Scaling to 4,000+ Transactions: Kyle Whissel’s Real Estate Team Blueprint

What does it take to build one of the most successful real estate teams in the country?

In this episode of Convos With Legends, host Stephen Christie sits down with Kyle Whissel, founder of the Whissel Realty Group and the force behind San Diego’s #1 real estate team.

With 4,000+ transactions and over $3 billion in sales volume, Kyle shares the strategies, leadership principles, and systems that helped him build and scale a top-performing brokerage while becoming one of the most influential voices in real estate media.

In this conversation, they discuss:
• How Kyle built and scaled a dominant real estate team
• The systems and leadership required to sustain long-term success
• The power of video and personal branding in modern real estate
• Lessons from thousands of transactions and years in the industry
• Advice for agents looking to grow their business and influence

Whether you're a real estate professional, entrepreneur, or business leader, this episode offers valuable insights into building a high-performing team and sustaining success in a competitive industry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

And welcome back to Conversation with Legends as we sit down with people who are really 16 in the business. You know, and by shaping the future of our industry. Today's guest is someone who has built one of the most recognized real estate teams in the country. Got it, the country. You know, Kyle Whistle is the founder of Whistle Realty Group. He's a broker with EXP Realty. We will talk about both of those. But number one thing that's important is he is the number one real estate team in San Diego. He's been doing that for multiple years. But you know, Kyle didn't just basically build a real estate team. Um, you know, he built a brand. Um, Whistle was uh a brand throughout all San Diego. And the funny part about it, he did it through different media, and it's really fun for me to be able to watch him be an influencer and be a big part of North American real estate. So Kyle's also one of the starters of fast forward movement, which is part of EXP. So where he's helped you know agents across the country now grow their businesses, leverage technology, and think bigger about what's possible. He's also created a lot of, and I kind of I'm gonna put this out to you, and Kyle probably go, don't say this, but he's created a lot of passive income with the EXP realty model alongside the fast forward movement, which I've been pretty much watching him grow it. And I remember the first time Kyle came out there, I'm like, what's he doing? Now I'm going, I wish I did it. So it's kind of funny to see the whole thing. And now I'm part of EXP, so it's great to be with you guys. Um, so numbing all down to uh Italy, we're gonna talk about video marketing, digital farming. We're gonna talk about how Kyle talks about the one listing to multiple transactions. Also, I want to get a little bit from Kyle about the media brand he built and how his leadership is. Also, with Kyle's crazy schedule, you ever see this guy on social media? I know how he does it, but he has a wife and two kids and he has balance. So that's amazing for a guy who does this kind of business. So, Kyle, welcome to Conversation with Legends.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yeah, I'm stoked to be here. I love the Laker legends in the background. That's uh phenomenal. Love me some uh some hoop. So there you go.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Yeah. So, you know, I gotta tell you, uh, there's so much to ask you, right? And I gotta keep this within 60 minutes. And I want to make sure, first of all, thank you for being out here because I know you're busy and you're running around with your teams and everything you do. But you know, what was it like for you prior to real estate? Who were you prior to real estate? What and why?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, so growing up, uh, my dad was in the real estate business before I was born. So I'm one of those kids who grew up with a real estate dad. Um, I did not always love real estate. A lot of times I associated real estate with the reason why my dad would maybe um, you know, miss a game or show up late or whatever the case may be. So I didn't always have like the most I played sports my whole life. Um, never had like the most positive connotation with real estate. I always just saw it as like the reason why my dad wouldn't be at things. So never thought I would get into real estate. Um, but when I was in college, I was 20 years old, my dad was like, You got to buy something, you gotta buy something. And I was like, Dad, I scoop popcorn at a movie theater. I can't buy anything. He was like, Well, they're just gonna put a mirror under your nose, and if you can fog it, they will give you a loan. Um, because it was like the early 2000s, and that's that's all you had to do to get a loan then. So they gave me a loan for half a million dollars because we claimed I was like a manager at a um, you know, AMC movie theater scooping popcorn. And so um I bought a property for$500,000, and I ended up making after three months$17,000 on the property. And then I was like, oh man, that's a lot of money. And so I was like, all right, dad, let's let's talk about this real estate thing. So um I jumped in first like five years or so. I worked with him primarily on the commercial side, and then eventually I jumped over to the residential side um and started my own brokerage.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

