy. And he taught me right from the very beginning, listen, you're not, you're in the lead generation business. You just happen to sell houses. This is where we're going to focus marketing. If you've got people to talk to about buying and selling a house, the law of agile's come in and you'll sell houses, you'll list houses and so on and so forth.

I did that, like I said, became the number one agent working part time around my full-time job at the prison. And then I got my broker's license with the intention of buying that company and taking over a few years later when I was gonna retire at the prison. And I decided, you know what? I don't wanna own a company. I just wanna sell houses. At the time, ⁓ Remax was a big local brand. ⁓

They had the 95, know, the desk view, the 95 split at the time. And so was like, I just want to sell houses and make as much money as I could. So I moved over to Remax. Same thing at Remax, solid Remax office in the area. Number one agent, production, working full-time at the prison. And I'm clipping along and my broker at the time, I'm really good at generating leads. got, my follow-up is brutal. Like I'm a pit bull on my follow-up.

So I'm on this treadmill and I'm doing really really well, you know generating lead falling up falling up closing them and I'm on this treadmill and I'm making really really good money. I'm making three times the money I'm making at the prison ⁓ in real estate around that and so my my broker at the time said hey you're doing really really well what your referrals look like. I'm like referrals? Zero. Because all I'm doing is generating leads and I once I close them

I'm on, I'm on that treadmill of just work and fall, fall, fall. He's like, I think you should hire, cause I had already gone through Todd Bates, I already done some Craig Proctor stuff. was, the marketing piece was, was, was solid. I had no back end, no, nothing after the sale. And so I went into coaching with Buffini and then Joe Stump. And then my referral started rocking and rolling 30%, 50%, 70%. I built it all the way up to a hundred percent, repeat word of mouth referral business. And, um,

Duane Murphy (09:05)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Botelho (09:33)
I'm going really, really good. And then in 2000, but here's what happens, a little hiccup in the road. So I get this personal development, I still to this day, anybody that travels with me, it doesn't matter if it's a business trip, personal trip, I get up in the morning, I got a routine. I read from three books, a spiritual book, a book on recovery, personal development, I do my gratitude, my affirmations, I listen to something positive, and I send it out to about 200 people. That's kinda how I start, and I still do that. And I'm rocking and rolling with that.

I'm really in a good space. But in the meantime, while I'm doing this and I'm doing really, well, I get hurt at the prison restraining an inmate. I blow out two discs in my lower back and the doctor prescribes Oxycontin. This is way back in the early 2000s. And be quite honest, I fell in love with that stuff. And so behind the scenes, I got this great real estate business that I'm working.

But I got this addiction starting and it's manifested and it's growing and it's growing and it's growing. So that was like 2000, I think it started. 2007, I retired from the prison. I'm working real estate full time, rocking and rolling, selling 50, 60 houses a year on my own. Everything's good. And then the addiction now, you know, I come from a family, my grandfather.

passed away from cirrhosis of the liver at 57, that's how old I am. He had two siblings, they both passed away from So we had alcoholics in the family. I said, would never happen to me, because I'm too shot for this. Well, it happens to me. Now I start adding alcohol into the mix. So I got this monster Oxycontin habit, chasing it with alcohol, and I'm still running a great business. I'm working 16 hours a day to feed this habit.

So you gotta sell houses, right? So I got this thing going. Finally, and by the way, at the time, everything on the outside looks great. Married to my high school sweetheart, two kids, private school, nice house, nice car, nice stuff. We call it dressing up the garbage can. Like to the outside world, outside world was like, this guy's killing it, right? On the inside, I'm broken mentally, physically, spiritually, financially. mean,

Money's coming in one hand and going out the other. got a massive, at the time, geez, I think I'm spending $1,000 every three days on OxyContin. So money's coming in, it's flowing out. Still killing real estate, but it comes to a point where, you know, I can no longer do this. I'm legitimately, I lived in a nice little town of Forhaven. ⁓ We're about an hour south of ⁓ Boston on the coast. ⁓

and about an hour away from the Cape, on the ocean. And I remember I'm walking, there's a beautiful bike path and I'm walking the bike path. I got everything people would think would make you happy. And I'm looking at trees, I'm contemplating suicide. I'm thinking about hanging myself. This is where I'm at mentally, right? So I'm not in a real, real good place. So I decide to, and nobody knew. Nobody had any idea. So I finally reached out for help.

at that time and I remember walking into my office. I'm an office guy, always have. I still to this day I'm in the office Monday through Friday. I go into my office with my files, because back then you had paper files, and I said somebody's got to watch my deals. I'm going to be gone for a while. So the admin who I'm working with basically 40 hours a week for years, she's not only the admin, she's a friend. And she's like, why? I said, I'm going to go to Florida.

