Inside Phoenix Real Estate: Luxury, Coaching, And The Comeback Mindset

Real estate feels simple when the market hands you wins. But what happens when speed stops working and skill is the only edge that matters? We sit down with Phoenix leader Adam Prather—someone who turned personal urgency into a durable playbook—to unpack how to thrive across micro-markets, build a team that executes, and invest in coaching that actually changes results.

Adam takes us inside Phoenix’s “market of markets,” where an average price in the mid-400s shares space with ultra-luxury sales beyond $30M. He explains how niching down—from golf communities to short-term rental hot spots—lets you speak the client’s language and command trust. Then he rewinds to his unconventional path: banking and values-based selling, financial planning, college ministry, and a family health crisis that forced a high-stakes pivot. With licenses expired and bills due, he chose real estate and did the unglamorous things that move the needle—hired a coach he couldn’t “afford,” brought on a transaction coordinator immediately, and committed to daily prospecting across expireds, FSBOs, and door knocking.

We go deep on why elite performers stack coaches, how paying for guidance rewires your commitment, and what it looks like to lead from the front—live dials, real energy, and measurable standards. Adam breaks down the 2022 reset, owning mistakes like taking his eye off conversations and recruiting while the market shifted. He rebuilt by tracking controllables: appointments set, conversations made, and consistent follow-up. His framework for what makes a great agent now is simple and demanding: be massively adaptable, build trust and skill in tandem, and get in rooms that make you uncomfortable—pay for proximity or ask your way in.

If you want a practical blueprint for moving from hope to execution—across luxury, team building, and mindset—this one brings receipts. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a push, and drop a five-star review so more agents find the show. What’s the first action you’ll take today?

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Transcript

Welcome And Episode Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to the REAL Podcast, where hosts Dave Kilby and Dwayne Murphy dive deep into the world of real estate agent life. From overcoming hurdles to celebrating success, join us as we explore the journeys of industry veterans and rookies alike. Get ready for bi-weekly episodes packed with advice, feedback, and mentorship from the best in the business.

Meet Adam And The Phoenix Landscape

SPEAKER_03 0:41

A little bit of a train wreck in the beginning, and then we get off to altitude. I tell you what, this is going to be no different than any other ones. You're going to want to buckle your seat belt and hang on for this ride because one of our main goals with this is to introduce you to the movers and shakers, the ones in this industry that truly are playing chess when everybody else is playing checkers. And uh Shane, who do we have today that uh fits that bill?

SPEAKER_04 1:06

Yeah, so we have uh Adam Prather uh from the Phoenix area out there in Arizona. And uh what's interesting is uh Adam and I and Dwayne uh I've known Dwayne for I don't know 10, 12 years now. Lifetime long yes, it's uh 30 years in the real estate world, 40 years in the real estate world. Uh and and Adam and Dwayne and myself, we met in uh kind of common, common ground, kind of common area, and it's it's a it's a space where you you you definitely have to think differently than the than a lot of the crowd. And it's just interesting that uh that when it got to to learning a little bit more about Adam, um we've got friends in his in this market. And you know, a lot of times we get on these calls and we're like market, market, market. It's different. Like that Phoenix market is like 15 markets, 20 markets.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Man, yeah, yeah, there's a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

40,000 yes, was that the agent?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, it's like over 40,000 agents. I think we have like, you know, you've got all different kinds of markets. You have like the luxury market, you have the vacation market, you have the golf market, you've got the bachelorette downtown Scottsdale, you know, coming for bridal party market. You've got your peripheral market. We have like a huge engineering corps, you know, we've got a Air Force market. There's a lot of different things that we've got going on here where you could be in the same same market, same MLS, and virtually never see anybody that is in your 60,000 just in that little market.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

That just a it still just blows my mind. We have 16,000 in the entire state. Wow. Yeah the entire state. Yeah. All of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I think we're like 85,000 for the whole state. So half of it. Tucson's a pretty big market too. Flag stuff.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

That's wild. Yeah, so we we we know um we know a lot of the same people, a lot of similar people. And so um, I know that you know Tyler. Tyler's an awesome individual, awesome person, inside and out. Um, but we've got some good friends out there, Brett Johnson, Steve Valentine, Halele Leos, who else? We know anybody else out there, um, Dwayne. Uh these are all amazing people, by the way. So something about Phoenix in that Arizona market. Oh, Dustin. Well, uh how far is Havas do you leave?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Uh that's that's a bit further away.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

That's probably about you know, four plus hours, three, three, four hours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

We got you.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

So means northwest.