You know, you've had a lot of years in it, you know, when did you, you know, it's just always that crossover, right? I've always talked to a lot of you know, agents and brokers and most of the success people who are they cross over from, hey, not only did I build a real estate business, but I'm actually building a brand. When did you cross over to that side of you? Because that was huge for you.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah, you know, I've from day one, like I never joined one of the like traditional franchise brokers because I never saw value. I always saw like I have to pay all this money, and and really the only thing they're gonna give me in exchange is a brand. And I was always of the belief since day one that I don't need anybody else's brand. Like I brand. Um, and so I believe that from day one. So it never made sense to me to go pay. I mean, had we just left a Coldwell banker for office location that's it's moving over to EX. Like they don't they realize that brand is not necessary. Like there was a day in time where somebody would literally walk into a Coldwell banker office and be like, Can you help me sell my home? Or they would go in the the yellow pages and they would call the Coldwell Banker office. Like, but those that was before our time. Like that just doesn't exist, especially today. It doesn't exist anymore. People don't care. You are the brand. So I've I've always believed that from day one. So I've always focused on really branding my name. And I know that even if I ever get out of real estate, if I I go do anything else, let's say I want to start building homes because I've built my name, the whistle name, I could do anything. Um but I've built that reputation around my name, not around a brand.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

So, you know, we all go through starting and getting into real estate, and we're all going through this part, but where was the shift for you that changed everything? What was the shift that you saw?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

With the branding? Yeah. I just I never understood it. I I felt like from day one, that was just an old way of thinking. So I think just coming in, the fact that I got into this industry when I was in college, I just thought of it differently than what the traditional way of thinking was. Um because I I had friends who signed up like at brokerages around the same time that I got into real estate, and they're like, Oh, I'm working floor time today. And I was like, What the hell is floor time? Like, I don't understand. So I always sit at the front desk and I I get the people to come in. I'm like, do people actually walk in? Not really. Well, then what the what are you doing? Like, this is so crazy to me that you're gonna sit at the front desk hoping somebody like walks in the door. So I was always like, I'm not gonna sit around and like wait for the phone to ring. Like, it's my job to make the phone ring. So, you know, there's this, the old school brokers they convinced people that like, oh, if you have this big brand, people are just gonna come to you. I've never subscribed to that mindset. I've always subscribed, like, I've got to make the phone ring. And over time, is the way that people are gonna get to know my name and call me is if I actually go out and sell some houses. But I don't think anybody's gonna use you just because you're with a big brand. I don't think it works that way.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

No, I completely agree with you. And it's funny, you know, you're you know, I first met you and we were talking, and it's funny you said something, and I thought, okay, uh, let's hear about this. So this is what I'm gonna bring out to you today, right? You said walk me through this framework. You know, you put one listing out, you should basically make five transactions out of it. Walking the agent through that because that's unique for someone to actually know this.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

So yeah, so I think most people they get into this and they they get a listing and they get so excited. And it's like, well, one, you you don't get paid to list properties, you get paid to sell properties. So first and foremost, is like you actually have to sell the listing. Um, that that's how you're gonna get paid. So like that's the first transaction. Um, second transaction is especially, you know, we're both in California. Most people that are selling a home, they're also gonna go buy a home. Whether they're gonna buy a home in San Diego, or maybe my people are gonna move up the coast in your hood, or they're gonna go to Texas, whatever. Like they're gonna buy something. So there's a second opportunity there. So whether I'm helping them buy their new home in San Diego or I'm referring them over to you, um, you know, there's that opportunity. That's gonna be the second transaction. Um, the third transaction is I'm gonna do such an amazing job for them that they're gonna refer a friend or a family member to me because I'm gonna talk about that from the beginning. They're like, this is how my business is built, is on my reputation, and and from, you know, we want to do such a great job that you're gonna tell everybody about us. And then, you know, as we do a great job, then we follow through. Like, hey, are we doing a great job? Great. Who's who else should we talk to? Who do you know who's looking to make a move? So um, you know, that's that's gonna be the third one. Um, the fourth one is you want to try to double end the listing. So, you know, some people, maybe different states have different rules and different brokerages and all of that stuff. Some people have different belief systems, but I believe that there's there's an ability to serve both the buyer and the seller and serve their best interests. So you want to effectively market that home to represent the buyer as well as the seller. And then the last one is going to be that you're gonna get the next listing in the neighborhood because everybody's watching what you do when you list that home. And if you do an amazing job and you go above and beyond with the marketing, you sell it for a great price in a short amount of time, the next person to sell, you're gonna be the person they call. So from that one listing, there's five transaction opportunities that should come from it.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

So it's amazing that we go through today, you know, we're in an industry where 70% of the agents are now leaving again, and we're all opened up to, okay, here's the workers, right? But you know, in your level, obviously, because you're one of the guys like I know, we all went and dug in and went in as hard as we could, and we drive it, we drove it. The idea of is what's the difference between the agent you are today compared to the agents that were trying to get in today?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Say that last part again. What's the difference between the thing?