She said, for how long? I said, probably two months. She's like, for what? So I go, I'm going to rehab. And she says to me, legitimately, who are you bringing? She couldn't contemplate that it was me. Like, nobody knew. Nobody knew. I'm crushing real estate, but behind the scenes, I got this monster thing going on. So long story short, I go down to Florida for a rehab. I come back. I end up.

not being let back in the house. So now I got, I got, I'm going through the whole process of recovery and a divorce at the same time. So the next couple of years were real rough. So here I am going from selling five or six houses a month to struggling to sell one. Like I am not in a good place. And that's kind of like, I veered off the path of the personal development. I'm really like, I got caught into the drug and alcohol scene.

How I got back on track is like wait a minute here what got me to where I was at you know, I got to get back to that and I really started plugging into that and With a strong why a lot of people that gave up on me that were very very close to me and I said I'm gonna show these people and I'm gonna turn this thing around and I put my head down and I started moving and grooving and within a short period of time ⁓

I was the number one remax agent in Massachusetts, hit the big goal of over a million dollars in gross commissions in a year. I'm selling 50, 60, 70 houses on my own, no admin, no team, just me. 100 % repeat word of mouth referral business. And I'm plodding along and I got this great life, right? And then my current wife was my girlfriend at the time.

she decided she wanted to get a real estate license. And I wasn't gonna let her work with somebody else. So that's when I started the team. And then I just put into the team, I started the team of three people, her and two others at the time. And I started with the same process that I did way back when I got started, lead generation forum, showing them how to build by referral. And before you know it, the team grew and grew and grew. And I did not like...

I had about 20 years in the business at the time. ⁓ Our business was really our business. It wouldn't matter what brokerage I was at. We were attracting the business that we wanted. And I wasn't a fan of the culture at the Remax office I was at. So that's when I decided to go out my own. started my own company and set up. my first year, so I brought my five agents from my Remax office with my admin. And in the first year, next thing you know,

I got something agents, not one single recruiting phone call. That was one of the worst things that's ever happened to me in my career. We can talk about that when it comes to what your failure. That was a failure, bro, right? But anyway, the cool part was we went down from 20 something agents down to nine and the next year we, I think we went up 20 something percent with, you know, much smaller thing.

Duane Murphy (16:24)
It was almost too easy.

Scott Botelho (16:42)
And then that's when I got introduced to John Chepilack through Bill Pipes, ironically. Went to his recruiting thing and then we just started building from there. then, you know, the last, we were growing 20, 40, 45 % per year, year over year. And then last year decided to make the move over to LPT and that's where we're at today. So that's kind of like how I got started guys, trying to get out of prison. I'll learn a way to get out.

Shane Kilby (17:07)
So Scott, like first and foremost,

⁓ full disclosure for all the listeners ⁓ out there in the future. I knew Scott passing, we've been in some of the same rooms. ⁓ And oftentimes, Dewayne and myself, we tap into some of those folks in those rooms because we know the rooms that we're all in. We're in the right room and the right space, the right place with the right people and the right thinkers.

And Scott, did not know that deep of your story, but I knew that you were a good guy and you would be a good guest on this podcast. And I knew that you would lead with value and you would be a contributor and I knew that you would give back to the listeners.

And wow, that was a lot. But man, you just went through a powerhouse message from worst to first to worst to better, right? And Dwayne, I saw you taking notes. I saw you taking notes, right? So I'm going to throw a couple of nuggets. And Dwayne, I'm going hand it off to you because I know that you've got things. hope I'm not double.

Scott Botelho (18:11)
Game? Yes sir.

As you can already, I'm an open book. got nothing to hide, so you let it rip and I'll tell you like it is.

Shane Kilby (18:25)
doubling on top of what you.

Well, so, you know, for the listeners, you you may have been around personal development and coaching and what have you, but I want to, I wanted to go to touch on that for a second because the first thing that I heard Scott say was personal development and being in that space around personal development and mindset. And then, you know, and then also, and then he comes along and drops the word coaching.

