Overcoming Hurdles: Real Estate Success Stories

In this episode, we delve into the transformative power of coaching and mentorship in shaping successful careers. 

Discover how guidance from experienced mentors can unlock potential, provide valuable insights, and accelerate professional growth. 

Join us as we explore real-life stories and expert advice on building meaningful mentor-mentee relationships that drive career success.

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Transcript

Duane Murphy (00:30)
Welcome to Real Estate Agent Life. My name is Dwayne Murphy and that's my co-partner right there, Shane Killey. Welcome, Shane.

Shane Kilby (00:39)
from Sweet Home Alabama. See every time we do this he changes it up a little bit. Yeah, curve balls. Yes.

Duane Murphy (00:43)
Every time I mix it up that way he doesn't know what's coming so from sweet home, Alabama I mean just check

out that check out that glowing tan So typically this part is where I asked Shane Shane. Who do we have today?

Shane Kilby (00:51)
Yes, from South Alabama.

Today we have our friend Nicole. Nicole majored from Florida, what part of Florida?

Nicole Majors (01:02)
panhandle, porcelain,

so forgot the coast.

Shane Kilby (01:05)
Yes, Port St. Joe's. that's where I thought it was because you guys had some recent storms back in last fall, winter.

Duane Murphy (01:06)
Hmm.

Nicole Majors (01:13)
always have storms, but the biggest one was in 2018.

Shane Kilby (01:17)
All right. That's the benefit. I guess that's the love-hate relationship with having all that beautiful warm weather is dealing with the inclement weather, which we have a lot of tornadoes, which pop up surprisingly. We don't get as much warning as what hurricanes bring. But I grew up on it. I spent a lot of time in the South Mississippi and Alabama as a young adult.

And so we experienced a lot of hurricanes. So always, always goes a special place in my heart for all the folks who survived those storms and have to put everything back together. But yes, I do have a glowing tan. I just got back from my three week hiatus that we do each year. We work during those three weeks. So whoever watches don't think that I got it like that because I ain't got it like that. We still work.

Duane Murphy (02:02)
That's, that's,

that, that being able to take three weeks and go to a beach home is because you work hard. So that's how that, that all comes in, unless you live in a beautiful area like Nicole, and not surrounded by Eskimos and igloos like I am, you know, so if I'd work a little harder, I'd probably be somewhere on a beach too. So, ⁓ so now Nicole, you are the founder and team leader of B major under EXP.

Nicole Majors (02:20)
you

Duane Murphy (02:28)
And then also a strategic partner with Place. And so I know that some of this research and just with knowing you, like relentless on work ethic, you totally invested in helping your agents achieve all their real estate business goals and y'all sell like crap ton of homes on top of it. I mean.

Like not only are you helping agents achieve more and you're helping your clients, like you're stacking all kinds of home sales. And then, and on top of that, mom, wife, like running the whole thing and doing everything else. So let's dive into that a little bit. We'll wind back the clocks, we'll back it up just a bit. So tell us a little bit about your journey before real estate.

Nicole Majors (03:05)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (03:17)
and then what got you into real estate. Cause you've been doing this now since what year?

Nicole Majors (03:22)
Well, so I'll start, and I'm originally from Kansas, so I'm a Midwest girl born and raised on a farm in Kansas, so work ethic comes pretty heavy. When you grow up like that, you do what you gotta do. Come from a very, I'll say, poor family, so you just kinda jump in and do whatever. But while we were living in Kansas, I had worked at a local title company for probably a cumulative of just shy 10 years.

and started as like filing for them or whatever and doing all this stuff and ended up writing title commitments and helping. And by the end I was a closing agent. So I knew of a whole back end of all things real estate. And then in 2015, our family experienced a tragedy and it kind of catapulted us to just, know, life's too short.

And my husband worked for our local cable company and they had the same job down here that we do that he had back there. And so we made the jump and I initially started as an administrative assistant for a brokerage here, quickly got my license, created the ISA role in that brokerage, moved into buyer's agents. And then when I left that brokerage was basically because that

was my limit. was the ceiling that she had placed upon me was I couldn't list property, I couldn't do other things, and I just felt a little stifled. And at the time I was coaching with, my coach was Veronica Figueroa, and V sat me down and she's like, girl, put that shit on paper and look at it. And when I started putting the numbers down, was like, oof, it's quite a little bit. So.

I went in and tried to talk to the broker about asking, like, you hey, I'd like to have this opportunity and continue to grow with you. And he was told no. So when I left that day, Veronica was on vacation and I had texted her and I said, well, that did not go well. And I'm no longer with a brokerage. I had checked out all things EXP and Veronica helped me just do an emergency placement.

because I had showing on Saturday and I knew they were running an offer. So I signed up with the EXP and then off to the races. But then it opened up that whole, that ability to now you can brand yourself. Now you can be you. And I was really excited to have the opportunity to let this community know who I am outside of my

previous broker and that's why we started the team. There's a purpose behind the name, there's a purpose behind the colors, there's a real standard principle mission statement here for us. And I think it comes across when you're authentic and really care about people, it comes across to your clients.

Shane Kilby (06:15)
Well

Nicole, I like so so I want to back up a second because we open this conversation you know talking about obstacles and and You know every obstacle in our path is typically the door to that next level of success that Oftentimes we we can't even see yet. We don't even know what that looks like You guys had a tragedy in 2015 and before we went live

you guys had the significant storms there in Florida where you guys are located. Walk me, walk us through that a little bit, right? Because if you're in real estate or lending or around this industry, like, I mean, from day one after you get your license, it's like, wow, everything's chaos.