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Agents coming in today don't know the work ethics, right? And you're a lot different. You knew how to come in because the only way you got success was driving that business, right? And you go I tell my teams, hey guys, uh we have to work differently. We have to. They're not going to work the way you did to build your business. So one of the things that you can say, hey, if you did this, you would start seeing outcomes.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah, so I have a TED talk I'm working on, and it's it's the things we want the least are the things we need the most. The things we want the least are the things we need the most. So most people that get into real estate, they're getting in, and it's inevitable at some point in the conversation the word freedom is gonna come up. Um and yes, you actually do get freedom when you get into the real estate business. Like you're the CEO of the business. That's a fact. You're also the only employee of the business. Yeah, and that's the part some people forget. So, sure, you own your own business, you can do whatever the hell you want. You you can, but what would you do if your employee didn't actually show up every day and work? What would you do? You'd tell them what to do. So while people get into this because they want freedom, it's the freedom is not what's going to help them be successful. They actually need the structure. And so it's like, I actually find the people that come from very structured environments like the military, sports, those types of things tend to be some of my best agents because they come from a place where it's like there's a coach, and the coach tells you what to do. And if you do what the coach tells you, you get better. You win more games, you score more points, more goals, whatever. Um, so I find the people that come from that with that structured environment tend to do the best because we offer that very structured environment on our team, and that's what people need. They need that structure. And if they follow that structure, they'll be really successful. We actually have uh core value, it's called run the play. Like if you're gonna join my team, you need to join and run the freaking play. Don't don't think you're gonna do it better than me by because you're gonna do it different, maybe because you're gonna post more on social media. Like, guys, for every one person you show me that's wildly successful as a real estate agent because of social media, I'll show you a thousand that are successful because they focus on building relationships and having conversations. Like that's the that's who's gonna win the game. But there's way too many people out there that think they're gonna build their business, like, oh, I'm just gonna do it all via social. Like, and it's like, dude, if you're posting more stories per day than you're making phone calls, you're doing it wrong.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Right, right. The conversation is important, and let's go to that, right? You you know, we know how the conversation has to be. We know how to actually build the rapport. So when you're getting your people coming in and you look at the new agents coming in, they think they have a conversation, but what are the things, the key things that you find that they don't know?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Their motivation.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Anytime an agent comes to me and is like, Oh, I got this objection, or hey, they want me to give a credit or any of that. First question I ask, they all know this. What's their motivation?

unknown 13:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

That's the most important thing. And it's wild how many times they're like, Oh, I I don't know. I just know they want a three-bedroom, two-bath, fifteen hundred square foot home under a million dollars. Why?

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, yeah. It's funny.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Like, do you not know that? Because if you don't know their motivation, I don't even know how you talk to somebody. Yeah, you're just you're just like a clerk at the register. Somebody's like, you know, at Home Depot, like, where do I get a pipe wrench? Oh, aisle five. Like, that's that's your job. Maybe you should ask them, like, what are you gonna build with or what do you need the pipe wrench for? How are you gonna use it? It's it's amazing. And then it's like, oh, well, I'm actually plumbing my bathroom. Great. You know, all right, in addition to the pipe wrench, you're gonna need this. This is like, you know, like ask some questions, guys, but you got to dig in and understand people's motivation. I think that's the number one thing that newer salespeople miss or people that are struggling with their you know, close rates, is they don't take the time to understand somebody's motivation. Once you understand the motivation, everything gets so much easier.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

So let's switch over to systems, right? So, you know, our whole life, everybody's coming at us and going, hey, lead generation systems. We have to look at lead gens. And it's funny because new agents, even agents that aren't new. I mean, let's put five-year-old agents right now. They don't have money, you know. So obviously, coming to a team like us, they have an opportunity, right? But we just can't take everybody because they don't really fit the opportunity. They don't fit the culture of what we're trying to build. But if you look at the systems and you say, okay, first of all, for you, for your team, what systems are non-negotiables?

SPEAKER_01 14:56

So, I mean, the the most important is you know, we look at like a hub and spokes kind of thing. The hub of every business is the CRM. Like that is the thing that you've got to live in every single day. Like you have to live in that CRM. You've got to get your people into the CRM, you've got to make your calls through the CRM, you've got to text through the CRM, you've got to email through the CRM. You want to have all of that stuff in there. Because if you don't have that, then every day you're gonna show up and you have to think of who to call. And when you call them, you have to think about why am I calling them. But if you have a CRM and you utilize it properly, you don't ever have to think who to call. You should just show up every day and and whatever your CRM calls in, whether you have segments or smart list or tags, whatever categories, like if you set your CRM right, you don't have to think about who to call. The CRM tells you who to call. And it tells you why to call them. And so what I found over the years is the less agents have to think, the more the agent will do. But if the agent has to think about who to call, why to call them, what did we talk about the last time we talked, before they make the phone call, they're not gonna make it. So our job as a team leader is to try to remove a lot of those um, you know, those things from their plate. And the best way we can do that is making sure our agents are using the CRM for everything. And then now obviously the CRMs are getting so much smarter and they now have AI and they're they're tracking, you know, the conversations, the text messages, the calls, the emails, they're taking all that information and now they're even making the job agent's job easier because now when they make a call, it's telling them like, hey, here's what you guys talked about most recently, here's a summary of all your conversations. So the job's getting a lot easier for the agent now, where they're they don't even have to have as much of a memory as they once had to.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

Right, right. You know, let me ask you a question. Um, because we all through this, you know, we go through our teams and we all have these networks, right? And even with the CRM, we know that they're gonna fail somewhere, right? So obviously for my team, the big failure is they're just not task-oriented, right? They get into the call, they go to the showings, they go do those things like blah, blah, blah, and they're they're just not. And then that if you're not task-oriented, the follow-up system starts breaking down. What is it for you? What do you think some of the breakdowns are with these agents and you know working their CRM?