You know which I think everybody at you get to a certain level in real estate and I think it's any profession that you're passionate about you must seek out coaching and development I don't believe it anyone gets to a high level of success without some type of personal development but I don't think you get to your your greatest potential without a coach because

As in all things, know, oftentimes we think about coaching is athletics and sports and stuff like that. And that's where, you know, those fundamentals, you know, begin in our mindsets. But later on in life, it's like everything is in everything. And I do anyway, is a competition and it's always a competition with myself, not necessarily anyone else. I look in the mirror and I am the only competition right in my own limitation. So I say that to say this, that that.

I'm glad you touched on that and you and I had a little bit of correspondence previously this week as we were leading up to the podcast. And if I'm not mistaken, you had the opportunity to meet Jim Rohn in person. I think you said it was five or six times, right?

Scott Botelho (20:09)
was able to see him ⁓ five or six times live at different events. The most intimate one was the one in Boston that he did. It was such a small room. There was probably a hundred people in it. It was a challenge to succeed, which is one of my favorite CDs. call them CDs. They don't even make them CDs anymore. I had a Seth's guy. My kids still to this day know the Jim Rohn stuff because that's all I played in the My wife on our very first day, she gets in the car. That's what I'm playing, Jim Rohn. So.

Duane Murphy (20:25)
You

Scott Botelho (20:37)
It's become a part of me to me and I preach it to my agents. preach it to any ⁓ coaching that I'm doing any event I'm speaking at anything I'm mindset is the single most important thing to your real estate. But you hear Jim don't talk about it. Right? Your level of income will rise to a level of personal development. Sometimes you'll overshoot it, but you always fall back down. That's the single most important thing. Yet agents like, can we get more zilla leads? Can we get more real estate? Get this straight. This stuff will all work. You know, it's really, really

Duane Murphy (20:37)
I love it.

Scott Botelho (21:07)
I got it narrowed down to five things and I tell you, and one of them, the very first thing I tell everybody you need to succeed is mindset. I said, has nothing to do with real estate and has everything to do with real estate. And then it comes to the leads and all the other things that come after, but.

Shane Kilby (21:19)
Yeah, it's funny you say it like that because you you hear about having the right mindset and stuff like that and if you play sports and stuff like that coming up, but you know, the first, you know, influential personal development individual I ever met and was in a small room with was Zig Ziglar. And I remember it like it was yesterday because the childhood that I had trust is trust is, you know, is a pretty big obstacle for me.

Scott Botelho (21:40)
⁓ yeah.

Duane Murphy (21:40)
Hmm.

Shane Kilby (21:49)
Pretty big obstacle for me. But being in that space with Zig Ziglar, I said to myself, this guy is 76 years old. He's running across the stage, back and forth. I already know his net worth is astronomical. He's got more money than he's ever gonna spend. And here he is pumping this water pump. I mean, he's just going back and forth and talking about the redhead. And when I left there, I bought everything that he had to sell. Everything.

Scott Botelho (21:49)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Shane Kilby (22:18)
But it absolutely changed my life for the better. And that was a different industry that I was in at that point in time. So I just want to, you know, just, just, just commend you on that and that journey and through that coaching and also for being vulnerable and sharing that story because we're all, we all, you know, follow John Cieplak and, he gets so many plugs on this thing is he's got to have a net profit because of this podcast somewhere. But it's, he's constantly driving that point home and

He's relatable because he's been in the trenches. He's been at the top, he's been at the bottom, he's been in the middle, and he shares that story over and over and over again. So I applaud you for being vulnerable like that. Dwayne, I know you had some nuggets there. I hope I didn't overstep any of those.

Duane Murphy (23:03)
Yeah, right, I've got a ton of things going through my head. know, I know, right, I know, I didn't know Scott's backstory. And again, we can't stress enough to thank you for being vulnerable and

Scott Botelho (23:15)
I'm

sober today. So that was 14 years ago that we didn't talk about that. I love every habit I've never picked up a drink or a drug ever since so

Duane Murphy (23:20)
Yeah.

That is awesome. That is awesome. And there's none of us that are to a level of success, ⁓ whether you're to the level of success you want to be or could be, but there's none of us that have experienced success that haven't experienced some tremendous setbacks and a backstory, right? Either through childhood or early adulthood or whatever that wasn't more trying than most.