I don't know where I'm gonna make my next meal ticket, right? But there's a light at the end of the tunnel. And every person listening to this or watching this or catching this at a different point in time, you have the opportunity to be successful. So just share with us, like we had a big hurdle in 2015. We make a move like, we didn't move four hours away.

Nicole Majors (07:30)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (07:33)
We moved several states to a completely different environment and right as you're getting up on your feet and getting traction and loving this beautiful place and beautiful climate You guys get a catastrophic storm in 2018 Walk us through the mindset of how you transition 2015 and life's going great and then you get knocked right back off that that

Nicole Majors (07:34)
Thank

Yeah.

And it's, you know, I think everything happens for a reason. And when you're in the thick of it, you don't know that reason. Years later, you kind of, OK, here we are. But my husband and I have two children, Kaylee and Kyla. And we also had the pleasure of taking in our nephew, Brandon. And he's an amazing, amazing young man and huge light and just an absolute

you'd meet him and you would just love him from the very beginning. Like there's just no way around that. And we lost him to suicide in January of 2015. And it can pretty much wreck you, right? And I will just preface all this to say, every day we wake up with an opportunity and a choice. And I wake up every day with the choice of like, this is gonna be great day and I'm gonna live it to my fullest because tomorrow's not promised, right?

The next breath is unpromised. And when we lost him, just, it stacked so heavy with all of us. And living in Kansas, I love small towns. Like they're great. Like there's an amazing opportunity to in a small town. They'll rally around you and they'll love you. But they also know every little thing about you. And they talk about it and they want to know when they're like inquisitive and I'm like, I

You all don't deserve that. Like, I don't owe you that explanation, right? Like, it was just really difficult, not to mention our home where we raised all three kids. You know, now we're here and it just seems so, ugh. And one thing that Brandon said to me one day, that just stuck with us, is he was moving from Lawrence, Kansas to San Antonio, Texas. And I said, kid, that's long way to go.

He looks at me and he goes, hey Nicole, don't ever be afraid to sell everything you have, pack up your shit and go. And I was like, well, you know, you're 20 some years old. That's easy for you to say. I'm a, you know, whatever. And so when we lost him and we were just going through all of the things that you go through as a survivor and the family left behind in that situation, that just kept coming to my mind.

Don't be afraid to sell your shit, pack up and go. And the opportunity just came and honestly, I just felt like God just opened huge, like these weren't windows, these weren't doors, these weren't barn doors. Like it just, you've never seen something so easily be able to walk through than what we did. Like it just was such a huge opening. And to be honest, the water has been healing for my soul. It's been everything that I needed to be here. And even our children, like our girls will tell you the same thing.

And so that was our catapult to get here and got back into real estate, this side of it, and just fell in love with it. And when I got pushed out of the nest, no longer making salary. And now you're just, you're just selling was in 2017. And Hurricane Michael hit October 10th of 2018. And that was...

One of those moments where you step back and you're like, okay, well, now what? know, like my pay is like, it's based off of me selling property that some of it's just not here anymore. Like those, and I always celebrate, I had 12 closings on the board. So I have 12 contracts on the board when Hurricane Michael hit. Out of those 12, I closed 10. So I lost two and that was because the properties were not there any longer.

Now, in the world of real estate, you get to really understand that small paragraph inside of a contract called force majeure and got to learn a lot about that. Like that was like, you know, education 101 because you're in the thick of it. And, know, everything just reset and was able to close and keep going. We are lucky enough that it stalled out for just a couple of months and then we were immediately selling and we didn't see a drop.

in the pricing. People were actually just even more eager to buy because now it's just so cheap. So it was very interesting to go through. And then of course each year we have storms that come through. And if I can just do a PSA, don't listen to the weather channel. They lie a ton. It's so bad. They're like, the wind is blowing. And you're like, no, it's not. ⁓

Shane Kilby (11:52)
Supply and demand.

Duane Murphy (11:54)
Bye, new man.

Shane Kilby (12:07)
Okay.

They drive

and click bait too.

Nicole Majors (12:14)
Yeah, it's

really not. Some days I'm like, you got it. Yeah. So I mean, overcoming all of those things, think that I will say that having a coach, having my faith, having my family is just really important. And I have just come into life with the realization that everything comes to us. There's a lesson, there's something to learn, and there's a reason that happens.

Duane Murphy (12:18)
RRRR ⁓

Nicole Majors (12:40)
And creating the team, our team colors are teal and purple because that's suicide awareness colors. The team name Be Major is because Brandon used to tell you if you came to him and talked to him before you leave him, he'd say, hey, go Be Major. It was something that he used to say, like, go do more for yourself, go do more for others. So was my opportunity to take something so tragic and really build upon it. And so we use it as like, be amazing, be kind, be inspiring.

you know, be blessed, be major, like whatever that is, like, you know, the bees. And that's just kind of our stance is that real estate is our vehicle that we get to make a difference in someone's life. You're going to sit in front of me and I don't know what kind of day you've had, but before you leave me, you're going to know some sort of kindness and love. don't care what.

Shane Kilby (13:28)
That's when you have, that's when you get it. That's, that's when you have a value on everything and everyone around you. That's, that's, that's very, very beautiful. Very, beautiful.

Duane Murphy (13:39)
And I would have to say just

from when Shane and I met you and we were just talking like we haven't known each other for years and years. It's just, it's been about a year and, uh, 11 months, 11 months. stand corrected. And, uh, so we got to meet you at, at an event in Tahoe and I think you can agree that, that sometimes you just meet people and, they have a certain

Nicole Majors (13:47)
Great.

Shane Kilby (13:50)
11 months.

Nicole Majors (13:52)
All day, but you're like.