SPEAKER_01 17:15

I think task could be uh a bad thing. Um, so for us, if we have our segments set up so that we don't have to task. Ideally for us, we only use task when it's very time-specific follow-up. So if I talk to you and you say, Oh, you know what, I'm traveling, I'm going to the Lakers game in Miami this weekend. Can you call me back on Monday? Like, that's a task, right? Because now I need to put a task to call you on Monday, and I'm gonna reference in that task. I need to ask you how you know how the game was or how was Miami. Um, so when it's very like time bound or time specific like that, then I like tasks. But outside of that, you know, you're you should just be calling through your list, like who's who are my new leads that I've reached out to that I haven't spoken with yet? Let me just call those people. I don't need a task for that, let me just call all of them, not one. Just build your automation. So if yeah, if you end up having too many tasks, then it you end up doing nothing with them because you get overwhelmed by it and you just shut down. It's easier to just shut down when you have a hundred tasks than to clear a hundred tasks. So agents are naturally going to do with the path of least resistance or whatever's easiest. And so they'll just do nothing.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Right. So tell me, what do you think the app the difference is between activity and leverage?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Between activity and leverage. So I think you know, you like fishing. I I'm a big fisherman. So you want to fish where the fish are, right? Not just go fish because there's water. But if I I want to go, if I know there's a place we go fishing, it's called Santee Lakes. There's seven lakes. I know if I want to go catch bass, I need to go to Lake Five. Like that's the lake that the bass are in. So that's where I'm gonna go. I'm not gonna go to Lake One, there's hardly any fish in Lake One. I don't want to go fish there. I want to go fish Lake Seven because that's where all the bass are. So it's the same thing as like there's activity where you could just be calling through random crap, or you could figure out where the fish are and call through that. So it's a matter of finding where the fish are and then fishing in the right place. And that way you can have both activity but also have leverage. And that could be as simple as like we use a system called fellow, um, which takes our entire database, makes sure it finds it. Does somebody own a home? If they do own a home, it gives that lead a score based on how long have they owned the home, what's the probability they're gonna sell that home, have they listed the home? Like all these different factors, and then it scores them. So let's call the leads that have the highest probability of actually selling first. So now we can have activity, but then we're leveraging the tool, right? We're leveraging the technology to make sure that we're efficient with that time and not just making activity just to say we did activity, but we're focused on the right activity with the right people. So fishing where the fish are. Um, the other thing I see is I see agents a lot of times like feel like if I could just fill an eight-hour day, I was successful, like it was a good day. But it's not about how many hours you fill, it's what do you fill those hours with? And and my business partner Dan talks about it all the time. Like, I'll take a part-time agent who works four hours a day, if they'll use the those four hours on the right things, over an agent who works eight hours a day and fills it with the wrong things. Like, because that's I'll take that part-time agent. Normally I would I used to say, like, I'll never take a part-time agent, but if I can get an agent who four hours a day will just prospect for four hours a day, I'll take that over a full-time, eight-hour day agent who just wastes time posting stories all day.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Right. You know, I tell you, it's funny. You know, you go back to Fellow. You know, I love the fact that Fellow can give us also what we lost, right? So you think about it, right? We go through Ryan did a great job with that, by the way. I think he did amazing with Fellow. But the idea of it is how you hold the agents accountable, right? Because you know, agents aren't going to be like us. You know, they're coming into leads. We're producing the leads. So, how what's your basis of holding accountability?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Accountability is huge for us. So we have a various different expectations in our company. We have activity-based expectations, and then we also have production-based expectations. So the activity ones are based around things like showing up to meetings, um, getting on huddles, hosting open houses, a variety of things like that. Um, and then our production-based ones for us, now you guys all got to understand that all markets are different. So we're in San Diego, our team average price is like$8,000,000,$900,000, somewhere around there. If you are in a market where your average price is four or five hundred thousand, it's going to be different. Um, but for us, you have to pend two deals in the first six months, and then you have to do six deals every 12 months thereafter. Like that's our minimum to be a part of our team. And we enforce all of those expectations. So if you are not doing the activities or you're not hitting the production numbers, you'll get put on probation. And if you don't follow through, you will get fired. Um, and we fire a lot of people. Um typically we bring in about 10 agents every month into our team. The goal is to cut two during the training. Usually one will self-select out, like one self-selected out today because he doesn't want to do open houses. Bye. Um, and then we fired one last week because he was super rude and disruptive during the training. And to the actual trainer, and if you're gonna be rude and disruptive to the trainer, you're probably gonna be that way with clients. So the last thing I'm gonna do is give you a lead when you don't even respect my trainer. So we usually every 10, two get cut during training, two cut at that six-month mark, and two get cut at that 12-month mark. So we're keeping four out of every uh 10 that we bring in, but the four we keep are the good ones, right? They're the ones that put in the work, they run the play, they do all the things. Um, so you have to actually enforce your expectations or your standards, right? When we talk about accountability. And the beauty of it is because we do that, when somebody gets put on probation, they know that if they don't follow through, they will get fired.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