Defining Luxury And Market Segments

SPEAKER_04 3:30

It seems to be there's everybody we go run and come in contact with in that general area is some pretty amazing people, especially in the top brass, the top leaders of the industry out there. What's funny is so I'm it's not funny. I'm curious what price range is the luxury market in Phoenix, because I know what the the average is out there, and that's like luxury here.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, average price point, just normal across our markets, like a little over 450. And then in the luxury space, you have your bread and butter space, which is probably about 10% of our market above 900,000. 10% of that um is from like 900 to 3 million. So you'll have quite a bit of sales, probably 7,000 transactions that'll happen in that space. And then you start getting into a little bit more rarefied air when you get above that. So uh Paradise Valley, some of the golf communities up in North Scottsdale, you'll start seeing homes that are up over 4 million. But you can find, I mean, I think our top sales was just this last year, it was up around 30 million up in the mountains in one of the silver leaf golf courses. So it's pretty cool.

Adam’s Backstory: Banking To Ministry

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Wow, that's crazy. That's that's wild, that's wild. So, so we we've got your market, got a little bit about you. Let take us, give us the backstory of Adam, because I haven't known you that long, but I know the circles you run in, and I know the quality people that make up those circles. So share with the listeners and viewers a little bit of Adam's backstory. Like, what before real estate? Was there anything before real estate?

Urgency, Family Health, And Real Estate Entry

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah, yeah, that's good. So, you know, I've like when I was in school, I was always like math and science and you know, just constantly being pushed into, you know, those types of subjects. And so when I when I decided to go to college, I was actually doing like bioengineering and I got a job in banking and while I was going to school, and I kind of fell in love with the sales process there. I I values-based selling at Bank of America. It's really interesting because you think some of those bigger shops, you know, that are teaching sales, they're, you know, just trying to run the numbers. You just, hey, ask a bunch of questions. But I feel like I really got my baseline of like, what is like selling and how is this a win for you? Is it a win for us? Like, I need to, you know, make sure that it's a benefit for the person that I'm selling for. I kind of fell in love with that. I was at the bank for probably six years. I switched my degree over to economics, and then I got into financial planning. So I was selling stocks, bonds, doing estate planning, and uh, that was really fascinating for me. I I love to learn. And so it, you know, as I was referring over to the financial advisor at the bank, I started getting really curious about what they were doing. And so, you know, I did that for like another six years and and had to build up my business. Uh, a lot of our book of business came from like Motorola retirees because Motorola used to be huge out here in Phoenix. Uh, they had huge plant semiconductors, all of that, that huge boom was out here. And so I had a lot of past clients from that. And then, you know, as I sort of got my career settled as a financial planner, um, I was just searching to like find that purpose, you know, and I was really involved at the time with my church and the college group. And I just started, you know, having so much fun with these 18 to 21 year olds that are trying to make these massive decisions about their life and just like making an impact, like just showing up, answering questions, mentoring, just you know, kind of coaching to some degree. And and I got so involved in it, the church was like, Hey, do you want to be the college pastor? I was like, wife, do you want to be poor and make an impact? And she's like, Let's do it. So I did, and and I did that for three years until I realized church is just small business, right? And that's not a knock on the church. But I mean, you have real people are just making decisions and they're like, hey, we just don't have any money anymore. We want to move you to a different state. Now, this is where things get interesting because I was like, Well, I don't really want to be a professional pastor, you know, I just really like the people that I'm here with. But at the same time, my daughter developed some epilepsy, and it was like just unresponsive to medications, to treatments, to like everything. And so, like the kind of the trauma and like the urgency and a lot of things our lifestyle was just getting really stretched at that point. And so I was like, I can't leave. I can't leave my support system and everything. And so at that point, I just sold my house previously, and I was like, man, I got to get back into the workforce. But because I was gone for three years, all of my financial planning licenses had expired. So I couldn't jump back in because that that'll that's a good like three to four year trek to get all your insurance licenses and planning licenses and everything. And so I was like, I gotta make money and 90 hours of education, two tests later, you got your real estate license and you're off to the races. And so that was my intro into real estate. And I had a really unique experience because I had to make money. Like I had to. The amount of like pressure and showing up as a dad, you know, and like I used to tell people it was like, you know, I wanted to give my daughter the best chance at life, you know, the I wanted to not have to say no to anything she wanted. And I didn't want to have to turn down any treatments or anything that could potentially help her. So I I had to make money. So real estate was just such a gift to me at the time, and it allowed me to get focused and I went all in, and and so that was a little bit of my backstory. So I kind of come in to it with some trauma.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Yeah, what year was that that you that you slid into that you slid into real.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

So just as the market was kind of coming back, I mean it wasn't rocket shifting, but yeah, it was pretty balanced here, especially it balanced in Phoenix. And so yeah, it wasn't an overly difficult market, but we had we had moved through. And then mind you, because I was in financial planning, I went through five to eleven, you know, in the in the finance world. So I was having a lot of hard conversations about portfolios and where's your money going and what you're doing. So, you know, I feel like I had the benefit of that background when you know we've just gotten to the more recent market as well. Yeah.

First Deals, Systems, And Early Coaching

SPEAKER_03 9:58

So now when when you jumped into real estate, when you said, okay, real estate's what I'm gonna do, it's how I'm gonna provide for my family. At that point, uh when you jumped into real estate, did you join a team? Were you an independent agent? Like, because you have a you have a small organization now. Um, and I don't even mean small, it's growing, right? But what uh how how did you start? Did you was it a solo agent or did you jump on a team right away?