And, uh, and the three of us on this, on this screen definitely have a lot of, a lot of similarities of, of stuff that we've overcome and, what that we've battled and that we beat and that, that would have, that would bring most to their me's, you know, right. And, um, and be tough to overcome. So thank you for that. Uh, I'm just kind of still engrossed in that. You did say a couple of things, uh, that I, that I clung onto, um, that

Scott Botelho (23:58)
BANG

Duane Murphy (24:22)
that I think is really, really good for people to hear through your story. ⁓ One of them is there's nothing, right, and you had led with it on mindset. There's nothing that you can't overcome, right, if you your mind to it and you do what you need to do. Now, right, you have to your mind to it, you have to be willing to, right, in your situation go to rehab, you have to be willing to hire a coach, you have to be willing

Right? You have to be willing and wanting to do what you have to do to overcome it, but there's nothing that can't be overcome. Right? And I mean, shoot, you're going through a few of them all at the same damn time. Right? I mean, like you throw anybody through a divorce and that would paralyze and stop right most. And then you throw in, right. Then you throw in a rehab or an addiction on top of that. Right. And then throw in a right, being self-employed and running a business and

I mean, you put all that stuff in together into a mixing bowl and hell, right? That's just one ingredient alone is enough to potentially, right? Poison or stop someone, much less all of them mixed together. So ⁓ you're right. A great example, you can overcome anything. You just, have to be willing and wanting and you have to have the mindset to do so. The other piece, a little bit more, all of it's relevant to real estate, but I also love the part where you said,

Scott Botelho (25:30)
For sure.

Duane Murphy (25:49)
But early on, before you had experienced great success in real estate and still are, you realize that you're in the lead generation business.

Right? You had led with, you realized early on you're in the lead generation business. And I tell you why that there is so many that just, that miss that part, right? They have the talent, they have the personality, right? They, they, they might be even in the right environment. ⁓ but, but they don't realize that they're in the lead generation business and, end up washing out because they, they can't have any sales. can't find any sales.

Scott Botelho (26:31)
You can be the greatest salesperson in the world, the greatest real estate agent in world. get nobody to talk to about listing a house or buying a house. You get nothing. I don't care how good you are. So I remember him telling me this, you're in the lead generation business. You just happen to sell houses. That's what you do. And so now back then you did lead generation. Now I have the leverage of equity, know, money. Whereas back then it was a sale by owners and expired listings. you know, now we can, we can pay into some things to generate the leads, but yeah, you got to people to talk to.

Shane Kilby (26:45)
Yep.

Duane Murphy (26:52)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Wearing your brand everywhere. So, cause you're hoping somebody would talk to you at the grocery store and say, Hey, how's real estate? Cause that shit worked. It worked.

Scott Botelho (27:03)
Hi.

You know how many people

I meet with and you know, I'm talking about seasoned agents and I'm like, you know, there's five things that I pay attention to. Mine says number one, number two is having people talk to that's what they all get their license and like, okay, now what? You know, you don't have enough people in your sphere of influence typically to generate enough income to live off of in the beginning. Unless you got this crazy mad center of influence, right? For the most part, you know, I have a business that I could jump out of a plane in Alabama and do the same thing we're doing here because it has nothing to do with sphere, you know.

So that's, but that.

Shane Kilby (27:39)
Yeah, it's

funny that you work with a lot of new agents and I work with a lot of new agents and it's like, that's the biggest hurdle to overcome with their development when they start. And that's why I start them off at ground zero. like, all right, so let's focus, let's spend the next 30 days extracting your SOI and getting the right communication and messaging to them.

the conversations, the text messages, the emails, the value. Let's build you a database so that you have that relationship that you have always had, but they don't know that you're hungry for the business. They may not even know you're still in the business or in the business at all. Right? And it's always like that first 30 days, like I just, need to deal, I need to deal. need to, so they start buying leads. like, but you can't convert those leads, right? Anything you stumble across is by accident.

So it's just like you said, if you get this right, the rest of it takes care of itself. The rest of it takes care of itself.