Duane Murphy (14:09)
personality and magnetic energy that just is pure sincere. And you were without a doubt that type of person and someone that we both were like, well, like magnetized towards like just the personality and just sincerity and your kindness and all of it was, I mean, and we're in a

Nicole Majors (14:25)
Yeah

Duane Murphy (14:31)
We're in a very large room with just some of the biggest personalities out there in the real estate industry, right? And you're a shining star among all of them. And that's a little bit of the backstory and you sharing some of that truly shows why.

Nicole Majors (14:54)
Well, and thank you. I appreciate that. I just honestly believe that the right people come at the right time. And the bus ride of life, you know, people jump on your bus and get off your bus, but as long as you're driving it in the right direction, the right people are going to get on and off.

And that's how I felt when I got home from Tahoe. was like, my God, I met some of the coolest people. I just like, was, to me sometimes it's not necessarily, it's almost like there's a guidance, like sit at this table. Like we just happen to sit down, you know, I'm alone. I didn't bring anyone with me. It's just me and I'm traveling and you know, and I can talk to anybody, but not everybody do I want to hang out with, but y'all.

Shane Kilby (15:30)
And you know you

Duane Murphy (15:32)
And then you have a art

group that's so quiet and like...

Nicole Majors (15:34)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (15:35)
it's you know If you guys remember that

Duane Murphy (15:35)
You know, introverted.

Nicole Majors (15:39)
We got in trouble.

Shane Kilby (15:41)
When you go to the you know those events that you know like Tahoe like This was a long day right most most events are blended in with a few 10 20 minute breaks and long lunch and some advertising You know and so you get about four hours out of a six hour eight hour seven hour day then it's partying in the in the breezeways partying

Nicole Majors (15:50)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (16:08)
This man, like, I mean, when we all sat down and talked, it was day one. So you're wired for sound the night before, you're up early. know, Dwayne and I, like, I don't know what, we're on some sick, like, we gotta be the first people in the room. I have no idea why. Cause it ends up getting us called on. It's like, man, I was really kind of hoping Dwayne would get picked on.

Duane Murphy (16:25)
you

Shane Kilby (16:31)
It's a game we play So we're up everybody in that room was up early Most were out doing some type of physical fitness We did we did a big I call it a bear walk because it felt like bears were everywhere in the dark that morning But but we get in this room and I think it started at 8 39 a.m. And this thing goes to like 6 or 6 30 p.m. At night and has like

Nicole Majors (16:44)
Thank

Duane Murphy (16:44)
Yeah,

yeah, pitch black, we're out there walking.

Shane Kilby (16:59)
Didn't we have a working lunch? didn't we?

Nicole Majors (17:02)
working lunch and then then we also they did like the dinner. Oh no, was the second moment.

Shane Kilby (17:06)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (17:07)
Yeah, yeah.

And by the way, like you were talking about like breaks and this and that. It's like, no, if you gotta, you gotta go to the bathroom or whatever, then get up and go wait, stop and like, we're just going, like you keep up.

Nicole Majors (17:19)
That's why you make friends

when you're taking notes, right? Because I gotta be gone for five minutes.

Duane Murphy (17:23)
you

Shane Kilby (17:24)
Yes.

So Dwayne and I, we now we take the little plot AI device and let it run. Cause if you step out, you got to get those notes when you come back. But you, so you just dropped a cliche statement. I think we all use from time to time talking about getting on the bus and on the off the bus, the right time. One thing is, you know, if there's any real estate leaders or team leaders or top producers or whatever that catches this episode, like we've all been in that.

that crossroad where we've put a lot of time and energy and effort into getting someone to a certain level of production or skill set. for some reason, maybe it's just me, but I think it's a lot of us, we get so emotionally connected that when that bus gets to that certain bus stop,

That individual it's time for them to get off the bus and go a different direction For the first I know for probably the first ten years in this business. I would get so Frustrated to make it politically correct, but you know I guess part of that was you know It was probably selfish like now I've got to replace this person now I've got to go find this person train this person and this person was awesome, and there was there was some type of

emotional connection there. You just kind of jail that way. But I've learned over the last 10 years, and my wife's in lending, and she's had long partners and stuff come and go. And we constantly have to remind ourselves that people join us on that journey, on that bus ride, on that route to get farther down the road where they're going. And when it's their place to stop and get off the bus,

Nicole Majors (19:02)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (19:05)
It makes us better to support them in their dreams, in their drive, in their passions, than it is to try to be disgruntled and, you know what saying, like be juvenile. Cause we wanted, I don't even know why I wanted to be juvenile at times. But I've watched great real estate leaders go, instead of doing that, just do a 180 and help them get to where they're going. And it's amazing how, like our friendship.

Nicole Majors (19:27)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (19:32)
Someone has gotten off my bus before and I've not been so happy for it for five, 10 minutes or five days or whatever, five weeks, five months, but I've supported them nonetheless. And so it's like, it's, I know that that's how I connected with Dwayne. I know that's how I connected with you, with John, Alex, Shannon, all of these different great people that we have in common. So when you, when you mentioned that getting on and off that bus, the right time, the right place, that just resonated with me at that particular moment.

Nicole Majors (19:58)
Yeah.

Well, I mean, I've had to off-board agents, on-board and off-board agents, you know, some of them I decide to see go, but then, again, there's a purpose and there's a reason, and I just may not know it. And, you know, and I'm very protective of this team. I'm protective of the energy, of the space, of the people, that everyone is like, that we're all meshing and we're all celebrating each other. And,

You know, so sometimes people just aren't in good fit. I mean, I've released a couple just because, you know, again, I remind them of the expectations and like you told me you were going to be a partner and his was our definition of partner and you agreed that you would be this. And do you think that you've actually done this? And you know, when they say no, no, no, no,

It's hard for me to partner with you if you won't partner back in the same way.