Prospecting Playbook And Team Formation

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Yeah, so you know, I had the delusions that I was gonna just like close three or four deals and make my 30, 40, 50k that I needed to make, you know, and then realized, you know, my sister was like, Hey, can you sell my house? And I got really fortunate. So I made a deal like right away. And then I get done and I go to the agent that had kind of mentored me through the deal, and I said, Okay, so now what do we do? You know, where do where am I gonna find business? He's like, he's like, bro, I've been doing this for like 20 years. People just call me. And I was like, Well, people aren't just gonna call me, so I need to figure this out. And he looked across the office and there was a Mike Ferry coached agent in the office, and he's like, That guy's got a system. You should go talk to him. And I did. So within about 30 days, I had hired a coach and didn't have the money for it, but I hired a coach. Uh, I did one transaction, took me literally 40 hours to load up a listing into the MLS and make sure everything was perfect and coordinate everything. And I was like, I'm never doing that again. And so I hired a transaction coordinator. And, you know, like I said, I had no money, but I knew I had to be spending the time doing the things I needed to do. So um I really, you know, came in, developed my skills out very quickly. I already had like the personal relationship type of the relationship, but I was like, I just needed to be a sniper. I needed to find those opportunities. So cancel expireds for sell by owners, just listed, just sold, door knocking. I did all of it because I was like, I need to succeed. And and then gained a degree of success, started kind of building a community from the coaching community I was a part of where we would do like Google Meets and prospect together and have conversations and hold each other accountable. And and so then, you know, business just you know, I started having success. I did like 20, nothing, none of this is impressive as much as it's just I had to do it, where it's like did like 25 deals my first year, 35, 45, 55, and then it just kept going. And then it was like, okay, now I have all these, I'm doing more business than I can handle, and there I'll start passing off some of these dollar, lower dollar ones, these buyer type clients at times. I started building out the team at that point, so that was kind of my evolution in the over the first like three or four years.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

He started handing off the$300,000 deal, Dwayne, the first time homebuyers. He started handing up them junk deals. Yeah. So I want to be in just a second because I want the the listeners, the viewers, there's high-level thinkers that'll consume this, and there will be those in the middle of the road not knowing left or right, and there will be those who think that real estate might be or might not be the path for them to take. You said coaching. You said I couldn't afford it. No idea where those balloons came from. That happens from time to time on this app. I don't I didn't have any clue. I love it. If I knew that I would do it again. Lost my train of thought. Well, no, you you said you said that you couldn't afford it. Right. And I wanted to just pump the brakes right there because now the pre-licensed instructor is is a broker owner, whatever, all of the hats, all of the hats. These are conversations that that have with pre-licensed class and orientation with their final before they take their final exam. Everything that we do is is totally brand agnostic. I I think the right time, right people show up in the right places and magic happens. Yep. But one of the most critical things that I do believe wholeheartedly for any professional career path, especially when you're not punching a time clock and someone's not putting you in structured learning, growth and development. Like all corporations do this, but when you start becoming an entrepreneur, there's really no one to put you in growth and development and accountability. Right?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Right, right.

Why Elite Agents Invest In Multiple Coaches

SPEAKER_04 14:14

That's interesting. When you say that you you bought into coaching and you couldn't afford it, I'm pretty certain you still have coaching, correct? I do, yeah. I've got I got three coaches right now. Perfect. Like you went right, this is not scripted. This is I I had an agent that I was I had the same conversation with an agent. I said, Whatever you do, you've got to have a coach. Right. And and I said also, I said, before you make a final decision anywhere, ask the person that you're going to that is recruiting you or that's going to consider you're going to consider working with, ask them who their coach is or coaches are. Because if they don't have a coach or many, then the best that you can hope for is to learn yesterday's skill set.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yep, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Because I'm always like, if whoever I have as a coach is going to have a coach, right? Because I want to know that the coach that I'm working with has also got someone else that they're that they're being held accountable to, and someone else is observing the way that they live and operate day in and day out. That's going to be a better coach to me. So that's interesting you said that. And then, ladies and gentlemen, key in on what he said, the three coaches, right? Something that I have seen through the the top elite, consistent, not just produ income producers, but the life, the the life part of this game. They all have one thing in common. One, they believe in coaching wholeheartedly. Oftentimes they themselves are coaches in their organization, even if it is to their own people. But to get to that elite status, you will have multiple coaches. You know, because coaches, they get specialized, you know, you get so dialed into specific areas that so you're already accountable for everything that you do, and you already know that okay, I need someone to specifically take this to the next level. Yes. Yes. A different person to take me here in the next level. Very interesting, very good. I'm I'm glad you mentioned that. Most most who have been in the business any length of time do have those conversations on here, and they've never they've never been baited, they've never been scripted. We're just peeling back the curtains of what makes successful real estate professionals successful, you know?

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Yeah.