Scott Botelho (28:44)
We always start with the sphere get that set up now stop bringing them into some different lead generation to help them go but Sphere always start for a couple of reasons number one You don't want to be so having somebody else sell your cousin a house, right? No, I have mainly new agents and I I got like there's one guy I I actually I sold him his first house sold that house for him sold the current house that he's in we worked together at the prison He just retired. He's been with me for one year

Duane Murphy (28:56)
Yeah.

Scott Botelho (29:10)
16 houses he sold he's got two under contract one year He just follows a recipe. I've had the you know They were able to plug into a system That was created over 20 all the coaching we put it all in line and we got a nice system that works if you just follow the recipe It's no different than I equate it believe it or not to AA right? So I went to rehab and the in the gentleman that was running the show said listen is the best pot You don't have to create anything. This has been in place since the mid 30s itself the most amount of people's

Get silver, stay silver, and live happy, productive lives. There's a step-by-step process. You just have to follow that. You follow it. There's predictable results. And that's exactly like the business. So when I bring in agents, it's like, if you follow the recipe, step-by-step, ingredient-by-ingredient, there's predictable results. Look around the room. We've got all kinds of new agents that are crushing it or have crushed it by following the process. But I get fired up the right.

Duane Murphy (30:04)
Scott,

you've shared a ton of ⁓ business success and also obviously some massive personal success, some massive personal wins. What would you say, if you had to pinpoint, what would you say would be your biggest success in business so far? Realizing that probably your biggest is still yet to come, but what has it been so far?

Scott Botelho (30:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I got a couple that jump into my head, right? It was, you know, remax is a big bit around here. It was a really, really big organization, know, tons of offices. I was always in the top 10, but when I hit number one for transactions, that was a nice big win. And then, you know, we're all going for it. We all want the $1 million. We all want to hit to break that $1 million. And I was it was so funny. It's funny how things work.

I was at a Boomtown ⁓ conference and I met Viral Workman. I know if you guys know Viral. I had that for eight years, guy. Eight years I used that system until last year we switched over to Fulp. Long story short, I go down there, I go into a room. I really like the way this guy is talking. He's a numbers guy. You get so many points. You call, you get points. And made all the sense in the world. And I left there.

Duane Murphy (31:05)
I haven't heard the word boomtown in quite a while

Scott Botelho (31:25)
And I don't know who I was coaching with at the time. was looking, I tried to make some changes and I looked at his stuff online. I just never jumped into it. And then the next, I think within a year, I go to Vegas for the R4 for the big rematch convention and they have breakout rooms. Now at the time I'm at platinum level, you're hitting about a half a million dollars in commission a year and I'm stuck there. It's not a bad place to be stuck.

But I am like that's where I'm at, right? So I'm walking down the hall and I see this thing, how to go from platinum to diamond. Right? I'm like, that's exactly what I want to do. want to go diamonds over a million bucks. I go in there, hey, lo and behold, it's Viral Workman. I hide the guy in the spot. that year I had Mike Coke was my coach. In fact, he's a big Chep, he's in the Chep Black community too. He coaches for Viral. Boom. That year, we broke the one million.

Duane Murphy (32:09)
AHAHA

Scott Botelho (32:22)
And we never stopped since then. And so that was a big win. But I think really for me, what gives me the most excitement is watching the new agents. That's the biggest win for me. I had one agent that worked for me was making $50,000, $60,000 in heavy construction in Boston. His first year with me, he made a quarter of a million dollars at $17 million. Watch that kid transform. That's a life changer. That's a game changer.

⁓ so watching my agents win, that's for me, what gets me out of bed. I'm not in production anymore. All I do is coach, train and recruit. Like I'm not, that's what gets me excited. So I've had some personal wins, but watching these guys individually, it's, it's, I got one kid, he's been with me for five months. I think he sold nine houses already. ⁓ you know, he quit his job to do this full time. So it, that's the stuff that excites me, I think. So I don't know.

I don't know.

Shane Kilby (33:21)
Yeah,

it's because that's I mean, because we all know that or we've learned through trial and error and lot of mistakes along the way that it's it's very challenging for us to to take in agent very much farther than what their lifestyle income is used to. Even though we want to like, I know without a shadow of a doubt that the three of us in all of the circles we run in.

The greatest win is to take someone with a lifestyle income of 50 grand and turn it into 100 grand or 150 grand because we know that that's gonna make bigger vacations. Families going to Disney World for 10 days unlimited, know, families are able to spend more time together, at least quality time. It just changes everything. But that's a big obstacle to overcome, right? Even at KFR.