Shane Kilby (20:43)
Yeah, it's gotta be reciprocating. It's gotta be reciprocating.

Duane Murphy (20:43)
Yeah.

Yeah,

that's spot on. I always tell people, said, our culture almost takes on a little bit of a life of its own to a certain degree. It feeds itself and it's a living breathing thing. said, but then the day I still on the sheriff of that culture and you have to enforce that. And sometimes that means making that difficult decision of

Nicole Majors (21:06)
And it's a huge response.

Duane Murphy (21:10)
asking someone or telling someone that they have to leave. Albeit it happens not often, but occasionally it has to happen. That's that role that we all share in of being that leader of our people and looking out for the best interests of everyone and then sometimes taking that role. So with that, that's the tough thing in this industry, tough thing about being a boss and

and being a leader, what would you say, looking at your real estate career, what would be the biggest success that you've had thus far in business?

Nicole Majors (21:50)
My biggest success is to see the rest of the team rise up. I always say, like, you know, when you're a new agent and you help somebody and you watch them walk into your property or home and their face lights up and you know before they do that that's the, like, you know it, right? Like, I get that same kind of thrill when I'm sitting around the table with the agents and we start, you know, growing and talking and.

and we start maybe even doing some scripting or whatever and you see it click and you see them like gather that and then they put it into action and it works and they're like, my gosh, that really worked. I absolutely, I thrive on that. And I just, I love seeing others succeed. And that was the whole point of me starting this team was that I just, I was looking for something that wasn't here.

And Veronica said, then you need to create it. And I was like, well, that's not scary. But not scary at all. And so every day I learned something new. I think every day you should be learning, you should be growing. And some days I'm a much better leader than I am. And I've had to go to my team and say, you know what? I'm sorry. I probably said that, or I said that, and I probably shouldn't have gone that route. That's something I didn't mean for that to come out in that capacity because

I'm a very straightforward kind of a person, but I also lead with a heart and that's what they know. Like we lead out of love. And so I think probably the hardest thing is just finding that balance in like really strong leadership and still being the person that I know ultimately I want to be for everybody.

Shane Kilby (23:20)
Yeah, that's the thing. We just had, and I'm sure you've seen it, maybe, I don't know, you will, one of my favorite people in this business in our brokerage. She started with us, she went through our real estate classes. The first time she went to real estate class, she flunked it.

Duane Murphy (23:21)
Balance.

Shane Kilby (23:38)
But only because she just has a lot of anxiety when it comes to taking tests. And she backed up and she didn't give up. She come back and took the class again. Anyway, she passed the class and in less than four years, she had her 100th closing this week. And I guess yesterday, yeah, and it was absolutely amazing. think the rest of us were more hype than she was. She's like.

Nicole Majors (23:54)
That's awesome.

Yeah.

Shane Kilby (24:04)
I got the hundreds and done. I'm like, no, we're fixing to blow this up. This is so awesome because you you look at some people, you look at some ages like, they're just, you know, the image that you see of a hundred unit producer in three and a half years is, you know, it's super over the top, egotistical monster of a billboard agent. And here she is. She's just as humble soul like just the, the,

sweetest person in the world like she loves to see everyone else in their space win like she has I like she has worn herself out helping new agents of stuff in the past and to see her make that milestone is like Completely. It's like having a your child ride the bike for the first time or just you know Get the get this home run and this grand slam is like it's beautiful thing And so it's just it's been a been a beautiful experience to be a part of that but

Nicole Majors (24:56)
And when you'll see a couple of that will step up and lead, especially if I'm out, they're like, hey, I'll lead team meeting on Monday. And I'm like, absolutely, that sounds great. I love that. That initiative and all that stuff, that's just gold. And you can't.

Shane Kilby (24:56)
I definitely know what that means. Go ahead, I'm sorry.

And how many times would we have loved to have had a Nicole come in and say, hey, all right, so we've all had that sit down. Hey, you got a minute? Hey, can I get with you today? Hey, I know you're on vacation. I know you're out in Montana with no cell service, but can we talk? We know what that conversation is always about. But can you imagine having agents

that want to have that conversation like you wanted to have their conversation conversation with your broker to say, I want to do more and I want to do it here. Like.

Nicole Majors (25:45)
Yeah, yeah,

I, yeah. Because I'd be like, yes, let's go, how can I help you? How can I support you? Do you know how to this? Let's do this, because I'll teach you real quick. Like, what do you mean?

Shane Kilby (25:49)
I mean we look at that daily

Duane Murphy (25:53)
Let's go. Yes.

Shane Kilby (25:55)
Absolutely!

Duane Murphy (25:58)
Yeah. ⁓

Shane Kilby (25:59)
Yes, that's such,

you know, I guess it's just different, the different wiring for different people because I know all three of us think the same way. Like you come in my office or want to have that conversation. Like, absolutely. I want to see your vision. I want to, I want to get involved with that. I want to help you take that to the next level.

Nicole Majors (26:20)
Yeah, well, and I think that's a big difference in that. I think that's just a, that's a mindset of, I was her father. I wasn't someone that, that she really truly wanted to see grow. So.

Shane Kilby (26:25)
for playing this.

That

individual had to be intimidated by your potential. And that's unfortunate. That's unfortunate.

Nicole Majors (26:36)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (26:36)
Yeah. When I think, I think

a big part of that, I mean, when you go to your success in and the success through your people and, seeing the success in your people, mean, lot of that, that a lot of that comes back to yourself as well though. One of the things that I had written down in and just mentally took notes of, of your story is throughout and in a lot of it, some of it was before we, jumped online, but coaching.

coaching, coaching. So, I mean, you had mentioned back as an agent, you were coaching under V. I so, and that's, mean, she's a power leader and you were coaching under her way back then. you're, you know, you're part of the place organization. It's a coaching organization. 100%, right? I mean, to call it anything else, it's, that's what it is. It's a coaching organization.