Paying For Coaching And Commitment Psychology

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah. Yeah, you bet. And I'll I'll add to that too, because so you mentioned like you might be following old patterns, might be following old tactics, you know, like we all know that there's certain principles that just like never shift, right? They never change. But like if you're watching the broker training that's like 10 years old, like the insight and the implementation will be slightly different. The principles might not change, but not everybody's gonna go into that searching out the principles, and then they start copying the practices, and then they don't get the success, and then they're wondering what's going on. You could go on YouTube and you could find all kinds of stuff. Like there's tons of stuff there. But I want to know who's doing it right now that's having success. And, you know, that's where my the story that I I wanted to share with like, because Tyler Blair and I, we ran across John Shep, like around the same time. Okay. And I was a little bit more at the time, a do-it-yourselfer kind of guy. You know, I would say probably had a little bit more of a a scarcity mindset about coaching. So I still had a coach, but I was only spending like$1,000 a month on coaching, you know. And that seemed like a lot at the time. Now it doesn't seem like a lot, but I was looking at um, you know, so we started and then I I stepped in, met John Chaplack at the same time. I plug out, I pull out, I start to implement myself, try to figure stuff out myself, and probably, you know, had a couple years where like I burned in my profits, you know, trying to build the team, you know, and just kind of learn the hard way, you know. And then I get back connected with Tyler like six, seven years later, and I'm like, holy shit, he's like a hundred agent, 900 deals, and he was like three agent, 60 deals. And I'm like, man, he literally where was where I was. I'm trying to figure it out by myself. Had some growth, some proud of some things. And Tyler went like this, and I was like, I didn't stay plugged in. Like, I didn't stick with it. Listen, Tyler down to a science.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

Tyler down to a science. This isn't plugging Tyler. I mean, Tyler just a good dude. I'll plug him anyway. Tyler, I mean, he's looked right in the same cameras. He's like, When you got some, I'm trying, I'm trying to imitate invest I can.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

You gotta you gotta dial in your inner like New York Giant scatterable, like going through that wall.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

But that's right. Like when you when you when you've got someone that that seriously, when you've got someone that shows you how to do it and how to achieve what you're trying to achieve, he's like, just go all in, just do it. Just do it. Yes, do the thing, just gravy, get the gravy. I've been wanting to so long.

SPEAKER_06 19:12

Yeah, yeah, good, good, good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:15

But here's here's also, too, I do believe this. When the price tag of a coach scares you, it's not the coach you're scared of. It's your level of commitment. That's exactly right. You know, it's your level of commitment because if you're in this game, you're used to spending money on leads and systems and processes and licenses and permits and everything and all change. You're you're used to spending money if you're already. But when you lower that ceiling, you're like, man, the bigger the price tag, the higher the level. Right. So I'm not gonna pay that kind of money and not do the work. So am I really is it me that's the problem instead of the price tag? If you come in a price tag, you've probably got the receipts.

Modeling Energy And Leading From The Front

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah, and the other thing. Too, I had it pointed out to me the other day was like when you pay that, you're signaling to your subconscious and your brain that the information I get from this is at a very valuable level, right? So, like you're putting a lot of energy into this relationship. If I write you a check and I'm like, uh, here's four grand, I'm gonna be searching for$4,000 worth of value and I'm gonna be taking notes, I'm gonna be like like completely leaning into everything that you're saying, which then I'm gonna get so much more out of it, which is really fascinating. But if it was something that was free, I might put it on in a podcast style and just like listen to it while I'm in the car and be like, oh, okay, that's useful, that's helpful, because I'm not taking, I'm not putting the same amount of energy into consuming the material as I did writing the check.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Yeah, that lack of cost is almost a lack of value. And like you said, in the importance level, you're just kind of like, oh, okay. And consume it later, I can do it later. I, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Listen, I can listen to the replay. Yeah, exactly. And I tell, you know, this also, you know, when I'm thinking about my team, I was like, because I know this stuff too, and Shane and I text all the time, and I see him post that he's adding value. You know, I'm always telling people like the insights on the other side of the action, right? So how can I be the most valuable coach? How can I be the most valuable coach? The most valuable coach is the one that's doing it alongside you with you. You might have a different audience, but you're doing it alongside them. So calling in the database with the leads. I was in the think tank our room that we kind of prospect together in, and I was pulling leads out of the database and I was calling with them. I'm modeling the energy. You know, one of them on the other side was, you know, he was he made a call and his energy was a little bit low. And I tried to coach him up, right? You could tell him, like, hey, bring the energy up. And I was like, wait a second, let me get on the call. And I picked up the phone and I demonstrated to him, like, you know, hey, good morning. This is Adam Prater, you know, and I just brought the energy. I was like, did you feel it? He's like, yeah. And then the all of a sudden the next person answers, boom, the amount of energy that she's putting into the call was completely next level, you know. And so being able to bring the insights, bring the model, be bring the example to the agents is just so important. And that's where, you know, whether you're in a team and you're kind of paying for coaching through like the splits that you have, or if you're just going solo yourself, you need to have somebody that's doing it right now, that's investing in you, and uh you can see that, see that return for yourself.