And if people don't have that fear, then they're never gonna perform, right? There, if you have all these empty threats, and I see teams do it all the time, like, oh, well, you if you want to be on my team, you gotta sell a house a month. Okay. So what if I sell 11?

unknown 23:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Well, no, see, that's a problem. There's no well, like you have to have minimum expectations to be a part of a team, and you have to enforce those expectations. And if you don't, then they're simply suggestions, they're not true expectations.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Right. Yeah, definitely. Let's shift you completely around to a different place, right? So a lot of the people right now, you see all these agents coming in, and you kind of said it, you know, they're all like, hey, I want to be, you know, social media aspect, I want to be the best, I want to do this. So, you know, how did you start? Because you actually did this a lot earlier than most people, right? You started your influencing, you started your video marketing. And tell me, how'd you get comfortable? Because I know a lot of these people, when you start watching, we're like, you know, you shouldn't do this yet, right? So what are the big mistakes or how did you dip into it so easily?

SPEAKER_01 24:29

So we're talking like video specifically. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um so I always have had this belief that I want to multiply myself and I want to be in as many places as I can at the same time. And I've always just saw that like video was one of the ways to do that. Because like I don't know if I put a video out in the last like two weeks, but I've had thousands of hours of my videos that were watched in the last two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Right? When I go to sleep tonight, people are still gonna be watching videos while I'm sleeping, and that's magical because phone calls, as much as I love phone calls, isn't important as they are, the phone calls aren't gonna make themselves while I'm sleeping, but people are gonna watch the videos while I'm sleeping. So I was in a salt like that. Was a really unique opportunity that was available. Now, in the beginning, it was awful, dude. I mean, I was terrified, I was shaky. Like I started way back in the day when we were using like a flip video camera, like I was recording it myself, I was editing it myself, I was posting it myself, like I was doing everything myself. Um, it was awful. But I was just of the mindset, like, man, I just gotta do this. Like it's gonna get better every single time. The same way, like, first time you got on a bicycle, you didn't get on a bicycle and like jump off a curb the first time you got on a bicycle, like you probably fell, even when it had freaking training wheels. You somehow found a way to make a four-wheel bike fall, but then you got on it and you were a little bit better the second time and a little bit better the third time, and by the 300th time, you had no training wheels and you were jumping off curbs. It's that same thing. Um, you just gotta just gotta get after it. And in the beginning, like if you need a whole script and a teleprompter and all that, cool. Like I will take a happy video where I could see that you're reading a teleprompter over your non-existent video. Because I promise you, your shitty video is gonna get more views than your non-existent video. There you go. Just get after it, and then the thing that I find is like if you do videos about something you're passionate about, it becomes a lot easier. So the original video series that I did was all focused around um the different businesses in my neighborhood. I moved into a new neighborhood and I was like, man, I want to learn this place. Let me just go interview all the business owners, but let's just do it on camera. And so I just interviewed everybody in that neighborhood. We call it Santee Saturdays. We released an episode every Saturday, but like very passionate about the Santee community. And I love meeting people, especially business owners. Like, that's those are fun conversations with me. Um, that evolved to like a next series, which is called East County Eats, which is all food-based. I'm a hardcore foodie. Um, but and those series continued on because I was passionate about those things. And I think people could see the passion in your videos, right? And you're a lot more likely to continue doing the videos if you're passionate about it. Whereas like you're clearly passionate about the Lakers. Like, you're gonna do way better doing videos about the Lakers than you are about like gardening and uh planting rose beds, right? Like because that's what you're passionate about. You're you could probably do 20 episodes of talking about Lakers history, right, off the cuff. But if I told you how to do 20 videos about planting roses, you'd you would never finish the 20. You'd maybe do one and be like, oh, I can't do this anymore. So find something you're passionate about, and I think it helps you get a little more excited. Um, and your videos end up being better because it's something you're passionate about, and people can sense that, they can feel that. For me, also, like I'm doing a lot of videos right now about the economy, the market, we've got the you know, all these things happening. I have a degree in economics, like I'm passionate about that stuff, and so it's fun for me to make those videos. Right. So I'm not nervous about making a video because it's something I'm passionate about, and I I'll do it long more consistently and for a longer period of time because of that.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Got it, got it. So, you know, the people always ask the same questions. How do videos convert to business?