Scott Botelho (33:56)
I'm Asian.

Duane Murphy (34:03)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Botelho (34:12)
Mm.

Shane Kilby (34:17)
It was like, you you got to understand that lifestyle income is very hard for us to overcome. And I think a lot of times we can't want it more for them than they want it for themselves. Right. So for you to be able to take as many agents as you have through that lifestyle income and three exit or four exit or five exit in his example, like that's pretty amazing, man. that's.

That's definitely an accolade. That's better than any trophy on the wall, my opinion, right? Is seeing other people win like that.

Scott Botelho (34:53)
Watch the growth. You watch the lights go on. It's really, really something. That's the kind of stuff that jazzed me up.

Shane Kilby (34:59)
So let me ask you this on another side of coin in like, and I hope you haven't suffered this, right? But I feel like, and if you haven't, then we got a lot to talk about off the off camera. ⁓ but has, have you ever built those agents that go through that lifestyle income two X three X or beyond, and then they disappear or is that just me? Is that just me? That happens to. Okay.

Scott Botelho (35:21)
Yes. No, no, no. happened to

me. One particular agent, by the way, I didn't have a program for him. He came to me and said, Hey, you know, he had all his stuff dialed in. Hey, I want to do all my only general. Would you think about a cap? I didn't have that. I had a team method, the way I ran my business. If you weren't working full time, there was one model. You were the in or out.

Shane Kilby (35:44)
you

Scott Botelho (35:48)
And he moved on because I didn't have a cap. That's one of the major reasons why I ended up looking at some of the call-based brokers and chose LPT in the end. That'll never happen to me again, because the plans that they have in place, the retention is just really, really good. So yeah, I've had that for sure. ⁓ I've had to fire some agents, $7 million, $10 million, $15 million production agents, because they were muddying up the culture.

That's really disappointing because some of them I was really, really close to. They were personal ⁓ friends prior to real estate. So that was rough. So it's not all peaches and cream, you know, ⁓ but part of what we have to do, as you know, is, you know, we say over here, look, we have a sales process in place. We skill build and then accountability. And sometimes it's not easy to be that as Matt Smith will say with the villain sometimes, right? It is what it is. Right. ⁓

Duane Murphy (36:27)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (36:47)
So

you need. ⁓

Duane Murphy (36:47)
Everybody's always, I was gonna say,

everyone's always envious of our positions and leadership and it looks so sexy and glorious and my gosh, it must just be awesome to be the boss and must be so great to be at the top or whatever, right? They have no idea there's the stuff you've gotta wade through and the stuff you gotta deal with and, ⁓ you know, and the personal, right, those personal feelings and...

Scott Botelho (36:51)
Fuck.

Shane Kilby (37:02)
You know, but here...

Scott Botelho (37:04)
How many times I've said that right?

Shane Kilby (37:08)
the heartbreak, the heartbreak.

Duane Murphy (37:13)
and decisions you gotta make and all the stuff that goes, all the other stuff that goes into it, ⁓ most just really don't have an idea.

Scott Botelho (37:20)
Hmm.

I'm an emotional guy.

I'm an emotional guy. so I like that, like it hurts, dude. Like I may look like this tough guy, but I'm really emotional, dude. I just am. ⁓ I got no problem in an office meeting in front of 40 people breaking down and crying. Cause you know, it is what it is. That's how I feel. That's how I'm going to go. But it hurts sometimes. And you know, I don't know how I'm sure you guys have been in the same position. It's like so many times, like, listen, you know what?

Duane Murphy (37:29)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Botelho (37:50)
I could get rid of all this and just sell houses, right? right? And I mean, but like I said, that's not what gets me juiced up, you know? So.

Shane Kilby (37:53)
dude. Yeah.

It's not.

you know, it's a, it's a, spectrums into that spectrum. It's like you, nothing, there's not a wind bigger than seeing your people win. And it's not, it's not a, not a low lower than, know, than, than, than losing that relationship or, you know, having to cut ties to, to save the culture. Because at the end of the day, mean, culture is king, right? Culture is king. You can't.

Scott Botelho (38:06)
Hmm.