Nicole Majors (27:14)
Yeah.

No, 100%.

Duane Murphy (27:33)
you're also being coached currently, by, by just a monster beast, in the industry, just to put it mildly. and then you're also being coached as well, health and fitness, correct? So coaching, coaching, coach mentoring, like success leaves clues and it's right. You have not been afraid of going out and saying, Hey,

Nicole Majors (27:40)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (27:54)
Who is it that can help me get to that next level so I can be a better leader? I can be a better person. I can help others by asking for help rather than I know everything, I don't need any of this, I can just go do it. So walk us down that path a little bit on your thoughts on coaching and you going out and surrounding yourself with.

Nicole Majors (28:05)
Yeah.

Duane Murphy (28:18)
with different people at different times in your life to help you get to where you need to go.

Nicole Majors (28:23)
Yeah, I think that the one thing that my previous brokers did for me was they signed up with a company called Curator way back in the day, and that was like Chris Smith and Jimmy Mackin. And we would go to Curator conferences, and I basically ran that system for her, but I also got put in front of a lot of people. And I created the ISA position, and I remember one time at a Curator conference, they asked me to do like a small breakout session and just teach people about ISA and like,

what that looks like and how it's been beneficial for us and how we do it. And I was like, I don't know if we do it right, we just do it. And evidently it hit some sort of a chord because I had people from the Curator Conference trying to call me and be like, can you be my ISA? And I was like, no. But it did put me in front of people and that was my first introduction to Veronica, when she was part of that group. So years, I mean, like in 2016, I think is when I first met.

And then she started coaching with John Chetwack. And I had reached out to John, this is a fun story, and I reached out to him three times. And I asked him to coach me. finally the third time he responded that I wasn't of the caliber of agent that he was looking for to coach. Because I was solely a buyer's agent, remember. I wasn't able to do listings. Even though I was doing well, he was just like, don't think we're a fit.

And then he announced that that was when he first started his select coaching, which the people he was coaching basically under his umbrella would start coaching. And he actually said, this is where you need to fall in the line. I think I probably knew that way from the very beginning. And so I signed up under Veronica and it was honestly the best thing that I ever did. And that just helped me.

get through the transition and she got real clear like know your mission statement, know your standards and your values and your principles and get very clear and always be clear with your team. Like I'll pull them out randomly like hey I just want to hit this over this again, right? Like just make sure like we know who we are, right? Like sometimes we have to remind ourselves who we are. And then I had had a fitness coach before outside of all things real estate who was amazing. I had her for about five years.

But we just kind of grew apart a little bit, just kind of weren't really mashing as much as we used to. And then I met Alec and Shannon at Lake Tahoe and I was feeling pretty ding awful with myself because I didn't summit Mount Black last year. I tried really hard. I think I need to carry oxygen. I live at sea level and that was really high. And I just ran out of breathing room. And then I signed up with them immediately.

Jess was like, I need this. And then I had to sign up with Plake. So I had all of the coaching from Ben Kenney and Chris Suarez and all that group. But then I decided to make another jump and I added V up to my coaching brigade. And she's really helping me break down some of the barriers. She me read The Big Leap. I don't know if you've read that book and talks about four barriers.

Duane Murphy (31:24)
or not.

Shane Kilby (31:24)
Nope, but I'm gonna

write it down.

Nicole Majors (31:27)
It's really, really, really good. I can't think of the author's name, but it's the big leap. And it just talks about four mental barriers that all of us have in some capacity and what that sounds like. And it's basically how you raise the temperature of yourself, like where you're at. Like you're at like an expert level, but you want to get to the genius level and like what that looks like. And anyway, I'm working through that home stuff right now. So.

Shane Kilby (31:53)
It's funny you say that I've heard John and V on a podcast together and them having a similar conversation to this and her being in a situation and had a sit down conversation with Ben and him, you know, handing her a stack of books and going, you know, here's a solution to everything we just discussed. And she's like,

That's not what I'm looking for. I didn't look for six new books to read. He's like, there's your answer in all those books right there. And she was speaking on behalf of that being such a moment in such an eye opening moment that after one title deep, it's like, okay, I get it. Deeper, I get it. Next title, next title. And she made that profound statement that that was a very big pivot point for her.

Duane Murphy (32:20)
Ahem.

Shane Kilby (32:44)
Like going like if you met if you remember like it's a different she's completely different today Like she was awesome then in 2022 when we saw her But she looks she completely made a transition to like she went through a complete physical makeover Yes

Nicole Majors (33:00)
and told the whole thing. And

she'll tell you that she takes this book and this was one of the major things that helped her transition. And it's really scary to figure out who you are. I think that we're always changing and growing. The person I am today is not the same person I was 10, 12 years ago. That girl doesn't exist anymore. I appreciate her and I love

Duane Murphy (33:20)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Majors (33:24)
because she did teach me a lot, but who I am today is not who that person is. I think that once you quit trying to continue to evolve and continue to grow, then that's that comfort zone and that stagnant space in the eye.

Like, please shove me outside the box. I need outside the box. That's where magic happens.

Shane Kilby (33:43)
Absolutely, and I'll be the first to admit my foot was on the gas for seven years when we opened in January 2013, and it was all gas until COVID. All gas, no breaks, no turn signals, no harnesses, all gas.

Duane Murphy (34:05)
Thank you.

Shane Kilby (34:08)
And COVID, know, I mean, we didn't, we just, we, we, we stayed open. didn't, we didn't come, we, we didn't do a lot of things that a lot of the world was doing. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. and, and it just, you know,

Nicole Majors (34:18)
Amen. That's what living in the South doing.