Milestones, Events, And Community Building

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Absolutely. So absolutely. So listen, I agree wholeheartedly. And I think that you know, if you're trying to look what if it's when it comes to coaching, if it's easily affordable to you, you're not putting enough, you're not investing enough into coaching, right? Yeah. And if business is is cruising right along and you don't have a coach, you're you're you got a pay cut. You're making a lot less than what you could. And that's income, being able to give back to your community or church, whatever it might be, you could do more with coaching. So let's take a different route. Let's take a different path, though. You've you've found good success, solid success. You shared what you saw in Tyler a few years ago, and and now you guys are doing some work together and your team is already growing. I've heard that. I've I've stayed, you know, in close proximity to you since I met. So, what would you say thus far has been your biggest success in business?

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Man, you know, I think that you know, success is differently defined for everybody, right? You know, and so as I was thinking about that question coming into this, I think it was like interestingly enough, just making it. You know, Peter Thiel has a book where he's like from zero to one, like that's the hardest thing, you know, to be able to make that first transaction and then repeat and repeat and be like, I got my family, like I'm gonna take care of them. You know, being able to like step in and feel the pride inside of me that like I could step out of a nine to five job where somebody's I'm trading my time for a paycheck and to be like, hey, I'm gonna make something happen. No, writing that check for the coaching and being like, I gotta make that happen. And then on the other side, be like, there's never been a time I haven't made the money to pay the coaching. Just going from that zero to one, I would say, is probably the thing I'm the most proud of. And I like to talk about, you know, a lot. There's a lot of big things that we're doing, a lot of fun stuff, but I think that's the thing I'm probably the most proud of.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

So yeah, it's the the epitome of consistency in order to make that happen. I mean, there's there's so many things there, the dedication, the consistency, and the drive and the hustle to get it done. And so many just don't stay committed to the process.

The Market Shift: Mistakes And Lessons

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yeah. And I, you know, I could say, like, you know, I was always hunting down that number, that hundred a year, right? A hundred units one year. Like everybody chases that one if you're a baller in real estate, right? So I did that, you know, a million GCI, like did that, you know. So like those things are great, you know, and I'm I am proud of those things too, you know, being able to, you know, I recruited, you know, I had five people at a table and they all signed up, you know, on my very first recruiting like conversation. I did a group interview and they all joined, you know, and it was like, so there's little things like that that you're proud of, you know, 11 million dollar listing of, you know, uh, you know, I had a yeah, I just there's some fun stuff, but I think the thing I'm the most proud of is like I found the hunt, I found the dog, I found what I needed inside of me to like just make it happen, and I've been borrowing that every step of the way. Every step of the way.

SPEAKER_04 25:37

You had a little you had a little event. You put on a little event recently, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, that was awesome. That uh it kind of went bigger than what you anticipated, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Yeah. Yeah, we we did uh Scottsdale Market Maker event, and I pulled all of the top luxury broker, you know, actually in production agents, and they all agreed, and they all came into a room and uh we blew out the attendance signups in like the first 48 hours. We doubled it and then you know, way oversold it and and then we had standing room only. So it was a lot of fun, you know, and and so we had a good time with that too. Build it and they shall come.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

Yeah, I'd heard I've heard about that. So you know, you a lot of times you put on events, you're like, man, I hope hope there's a turnout, and then like, oh god, where the and we had extra chairs, extra tables, you know. It's um it's all it does happen from time to time. It does happen from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah, yeah. And we took all the we all the uh media we could get off of that, and and there's still more coming on social, so we'll still be posting stuff off of that.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

Well, if you get that many good people in one room, you're like, you gotta you gotta make the most of it, you know, you gotta take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

The only way to get the true value off that for most is is to kind of drip it off. I mean, you absolutely dropped everything all at once, you just you wouldn't be able to consume it all and and be able to m take it all in anyway.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

And value to everybody in the room, because everybody in the room gets a piece of it, you know? So it's a win for everybody. Yeah, so hopefully we'll do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

I think we're gonna do the second one in January. So we'll get through the first of the year and repeat it because everybody's asking about it, so we'll keep it going.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

On that success coin, there's always another side, right? So coins got coins got a couple different sides, but so on the other side of that, typically is a setback. Some will call it a failure, but typically a setback of some sort. What would you say was one of your biggest setbacks? Yeah. Trugles failures that you've had in the time from where you got in real estate to where where you are today.