Shane Kilby (38:30)
And we can all have the same tech, can have the same everything. All of that can be purchased. You can't purchase culture. It has to be built one unique piece at a time. So Scott, let me ask you this. We talked a little bit about your successes and you shared with us your failures. You're very vulnerable with that and I'm very thankful for that and that insight. Looking back at your life and professional and personal path,

What would you say has been your greatest influence in life and business up to this point?

Scott Botelho (39:01)
So that's the personal development people like Jim Rohn's exeggcola our mark use that that has Been the driving factor since I can remember That I attribute all any anything I've done dog to right let's not subtract that I'm a spiritual guy ⁓ But in the in the worldly realm, you know that personal development stuff Jim Rohn is probably the single most influential person for me

of the most influential thing that's ever happened to me, for sure. Yeah.

Shane Kilby (39:36)
That's awesome. That's

awesome. So, and I had a feeling that you were going to say that, and I appreciate that so much. So, let's look back in the past, and there's another Scott, there's another DeWayne, there's another Shane coming up through the ranks or beginning to consider that path.

Scott Botelho (39:53)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (40:04)
What's one thing, what's the number one thing that you could look back at a younger version of Scott at 25 years ago and you wish you'd have known then that you know now? What's something you could share with the listeners that might help them on that same journey?

Scott Botelho (40:22)
I think for me, and this isn't even going back 25 years ago, this is going back to when I got sober 14 years ago.

I wish that I am like a reactionary type of person. I don't know if it was the environment I grew up in. I grew up in prison. I worked there for 20 years, from 19 to 39. I grew up in prison for the love of God. And so part of the survival there is quick reaction. I feel like I caused a lot of damage up until I really got sober because I didn't have that pause in life.

You know, things happen. I'll shoot first and then apologize later. That was the old Scott. I don't want to do that. Especially look at even in our industry. One of the things that my follow on told me right from the very beginning, the most important relationships you're going to have with other people in the industry, other agents can make it to do it right. And multiple and competitive offers, trying to get into a listing the relationships. And so, you know, I had to make a lot of amends to real estate agents because I was quick to like,

You know, my thing was intimidation, right? It was terrible. I'm not proud of that, but that's the God's honest truth. Like when things didn't go my way, I would use things. So I wish I could go back and I think maybe that comes with a little bit of life wisdom to learn to take a pause, think things through before you do or say something. So I think that's probably one of the things that I wish I could go back and.

teach the younger.

Shane Kilby (42:03)
think,

you know, it's funny you say, you use that statement of pause. ⁓ I heard Dustin Runyon, you know, talk about that in a video. It was one of his videos to his agency. He opened up to everybody. And that's what he said, you know, hey, you you're about to send that text. Pause. Pause. Yeah, you're about to send an email. Pause. Pause.

Scott Botelho (42:23)
Take it through. Right.

Shane Kilby (42:30)
But even like you're about to make that big purchase, pause. Pause, right?

Scott Botelho (42:34)
Nice.

Duane Murphy (42:37)
When it goes back to the relationship part and real estate agents and the fact, right, we're in a very unique industry that way. Right. So like we have to have a working relationship ⁓ and negotiate and be able to work together, right. With essentially our competitors. If you're in the widget business out there, let's just say you're creating widgets, right.

Scott Botelho (42:59)
That's right.

Duane Murphy (43:04)
building something, doing that. You're not calling up the other widget companies and saying, hey, would you like to buy 30 of my widgets? Or hey, can I buy some of your widgets? Or hey, can we work together? You're competitors, right? You're going after the same customers, so to speak, the same business. In real estate, it's really no different. mean, we are all somewhat competing against each other, looking for the same clients, looking for the next listing, looking for the next buyer.

Scott Botelho (43:20)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (43:31)
But yet then our industry gets a little bit turned out its head, right? Because all of a it's like, Hey, you know, we're competing against each other. We now have to have a working relationship, right? In order to get to the end goal that everyone wants, right? And, and so there's two things I always share with my agents is, is a right. If the buyer wants to buy, the seller wants to sell, right? As agents, it's our job to get right. Facilitate that. And sometimes get the hell out of the way, right? Check your personal.

feelings and check your own attitude and your own pride at the door, right? It's not always, I have to win, right? And so many times it's that mentality, I just have to win, right? It's like, well, you're trying to win for yourself or you're truly trying to win for your client. Cause if your client truly wants to just buy that home or truly just wants to sell that home, right? Is your personal pride, right? Of I got to win, right? Standing in the way of that. And sometimes you just got to check that. The other.