Duane Murphy (34:20)
deemed essential after a few weeks.

Nicole Majors (34:22)
Bye.

Shane Kilby (34:28)
The way the business shifted to the order taking business to the no skill set all the skill set went on the shelf you know all the prospecting the all of the things that got us there for the last seven years straight and propelled our business it was like it was all at the window because everything was demand and there was no supply and the price was Stupid and you know, there's just just no inspections. No praises. Why I'm cash on top of cash Yeah, and it's just and and

Nicole Majors (34:52)
I'm not afraid of your ill estate.

Shane Kilby (34:57)
So when come back out of that, I should have adjusted the sales immediately back to where we left off right at the kickoff of 2020. And I guess I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know that we were needing to go back to the skill set game. So I was leading from the front as far as like,

Things are shifting, we see it below the surface already before it's ever hit mainstream. We've got to prepare for this. But what I didn't realize is that I had so many agents that had little to no skill sets of really generating business and creating relationships that turn into closed business later on. I got a good eye-opener on that, you know, around 22 is where all the fun money starts drying up and it come back to skill set business.

And it's taken groups like this and these events to go, what got you here will get you there. Now, maybe you do have to modify the way you do business a little bit, but you do need to get back to the basics. Get out of your ivory tower, get back down in the trenches. And you know, we've made that transition, but that's, I mean, that's where we enjoy the business so much anyway, right?

Nicole Majors (36:08)
Yeah, I

I love that part of the business as well. And I mean, it's something that we've been preaching for a long time is we, I'm always like, get back to the basics, back to the basics. And when I partnered with Place a little over a year ago, they're onboarding for agents. have a new agent launch or an experienced agent launch, and they go back to even experienced agent. They bring them way back down to the foundation and we build it right back up. And just some of their strategy and that's what my new word.

But some of the things that they asked them to do is like, man, I mean, you wouldn't think that would be important, but it absolutely is. then the other thing that I give the agents when they join my team is something that I personally love is I went to New York and was certified in exactly what to say with Phil Jones.

Duane Murphy (36:53)
Mmm.

Nicole Majors (36:54)
And so his book, Exactly What to Say, is just a way of framing words and phrases and things that kind of help you get to that next space with a client. Simple things like, would you be open-minded to XYZ? Using the would you be open-minded? Because no one wants to say they're closed-minded. know, things like that. Like simple swaps or... And so we rehearsed these words and these phrases a lot. Like, how would you change that? We don't say problem anymore. That's a challenge. It's just those...

It's just those tiny little things that we really dive deep on. It's those basics. But yeah, I mean, I did that with an agent on Monday. She's new and what are you going to work on? And let's like write it down. I'm like, write down what you're going to say. As silly as it seems, write it down, have those in front of you and then let's go.

Shane Kilby (37:39)
No,

you have to. mean, you may never get another opportunity that day that week to go back to that. And at least writing it down burns it into your subconscious and your memory bank to a certain extent, right? We've seen that proven over and over and over. Write the goal down, you're more likely to hit that and achieve that goal and surpass that goal. Don't write the goal down, and it's more likely that you're not gonna hit that target or hit that mark. Nicole, let me ask you this.

So you have definitely shared some struggle strife, milestones, mile markers, big wins. What would you say, you you've had a lot of success, right? And when you have had some, you know, share of tragedy. In business, what would you say your biggest failure's been? Like what's come out of left field and like, that was unexpected, you know?

Besides the obvious like you don't work here anymore. You got to figure it out like but even since you got a great coaching Great coaches behind you and like great system the process, but we still sometimes get that curve ball What what's that curve ball been for you?

Nicole Majors (38:45)
Well, in the big grand scheme of things, probably my biggest quote unquote failure in business is that I hop from one thing to the next to the next to the next to the next to the next.

have been working on and becoming much more conscientious of doing one thing. Like do the one thing, do it well, get it done, and then go. My mental picture that I like to use for this, because this is totally my, this is, I don't know, I think if you're this kind of person, you have so many things happening. So I envision it as,

I have like 15 helium balloons above me and all 15 of these things are things I need to do. And so every day I reach up and I grab the one helium balloon and I'm like, this is the one I'm gonna do. I leave the rest of them up there until I'm done with this one and I pop it and then like, this is my mental picture that I try to use for myself or that I do use for myself. And some days I'm much better at that than others. I mean, for me, I come in and I know what I need to do and I try to.

I write it down, here's what I'm doing, gotta create the structure. I time block very, very, very well, but in that time blocking, I just need to remember that I'm not trying to do three things at the same time. And I think that's, I know that's like, this may sound crazy, but I think that's a woman thing. Like we're capable, females are very multi-taskers, but I also, it's why I don't do like real estate.

rentals or property management, I always tell my clients, no, I'm focused on this one thing. We do sales and we do sales really well. If I was doing sales and rental management, now you've got me 50-50 and I want to be 100 % where I'm at. so on the daily, that is my struggle is to pull down and do one thing really well and then move on.

Duane Murphy (40:33)
I may steal the helium balloon.

Nicole Majors (40:36)
Feel free.

Shane Kilby (40:36)
analogy.

That's great. That's great. I'm sitting there thinking the same thing because I'm like

Duane Murphy (40:42)
You live in our world. ⁓ Shane and I, right? That shiny, shiny object that next thing, right? The squirrel chasing. ⁓

Nicole Majors (40:44)
Right.

Shane Kilby (40:52)
Well,

when you think about that as an analogy, but even if you used as a physical reminder, like 15 balloons, helium, they all go up to the ceiling. Right. Right. But they're all important to you, but they're all going to come down and sometimes the helium is going to run out and that they're going to fall. Right. And it's like,

Nicole Majors (41:06)
Gotta get them all done today.