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah, I mean, there's a million different ways that they convert to business. So for me, like with the the community videos that we did, um, the way those convert to business is because I was getting in front of my target audience on a consistent basis with content they care about. Because everybody wants to know about, like, oh, I saw that new restaurant opened up, like, I wonder what it's like over there. And there's their options, like they could go there, but like I don't exactly know what kind of food it is. Like, what if it sucks? I don't know. But if they watch a video and I explain what the restaurant is and the history of the restaurant, the type of food, what they're known for, now they're like, oh, all right, I'm gonna go check that restaurant out. So it was content people cared about because let's be honest, guys, like nobody cares about your new listing or the listing you just sold or the open house that you're hosting this weekend. Like 99% of your followers don't care about that. Right. But they all care about the new restaurant that opened in town. So my thesis was like, if I can create content people care about, they're gonna engage with my content, and people are now gonna see me. And it's funny because Gary V talks about the digital mayor strategy. Right. Like we've been we've started running that strategy 11 years ago. Like I think we were running it right around the same time that Gary started talking about it. And so people saw me synonymously like, oh, this guy knows Santee. This guy knows East County, he knows all the businesses. Um, so that worked really well to put my name on the map. It made me synonymous with that community. At the same time, I was now interviewing all these business owners. But I don't know, last time I checked, they're usually the people that have the most money and have the most connections. So not only was I getting my content in front of my target audience with content they cared about, but I was also building relationships with the business owners at the same time, but we've done tons of deals with the business owners or they preferred business to us. Um, because when you go into a business and you now like spotlight them, you help their business grow. They're grateful to you and they want to return the favor. And we never charge the businesses anything to do this. Where at the same time, they're getting pitched all the time of like from you know, media companies to do the same thing and they want to charge them thousands of dollars. And here we are coming in and doing it for free. So they're super grateful to us because we now put their business on the map, brought them a bunch of new customers, now they want to return the favor.

SPEAKER_03 31:02

So, I mean, what is the funniest experience you ever had doing a video?

SPEAKER_01 31:06

The funniest experience?

SPEAKER_03 31:08

The funniest one. Like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

I was watching, there was one. Oh, this was probably the funniest. Okay, we were at one, and we always try to order, like when we do food ones, we'd always try to order like the weird thing on the menu, the unique thing, because people are like, you gotta do our burger. And I'm like, dude, your burger looks like everybody else's burger on camera. Like, nobody can tell the difference between your burger and the next guy's burger. So we always order unique things, and so we were at a breakfast one, and I was like looking at the menu, I'm like, Oh, you guys have a chicken liver omelet. I was like, How is it? And the owner's like, oh, that's gross. I don't I've never had it. That's that's gross. I'm like, well, that's what I want. So he makes me the chicken liver omelette, and I bite into it, it's not good, but I eat it, and I'm you know, I just put on a game face and I eat it, and he's like, How was it? I was like, Oh man, it tastes just like chicken.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Great. He's like, Let me try it. And he takes one bite. That is disgusting. That does not taste like chicken. That is so disgusting. And it's it's his food in his restaurant. Like he's just like talking about how disgusting his food was.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

It was hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

You know, we go through years of all this stuff, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:26

And sometimes you go back and you're having drinks with friends, you're like, I mean, I could believe this one. But that's that's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

And the restaurant was open publicly when it happened, too. It was hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 32:38

That's pretty funny. Yeah, you're Daring first all just going for it in the first place. So I'll give you that much. Um so talking about, you know, you go through digital farming, you talk about a lot of different things in farming. Let's just take what's one of the key systems needed to make it a really good digital farming.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Um digital farming, I think, is just creating a lot of content about your community. The beauty now is like you don't have to go out in the field. We're getting ready to relaunch. Um, and I have some friends who've been running video series now that do basically the same thing that we did, but you can do it so much more efficiently now. Because when we would do it, we would go to the restaurant, I'd have two camera people with me, you know, we'd be there shooting content for like two hours, then they'd go back, they'd edit the footage for hours and hours. Like if most people don't realize this, but good content, it takes about an hour per minute to edit. So to get a good like three or four minute video, that's like six to eight hours of editing, or I'm sorry, three to four hours of editing time. Um, plus you have the time that we were at the restaurant, like it was so time consuming. Now you could just do a green screen video, you could throw up some imagery in the background of the restaurant, like a sign and maybe some pictures of their food, and you could just come on, you know, using the green screen feature and just talk about it on camera. And now with AI, I could literally write an entire script for you. Like you don't have to come up with what to say. So now it's like you could just do it. We could I shot a video on the car ride up to the event that I was just at um while I was driving. I shot the video. Um now you could do that. You don't have to go spend hours at the restaurant and hours and hours editing. You could just throw some imagery up, type into Squad or whatever you know, LLM you're using, and it give me a two-minute script to talk about this restaurant and and look through their reviews on Yelp and Google and give me a you know a good thing to talk about. What are the what are the dishes people rave about? What do they say? And you have an entire script, and then you could just read right off the damn script. Like it's so much easier now. So I would just really recommend like that strategy still absolutely works today, and it can be done so much more efficiently, is just be that digital mayor, media mayor as we call it, um, of your community. Talk about all the new things that are opening, talk like talk about what's happening um at the city council meetings. Like everybody wants to know the proposed developments and this and that. Nobody wants to go to the meeting to find out, but if you can take the summary of like what was talked about the city council meeting, you could be the person that tells people. So you could do one video of like, hey, here's what's on the agenda for tonight, and then the next day you're like, all right, here's what happened last night. Oh, they approved this, they didn't approve that. Like, people love that content. So if you can be the person who like gives the content to the community, so valuable.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