Speed Market Myths And Reset Reality

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Yes, yeah. I think that's a good yes, good question. And I would say that, you know, I've I've been gifted with like a really nice perspective on my failures just from the very start. And so, you know, even with that question, it's a there's learning opportunities, right? It's it's like, what was my biggest learning opportunity? You know, and I would say it was when the market shifted in 2021 out of the COVID market. I'm sorry, in 2022, when the market shifted in the summer of 22, in our market specifically, out of that aggressive seller's market, how I pivoted through that year and through the next year with building the team, I think was probably one of the biggest learning things that I've had. And it was related to, you know, not being plugged in with, you know, the people that are navigating this, because that's where the community and the coaching can come in and help you navigate through the details of that. But, you know, I would say at by the end of 22, I think the hardest thing was in the summer of the summer of uh 22, I had like, I had an extra 200 grand in my business account. I had an extra 175 in my personal account outside of everything else that we were doing. And I was like, you know what? Let's event invest in the team, you know, let's invest in some training, let's invest in this. And I kind of took my eye off of the ball with like, you know, the conversations with the agents, recruiting, you know, my own personal production. I just kind of got comfortable, you know, and by the end of that year, you know, the business account, like the extra money in the business account was like an extra 25K. And and I was like, holy cow, you know, and then, you know, even on the personal front, we had just kind of gotten a little lax there too. And, you know, those balances are coming down. And it was like, it was a little bit of an oh shit moment where it was like, oh, hey, the things that got me here, I took my eye off of that stuff. You know, the, you know, the sales conversations, the recruiting, the, you know, and like thinking critically about the market, like moving those met those appointment met metrics that we all track. If you're a team owner, you're tracking that like religiously, because that's the predictor of your future, right? Then the the effort, like how much, how many contacts are we making, how many conversations are we actually having, the thing that you have control over, you know, I really taken my eye off that ball and just allowed things to just go. And so that was probably the biggest lesson that I had. Um, and coming out of that, you know, I think a lot of us too, we came out of a kind of a that boom market where you just it was a speed market. Our coaches talk about that. So it was a speed market. It was like who could fall into the door faster than the buyer got paid the most, right? And that was the, or who could list the house the highest, you know, and they got the check.

The Rhino Mindset And Industry Shakeups

SPEAKER_03 30:28

And it was a Midas touch market because it gave the impression, and many as leaders had that impression, that mindset, okay, anything I touch is going to turn to gold. Like I can do anything right now and it's gonna work. Anything is just gonna like I can just do anything and it's gonna work. We had the reset a little bit with the interest rates and what the market did early in 2022. Uh, you know, early in 2022, whereas there was still a lot of that, and I was guilty of that to a degree as well, because I'm like, okay, well, I'm not down as much as everybody else. We must be, you know, we must be kind of bulletproof to this. You know, everybody else is getting beat up, and hey, look at us. We're only down, you know, we're only down four percent, everybody else is down 25, 30 percent. Like, okay, like, you know, and then well, we just do this and do that, recreate this, and lightning will strike. Yeah. It struck, but it didn't strike the it didn't strike how it should have been lightning struck a whole different way.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

That's about the same time, but we how many how many conversations did we have about let's let's get some popcorn and watch these acquisitions. Yeah, like let's watch all these big companies go belly up and watch them become one, and that one go belly up and then become another one, right? We saw the mass exodus, the uh cannibalism uh across the industry for the mega mega giants that are now all you know deceased like T-Rex or headed in that direction. It's all you know, exactly like everything else in life, it's it's the it's the season of the microbrews. It's the season of the small you know teams of of value, value, value, serve, serve, serve. And you know, it doesn't matter what the rest of the market's doing. Yes, we and we talked about that before we were live about rates this and quarter point this, quarter point that. It was like, you know, at the end of the day, you buyers gotta have houses, babe, you know, we're expanding for the families, contracting, like all these things take place, and we put our head down and and and just and go straight ahead. Things happen. What's that tone, that rhino effect? He just just you know, the rhino, he just he he he charges the trouble, right? He charges the trouble. Yes. Every successful human, business, entrepreneur, you know, doesn't necessarily have to be real estate, but we've all got that that influential person, coach, grandparent, parent, you know, athlete, just you know, there's something in our life that has been a huge influence on our success and the way things have turned out for us. Who would that be to Adam Prather?

Influences, Purpose, And Family Legacy

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah. I would say for me, that's like hands down, it's like it's my dad, you know. He um he was, you know, an appliance repairman working for like my grandfather who owned appliance repair business, you know, went back to school, was working his job, went back to school, got his teaching certificate, moved his family across the country, you know, to the Phoenix area, and was just a do whatever it takes kind of guy. I mean, I have like he was always there, but then I know he was always working multiple jobs. And, you know, he always made time to bring us to church, always made time to have family dinners, you know, always in very involved in like our grand with our grandparents and our cousins and aunts and uncles and stuff, but I know he was just grinding. And then he would hustle on the side, trading sports cards and you know, different things uh and just always, and I saw him go from like nothing, where we had this little 1930s house in Iowa, which is where I grew up, Sioux City, Iowa, and it was just this old house that was just falling apart. And, you know, I think his the purchase price on it was like forty-eight thousand dollars or something, right? And and then to him making, you know, multiple six figures, living on a golf course, having a just a beautiful house, you know, just seeing like how he stayed connected, but he put the work in and really, you know, showed up for his family and needed be was who he needed to be. And so I I can't tell you how much I draw on that, you know, you know, why I'm do why I do what I do. You know, I want the impact, I want the impact most for my family. I want to be a good model for my sons and my daughter. Um then, and so that yeah, I would say it was my dad.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