Duane Murphy (41:07)
Yeah. All 15.

Shane Kilby (41:18)
You know, which one of these is the most important I need to execute? And the next and the next and if some of them fall by the wayside before I get to them then they probably weren't that important to begin with that's that's killer that is killer like you probably will see balloons in the background like

Duane Murphy (41:35)
Shane,

if you keep talking about these balloons running out of helium and falling with the coal, you're going to give her a complex or something because she's been working on this. She's controlling this and going, yeah, can grab one at a time. And you're like, no, got to get them all.

Nicole Majors (41:36)
This is gonna be a picture of me.

Well, I mean, it's just life in general, right? Like, I still have my workout in front of me. I made the choice to sit outside with my husband and listen to the thunder and the rain this morning instead of going to the gym. Now I knew, I'll go this afternoon. Like, it's okay. It's leg day. So yeah, I'll go this afternoon. I'll get a couple meals on me first, right? But it's all choices that you make about what you're planning to do.

Duane Murphy (42:18)
It is, it is. So throughout life and everything that you've experienced and gone through and life, business, who's been the biggest influence in life and business for you?

Nicole Majors (42:30)
Corny, my husband, I guess, I don't know. I mean, the guy I'm married to, and I can't wait for you to meet him, he's quiet, he's chill, nothing rattles his cage. Clearly my opposite. But has always been like, babe, whatever you need to do, like what, I'm here, like let's go. If you wanna do this, let's do this, you know? And I think you have to have that person that, he'll question me.

and make sure that I'm like really doing the right thing. But he's also like, he's just so calm and so chill and I need that in my life because I'm some days not. But past that, mean, my faith has been my rock solid. Like I just, I come back to like, let's go to church. Girl leads Jesus.

Shane Kilby (43:16)
Amen to that, I agree totally.

we have another friend. think you met, did you met Mike and Sandra? Yes. So Sandra, you know, we've known Sandra for years and years in different events, what have you. And so she was always like, you need to, you got to introduce, I've got to introduce you to my husband, Mike. Like you guys love him. He's just, you guys just like him. And we have had some great times with Mike and Mike has made some bad decisions.

Nicole Majors (43:23)
Yes. Yeah.

Shane Kilby (43:46)
on our behalf before, it's been a great time. We still hang out and meet up several times each year. So let me ask you this question. All right, so we've talked about a lot. been a great, great call. Looking back at younger version of another agent or anyone headed down this entrepreneurial journey.

What's one thing that you could look back at a younger version of yourself or that person coming down that same path that you wish you would have known then? What's a piece of advice you could give to someone on that journey?

Nicole Majors (44:20)
I think the biggest thing that I even say to my team is, like, don't give up. Be consistent in what you do. Listen to those who are a little further down the path than you. Like, go ahead and like, if they've got something that has worked for them, please listen to that. Now, as a caveat, that may or may not work for you. And I just, I tell the team all the time, I want you to be you.

and I want you to present your best self in all things, Continue to do it consistently because whether or not you have all the skills, whether or not you have all the knowledge, if you consistently are putting it out there, that's going to come. It's the people who maybe have the skills and have the knowledge, but they ride that roller coaster of real estate and they do a push until they get to the top and then that peak comes.

and then they bottom out, they're not consistent. Like if you can stay consistent, you'll start to fill in those valleys and those gaps and it won't be as volatile, I guess. I mean, for me personally, that has been something that I've been preaching to the team. And if I was to go back to me 10 years ago, like girls stay consistent, like just keep doing the work, don't let up no matter what's happening.

Shane Kilby (45:22)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Majors (45:38)
But build in some breaks because you will burn out. So build them in, but know that they're there and be okay with them being there. But just stay consistent in everything that you do. It's so, so important in my world, at least.

Shane Kilby (45:51)
Yeah,

so ladies and gentlemen, as you hear this from Nicole, at the end of the day, you would much rather have a speed bump than a complete valley. Like there are lessons to be learned in the valley, but in production and real estate like, or lending as well, like that's a valley that you'd rather not start back over in each time. Cause it will physically and mentally drain you.

Nicole Majors (46:00)
Absolutely.

Shane Kilby (46:17)
Physically man, we've got I've got an agent right now like she shoes she come in class you come out of class You she got out of class in April. She got her license in May and she was just chomping at the bit and she's got seven deals pending right now She just closed her first transaction and she's still doing all of the things consistently But I've seen seen a couple of minor things that shows like she may be You know getting off of that wagon like girl like please like you don't trust me when I tell you this

Nicole Majors (46:33)
you

Shane Kilby (46:47)
That's the devil in sheep's clothing Do not stop doing what you were doing that got you here because if you do you're gonna be standing at there at the crossroad going I Thought I had it right. I thought I had this locked up. So

Nicole Majors (47:00)
And

what you're doing now isn't for now business. What you're doing now is 30, 60, 70, 90, 120 days out, right? Like my team meeting on Monday was like, why are we committed to doing what we're doing is obviously for growth and whatever. But what you're doing in the month of August is so that you have a good fall, right? So, you know, even if you've closed a couple of deals, like I closed some big stuff in July, y'all, like it was a great month. June and July were amazing. I was on the phone all day yesterday, right?

Shane Kilby (47:17)
Yes.

Nicole Majors (47:29)
And I have to split my time with recruiting and production. so I'm having to work that kind of angle as well. But I just, you I tell them like, you can give 90 minutes, you can do an hour and a half of consistency every single day. You used to click, you used to punch a time clock from eight to five. Most of us did, right? Give your business 90 minutes a day and do something consistent for 90 minutes every day and you will see a complete difference.