So, you know, let's go a whole different uh way too. So you had this thing that you worked on, it's called the gift of the shift, right? So tell me a little bit about what that really means.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Yeah, I mean, anytime markets change, that's such a great opportunity because most people, when things change, nobody likes change. They freak out, they shut down, nobody wants to change. They just want things to be the same today as they were yesterday, and they want them to be the same tomorrow as they were today. So when change happens, it creates opportunity. So, like what's one of the changes right now? If you actually track the trends, there's a lot of people, there's a lot of distressed homeowners right now. Because anybody who bought it in 22, 23, 24, if they go to sell their home right now, they're probably break even at best, potentially upside down. So getting into things like short sales, that's scary for people. What is a short sale? I remember the first time I did a short sale, you know, 15 years ago. I was like, wait, why would the bank take less than what they're owed? I don't understand. It didn't even like make sense in my head. Right. But right now, there's a gift. If you're willing to take the time to learn and understand short sales, there's a market that a lot of agents who are like, oh, I don't want to have to learn something new. That's that's a perfect example of a gift of the ship that's relevant today in today's market. Because if you go on trends.google.com and type in notice of default, notice of trustee sale, the amount of people searching those terms is increasing substantially. Huge. Why are people searching it? Yeah. Because they got one. What does this mean? Um so if people are searching it, that means people are getting them. And there's obviously data providers out there that could confirm the numbers to you, but that's a uh one of those opportunities right now where there is a shift in the market and there's a gift to be had there for those that will take the time to learn something new.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

It's funny, we put some parts of the team, and you talk about that kind of shift in today's market. You know, you go on foreclosure radar, you can see all the pre-foreclosures, right? So one of the my team uh members are just turning around going, okay, I want to take that data, stick it into where I can get prospect now, get all my data, throw it into the CRM, and then let's just start going at them. And now I'm picking up listings. And now these guys have equity, but they're in pre-foreclosure. But the nice part is some of those people don't even realize it. Yeah. And it's like, you know, before when we first got into business, you know, you had to go find it. Today it's right in front of you. You know, you have so much data to look at that you can just you can it's a whole different world. And a lot of agents who are new don't get it, but we had to go through and expires and stuff to get to what we wanted. Now it's like, okay, okay, I think I do this call. I think I do this, go to the door, go do it. You know, it's so funny. So I want to go really into there's a lot of shifts for you, right? You went from going from a top producer, right? Then I saw you in those days, and I didn't know you well enough, but you shifted over to a team leader. You run you started running your team. And we all had teams, right? And then you shift and that's how you go into the influencer, right? But also you did a talk one day, and you're talking at a top furry event, and you bring up the XP. What what's he doing? And it's funny because a lot of my friends were like, what did you say? What is that? What's what's cloud doing now? You know? And it was funny because you went from there, and then all of a sudden you have fast forward movement, right? And I thought it was really cool. I thought, okay, that you know, I love everybody who has their own niche and they run their own game, but everybody gets all of a sudden like, well, that's something new. What's that mean? How do I do it? But I want to say that you're one of the first people around my groups of top producers who stepped into you leaned into that, right? You and Dan. And so what was the first thought that made you go there? How'd you get there?