That's good. That's good. You know, um, I think it's uh Dean Graziosi that that teaches, you know, how to how to discover that why. You know, we're we we prove that word a lot and some aspects overplayed, but it's interesting, like it's to to get to that why, you know, you have to go seven layers deep. You know, so yeah. And it's you're right, you know, it's like time, money, this, that, you you know, well, let's take it deeper. Like how did that become it? And then you have that conversation and you keep having that conversation, and after seven rounds of that, it's like, wow, time, you know, because this person made such an impact in my life, but they were they they missed a lot of time for giving us the things that we had out of life. So it's interesting that thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing.

Uncapped Living And Abundant Mindset

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Can can I can I answer the my seven layers deep? Yes, please. Absolutely. What drives me? I want I want life to flourish. Like I want my life, I've got no cap on my life. And I think there's a lot of people that try to put caps on you, right? Like, hey, you can go this far. You know, hey, you were born here, you can go up to this style. My goal is I want people to have no cap. Like, I want them to feel it, I want them to know it. I want my sons to be like, you could do whatever you want to do. There's no limits. You know, my favorite verse in the Bible is John 10 10, where Jesus says, the thief came to kill and destroy, but I came that you'd have life and you'd have it abundantly. And I just want that abundant life for everybody. And you don't even have to be a Christian for it. Like you come into my world, I want your life to be abundant as it possibly can be. And there's so many mindset things that hold us back that when they unlock, people just light up. And that's what I'm so addicted to. I'm addicted to that light bulb going off where they're like, oh wow, I can have more. Wow, I'm so much more powerful than I realized individually. And so I want my sons and my wife and my daughter to have that first and foremost, and then my real estate team, my partners, you know, my friends. That's that's my mission. I I want that light bulb to go off and they feel uncapped.

What Makes A Great Agent Today

SPEAKER_03 37:00

So being in that same line with that, and that and I love that by the way. And this is a bigger question, but I think there's some key attributes. And for some of our listeners that are thinking getting into real estate, or maybe they are real estate agents and need a little new right redirection. What makes a good agent? Because you have you have agents, you have agents on your team. What what uh what have you earmarked? What what makes a good agent? Like how do you how do you all of a sudden go this this is gonna be a this is gonna be a great agent? Yeah, you should have a good agent.

The One Thing He’d Tell His Younger Self

SPEAKER_01 37:30

Yeah. I think I think honestly, it's their adaptability, their ability to be adaptable and to grow. Because fundamentally, if you already were who you needed to be, you would have it, right? So you are who you are and you don't have it, you've got to massively change. So it's the people that can adapt the quickest, the people that are least attached to their identity and their behaviors and are willing to do that inner work. I think that's the deeper side of that question when people say what leads to success, and they say it's 80% mindset. It's that right there. Their ability to like not hold on to who they are or their characteristics or behaviors. And they could say, Show me, let like I'll be moldable. I'll become who I need to become. The agents that are the most coachable, the agents that are the most flexible, those are the ones that are going to succeed because there's all the components that you need, right? You need to be a networker, right? You need to have the skills. And historically, I mean, I would argue a lot of real estate agents are either one or the other, right? They're either like really good with people and they're not very skilled, and they just kind of get by by the their coattails on the relationships, and I hope they treat me right, you know, or they're highly skilled and they don't have the degree of trust and depth there. So they don't have any further relationship once the transaction happens. Or they get under contract and you hear the eight the the accusation, like, where'd Majin go? You know, like it did he, oh, he just cares about a commission, you know. So like you historically have both. Well, right now, you need to have both. You need to have both because they're the trust recession, but you've also got to be able to bring people to the finish line in a very skilled way. Uh, and so, you know, being able to be a networker, develop your skills, and just constantly be improving is so important. And I think all underneath of all that's your ability to let go and become who you need to become.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

I love it. Bam. Yeah. That was good. That one you couldn't have you couldn't have had that one scripted any better. That was no, no script. Perfect, perfect. Yeah, you bet. Let me so let me ask you this. You know, looking back at uh your career in real estate, what what is what's one thing that you wish at a younger version of Adam or Adam coming down that same pathway, or someone else coming down that same pathway? What's one thing that you wish you would have known then that you know now?

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Yeah. I would say this just goes back full full circle to where things started. It's about the people that you're around. It's a hundred percent about the people that you're around. And so if I would go back and tell myself it would be like, go, don't be afraid, go get in the rooms with those big bad producers, go in there and like, you know, go shake their hands, go get uncomfortable, go and go put yourself in those spaces. Either go pay to get where you need to get or just go ask your way in. Because there's so many other people in this industry. Like, you're one of them, Shane, you're Dwayne. Like, everybody, it's like if somebody came to me and said, Hey, could I get a hand up? Like, I'm willing to work. I'm willing to do, I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Can you just tell me what to do? All three of us would be like, here, here we go. Let's let's go. And we would pull them up, right? And I think everybody's got that limitation where they think, oh, I can't get too close to that, or that's just, you know, that's not me or whatever. But I think that's what I would tell myself is like, go get into as many rooms as possible with people that are so far advanced, so much further advanced than you, and just don't stop.