Duane Murphy (47:56)
Yeah, that compound effect on that is just so, so underrated. you know, you, and you were hitting on it. People quit doing what got them there. And then every time you, you, you had talked about the hole in the ditch and every time you dig yourself out of that, you have to almost work twice as hard to get yourself out of it. Then you did, you know, to the first time.

Nicole Majors (47:58)
Yeah.

Huh.

Duane Murphy (48:21)
you know, to be able to get that production and then all of sudden you slip off and you didn't do it and now all of sudden you're having to redo it all again and it's way harder every single time. And it's way harder every single time than if you would just consistently do what it is you know you have to do.

Shane Kilby (48:40)
Well, too, you're under the surface, you're slowly creating toxic bad habits that get tougher and tougher and tougher to break. And it's because it's natural for us to not want to do the stuff that's uncomfortable and mundane. Like, we want to do the sexy stuff that gets you on the billboard.

Nicole Majors (48:53)
that's.

Shane Kilby (49:05)
Like we're gonna be on the videos like we'll do all the fun stuff all the jazzy stuff But it is it is like it's you know, and we've all been in the same rooms It's like the stuff that got you here even at

Nicole Majors (49:14)
Bye.

What if want

to make small hinges swing big doors, right? you got to... Yeah.

Duane Murphy (49:19)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (49:20)
Yes, work works. How many

times have we heard tiny hinges swing big doors? Work works.

Duane Murphy (49:27)
All

that stuff is like imprinted now, right?

Shane Kilby (49:30)
And he does pretty well off of you. Yes, he does. He's pretty successful. you know what? He's successful because he's delivered that message to the right people that understand, need to hear it again and again and again. And I trust you. And if anything changes from your point of view and perspective, then I trust that you'll guide me in the right direction.

Nicole Majors (49:33)
He's done his job, so.

Duane Murphy (49:34)
us.

Shane Kilby (49:56)
And it's always going back to those simple things, those simple things.

Nicole Majors (50:00)
Well, you can take just that little coaching thing like what he does there and use that in your business. I tell the team, you say the right things to the right people at the right time, right? So even if you talk to them and it may not, they're like, no, whatever it is, whatever excuse they give you, it's probably, it's not necessarily that you didn't have the right person or you didn't say the right things. It just wasn't the right time.

Shane Kilby (50:20)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Majors (50:22)
Continue to stay consistent with them, set them up, give them value, whatever that needs to do. Continue to work that. At some point in time, the right time is going to come around and you need to have had that consistency, that relationship built with them that they think of you. Or that you happen to just randomly call them? No, it was a task. You knew you were supposed to do it and then suddenly it's the right time.

Shane Kilby (50:44)
Yep, stop chasing commission, start focusing on relationships.

Nicole Majors (50:48)
Absolutely.

Shane Kilby (50:50)
So Nicole,

like you're have a lot of folks that listen to this and consume this content. They're gonna wanna connect with you, right? Because you're awesome. You're just an awesome person inside and out. What's the best way for our listeners to connect with Nicole?

Nicole Majors (51:05)
Honestly, call or text me. I'm that rare real estate agent that actually answers her phone. 850-247-8415. And if I can add one more little caveat, if you are struggling mentally, reach out to me. Like I'm happy to help you. If you don't feel comfortable with that, star, or you can call 988, which is a suicide hot.

Shane Kilby (51:10)
Hahaha

Duane Murphy (51:12)
What would that number be?

Nicole Majors (51:33)
I will never leave someone's presence without making sure that they're okay.

Shane Kilby (51:37)
Well, Dwayne, do we have any other questions? Anything else we want to pull out?

Duane Murphy (51:42)
think.

Well, I think we could go into a lot more stuff, but ⁓ Shane already said it, like, thank you so much for your time and just sharing a glimpse of who you are and just the, some people just, you know, I always heard a saying, wear it on your sleeve. Like what you see is what you get. And you're the epitome of that. ⁓ Your heart comes through and everything. And that's just awesome.

Nicole Majors (51:46)
you

Nothing new.

it.

Duane Murphy (52:10)
Shane, what do we need our followers to do? So if you're listening to this, smash, right? Smash that subscribe button. And oh, by the way, there's a little thing where you could give some ratings, you know, I don't know, five star ratings. Five star ratings. helps us, yes, because, you know, it gives us Google juice. Google, that loves us.

Shane Kilby (52:15)
Nash.

We love those.

Nicole Majors (52:29)
whole handful.

Shane Kilby (52:36)
Google juice.

Duane Murphy (52:36)
And then

also next thing you know, we're on top of the Google juice chart. So Google juice. ⁓ man, I tell you what, it's real thing. you know, and now that Instagram is being a Googleized and is now searchable, that means even more Google juice. So five star review, don't forget to smash the button, share it with somebody and if you know someone.

Shane Kilby (52:41)
He loves to the word Google juice.

Nicole Majors (52:43)
I've never heard that before, but I'm gonna

use that.

Shane Kilby (52:58)
Like,

Duane Murphy (52:59)
that wants to be on our podcast or would love to be interviewed or if you would love to be interviewed, reach out to us. We're always looking for amazing people just like Nicole. She's already set the bar pretty hard, know, way up here. So if you're amazing like Nicole, we'd love to talk with you.

Shane Kilby (53:17)
Yeah, we appreciate it so much. Thank you for your time, Nicole. And can't wait to connect with you again in Tahoe here in just a few weeks. Just a few weeks. Perfect time until I'm ready for cooler weather. All right, guys. With that, we're going to head out. Peace out, everybody. Appreciate so much for liking and watching and sharing our show. We'll see you again soon.

Duane Murphy (53:23)
Maybe soon. Yeah, soon.

Nicole Majors (53:29)
No.

Duane Murphy (53:38)
Peace.