Scott Botelho (44:05)
Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (44:26)
thing you had hit on is something that I share with all the time. It's a small sandbox we play in. Real estate in any community, it does not matter where, because real estate is local, whether it's Shane's market, it's Scott's market, it's my market. Real estate is local. And by the way, I tell them all the time, it is a small sandbox that you play in. So you think twice before you kick sand.

Scott Botelho (44:34)
yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm

Duane Murphy (44:54)
Right?

Or think twice before you, you know, pee in that corner of the sandbox because you're going to be back there again. Right? That, that agent, that agent you went total toll with because you had to prove a point is the same agent who's going to bring a buyer for your next listing or made possibly worse yet. They're going to have the listing that your buyer wants.

Scott Botelho (44:58)
Yes sir.

Hang around the corner.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Shane Kilby (45:17)
I know, that's, know, this is ⁓ a rabbit hole down that path, but you see it best, you see it best in the greatest attorneys and politicians. Not to have that conversation, but it's like, you know, they're fierce on the floor and then they're going to lunch together. And when you're an outsider, you're like, man, that's fake, but it's not fake. It's just like,

Duane Murphy (45:24)
You

Scott Botelho (45:35)
Mm-hmm. Right?

Shane Kilby (45:45)
There's a time to be on the field and it's time to play for keeps. But there's also the, you know, outside that time, it's like everything else is human time. Like it's relationships. It's not just we, and we all push this and teach this and coach us and we're taught this and we're coached on these topics, but relationship, relationship, relationship, never poop where you want to eat, right? You got to keep those relationships together. It's just like this podcast. had a conversation before we went live.

in the podcast, the backstory of podcast is to connect connectors, right? So that we can turn around and help those who are trying to forge the same paths that we've forged. So Scott, let me ask you this. So I know you got a crazy schedule. You let us know that way before we got on here. And we got crazy schedules too. This is gonna make an impact on some listeners. It's made an impact on me. I know it's made an impact on Dwayne. For those out there halfway around the world,

Scott Botelho (46:19)
Mm.

Duane Murphy (46:24)
Thank

Shane Kilby (46:44)
just down the street from your office that listen to this podcast or consume this content at a later date, how can they follow and get closer to Scott? How can they get in touch with Scott?

Scott Botelho (46:56)
really a Facebook guy so I'm old school calling me is the easiest right but Facebook is where I spend the majority of my stuff I do a little bit of Instagram but it's Scott Patel on Facebook just look me up there friend requests send me a text whatever but call me is the easiest I'm still old school you got a question call me I may not pick up but I'll get back to you that I promise you know ⁓ that's usually the easiest way so

Shane Kilby (47:25)
That's awesome, Scott. We appreciate so much of you sharing, being vulnerable, your keys and takeaways and nuggets of success, where you come from, where you've been, and we already know where you're headed. We already know where you're headed. Ladies and gentlemen, if you've seen value, I hope you've taken value, I hope you've taken some good nuggets and some notes away from this podcast. Reach out to Scott and his open book. I mean, he's been very open and very vulnerable with all of us today.

And it's been a pleasure Scott. Greatly appreciate your time today. Dwayne, take us out of here, my friend.

Duane Murphy (48:00)
Yeah, tell you what, if you're listening to this, you like what you hear, you want to hear from some more amazing guests from all over the United States, don't forget to do a couple of things, right? Hit that subscribe button somewhere, mash that button, right? And ⁓ you know what? We always love five star reviews. It helps our little algorithm thing and gets us out in front of more people. And if you know somebody that you'd like to hear on our show or you think, hey, here's a rock star that's just killing it,

Reach out to us. We'd love to talk to them as well. Even if that's you, then great. Give us a buzz. We'd love to talk to you as well. So Scott, again, as Shane has said, thank you so very much for your time. This has been amazing. Like I was looking at the time, I'm like, dang, it's already that time. Yeah, it went quick. So from all of us at the Real Estate Agent Life, hey, peace. Thank you much.

Scott Botelho (48:39)
Thanks,

We'd have plenty of time. ⁓

Thanks guys.

Shane Kilby (48:56)
Take care

guys.