SPEAKER_04 41:06

Yeah, yeah.

Legacy, Contact Info, And Closing CTAs

SPEAKER_03 41:09

A lot more faster. Yeah. Yeah. I can remember some of my some of my first bigger events as I was starting to form a team or thinking about forming a team and then doing that and then opening the brokerage and and you nailed it with, you know, get in the rooms that make you uncomfortable. I mean I can still remember looking around those rooms like, like, what did I even get in here? Like they should have checked me at the door. Like I don't have I don't have the stats and the numbers and the you know and the the any of that to be in these in these rooms. Man, right? I'm here. I paid to be here. Yeah. All the rest were probably invited and got flowing, but I don't care. I'm gonna I'm gonna be here and I'm gonna learn what I need to learn.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think there's so many, you know, like there's so many people, even in, even if it's not in the real estate world, any the people that just wanna like they want the connection, they wanna pull people that are eager and excited and are growing, you know, they want to pull those people into the world because they're inspiring. You know, the agents that come into my world that have that, I I'm like, I'm watching them like a hawk. I'm like, oh man, how you doing? Like, oh hey, that's a good win. That's awesome. I'm just so addicted to like seeing their growth, you know, because I know they want it, you know, and they're showing it and they're putting in the work.

SPEAKER_03 42:29

So uh, Adam, hopefully, uh all of us here that are on camera, we all have a ton of years left on this great earth, and uh, and we go for a long time yet. But but ultimately, ultimately there's a clock. We don't we don't get to see the clock. We don't know when it's gonna end. When yours does and and your clock is is out of time, how do you want to be remembered?

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Yeah, yeah. I think it goes back to what lights me up the most is like I just have so many people that were like, man, I was unleashed, I was unlocked, I was uncapped by my interactions with Adam. You know, I think the more people and the more impact that I can make where they just were able to go after so much more freely what they want and realize those things in their life, you know, I think I think that's what I I care about the most.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

I think uh I think with a lot of the conversation that we had today, you're already filling that bucket. There is awesome. Yeah, slug of stuff that anybody at any level in this industry and beyond could get from this. So I you're filling that bucket. Yeah, nice, nice.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

Good. Good. Well, Adam, I know you got a a whirlwind of task and people to influence and wires to put out and uh and and fights to fight. But before we hop off here, I know that the listeners will get some inspiration and I know they took some value from this, but if anyone happens to to download this or or hear this episode or consume this episode, how is the best way for them to reach out to you if they want to uh make contact with Adam Praether?

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Yeah, you can find me on social media. Like I I'm actually involved in all of my socials. So if you just find my name Adam Prather on Facebook or Adam Prather on Instagram and send me a message, then you get me. I'll give and I'll I'll send you my cell cell phone number if you want it.

SPEAKER_04 44:24

So he's telling you the truth, y'all. He's telling you the truth. Well, Dwayne, you want to put a bow in it? You want to take us out of here? You want to do the little the little little loop at the end? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Let's do our let's do our Hulk smash. So yeah We've came we've come to the end of another uh amazing episode. And again, as Shana said, Adam, thank you so much for your time. And uh Absolut this is this is one for our subscribers. Yeah, I love you guys. I love it. Listen to it, bookmark it. And here's what you can do with it that that is gonna uh that's gonna help everybody. Share it. If you know somebody that's struggling, you know somebody that needs to hear what Adam shared today, and there's a ton of stuff in there that he shared that could help anybody in this industry or that you know, share it with them. Take this episode, share it with them, we'd appreciate it. Uh, there's also a couple other things that you can do. There's a little button on there somewhere. I don't know where the heck it is. Like it's either up here or down there, or I don't know, YouTube, Spotify, Apple. We'll just drop name drop some of those. So wherever the heck you're watching this, there's a subscribe button. Shane, what do we do with that? Smash. Smash. Smash that subscribe button. And then there's there's also one other thing we do, whatever platform you're listening to. And if you can go to all of them and subscribe on all of them, and then I don't know, maybe do this five-star review thing on all the different platforms. That'd be really appreciated because that means more people hear us, and we get all kinds of stuff called Google Juice. You know, Google Juice makes the world go round. So uh I tell you what, give us a give us a review, give us a shout out. If you'd like to be a guest on one of our upcoming podcasts, or you know somebody that we need to talk to that can help influence the rest of the real estate world, we would love to talk with them as well. Send either Shane or myself a message, and uh, we'd love to talk with you. But until next time, I tell you what, peace.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Peace, peace. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the REAL Podcast. Don't forget to connect with us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more exclusive content. Keep striving for success, and we'll see you in the next episode.