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Yeah, so I had my own independent brokerage before coming over. Um, and so when I was when I I think most everybody, when they do an independent brokerage, the thought in their mind is like, I'm gonna build this thing, I'm gonna make it really big, and then I'm gonna sell it someday. I think that's most everybody who does an independent brokerage has that thought. And I got to the point where I actually started getting calls from people that wanted to do an MA type deal, merger and acquisition type deal. Um and I was like, oh my gosh, it's happening. But then I went through the process and they valued my brokerage and it was pretty much worthless. Um I was like, wait, this is worth like a tenth of what I was hoping it would be worth. And I was like, this is stupid. Why am I gonna run this brokerage and do this and deal with the headaches when it's not worth anywhere near what I want it to be worth, what I thought it would be. So I was like, screw this, I don't want to be a broker anymore. I don't want to do this. Um, and so then at that point, I started to look around and see like, well, what are the options out there with brokerages? Because I've never worked for a brokerage before. I worked with my dad on the commercial side, and then when I left him, I just went on my own and started my own brokerage. So I'd never been with a brokerage before. Um, and so once I started to look around, I was like, I looked and it really came down to Compass and EXP. And when I looked at Compass, I saw like, okay, they were gonna give me a bunch of money to come over there, but that was good for me, but it wasn't good for my agents. There was really nothing in it for them. Um, so Kyle would win, but the agents wouldn't. And then in reality, Kyle was lose because Kyle knows how to read contracts, and I read through the contract and realized that they're gonna give me money for two years, but they're gonna lock me in for five years. So I was like, that's stupid. I'm not I'm not falling for that trick. Um, that's called a clawback for those of you guys who aren't familiar with um so I was like, I'm not, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna fall for that. Um so I saw exp and it was the opposite of what Compass was, because with Compass, it was like, cool, we're gonna give you a bunch of money now, but over time you're gonna give it all back. So it was a declining return. EXP was the exact opposite to where I wasn't gonna give them any money. Um I wasn't gonna get any money up front, but over time, if I helped this company grow, they added this new, these two new buckets of income and stock and revenue share. And I was like, that's that looks pretty cool. So it was like I was betting on the fact that over time I could help attract people into the company. And turns out that bet was a great bet because you know, exp went up, where if I went compass, it would have gone down. Um, you know, and and here we are eight years later, we've attracted this this movement that we call fast forward. We have over 13,000 people that are part of fast forward movement. Last year, that group was responsible for 135,000 roughly transactions for like 68 billion dollars, 68 billion dollars. Um, it's pretty crazy. Uh so that bet eight years ago really has paid off. And what I love with EXP is like it's the embodiment of that saying, like, you can have anything you want in life if you just help enough others get what they want. And so, right, like see when you win, I get to win with you. And that's so much cooler than winning on my own. Right. I love to win with people. And so it really fills my cup because that's a true passion that I have. I love to help people grow. I love to help people win. And so the fact that you and I can win together is everything. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Yeah, it's true. You know, it's funny because you gotta remember, you know, when you were doing that, a lot of us were like hesitant to lean in, right? And we're like, okay, it's new, what's going on? If we were to say, what are the one or two things that people hesitate when they make the move to UXP?

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Um I think, you know, originally people hesitated because they're like, oh, it's a recruiting company, nobody sells any homes over there. Well, we're we're gonna sell north of a billion dollars this year. So it turns out there are people that sell homes here. Um so I think that's a hesitation. For people. Um, and then it's cloud-based, there's no physical offices, so I think that people hesitate around that. But then what's smart that EXP did is instead of like going and I'm staring at an office building right now, I have a feeling this thing is like 50% vacant. Um, and there's a lot of real estate brokerages that have gone and leased up space and nobody uses it, but they're on the hook for that space, and that's crazy, right? So that's a lot of expense. Well, how does the brokerage recover that expense? They charge the agent. In fact, the Coldwell Banker office I just left that's coming over, they charge an 8% franchise fee on every deal because they gotta pay for all this damn office space, right? Like they got to pay the corporate office, it's huge, right? Like exp doesn't have any office space, no corporate office, nothing. Um, but what they did do is they did a uh deal with Regis executive suites, and now I can walk in any Regis. In fact, I'm going to work out of a Regis office tomorrow. Um, so I can go work out of any Regis office anywhere in the world and I can set up shop there. And the beauty is EXP only gets billed if I actually use the space. So instead of having to pay for space and hope that agents will use it, EXP just says if you use it, then we'll pay for it. And it's a much more scalable, predictable model, and you're not wasting a ton of money on space that nobody's using.

SPEAKER_03 45:22

So let's shift to the other side. I thought, you know, which is great, um, revenue share, right? What do people misunderstand about revenue share?

SPEAKER_01 45:31

So revenue share is important, but not for the reasons that people think. Because people think like, oh, if I go over there, I can just like stop selling homes and I can just recruit people and get rich and go live on an island in Hawaii. Like, no, that's that's not why revenue share is important. The reality is it's like somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of people in the company ever attract an agent in, which means like 85 or 90 percent of people don't. So that's not why the revenue share is important. The revenue share is important because it creates this culture and this community where people want to help others, right? I want to help you win because I win with you. Right. And the more you win, the more I win. So, what do I want to do? I want to help you win as much as freaking possible. Um, why did I just, you know, go drive for two and a half hours to do a meeting? Because I I want to help that Coldwell banker office that's coming over. I want to help all of them win. Because when they win, I get to win alongside them. That happens because of the revenue share. People are willing to pour into each other at a level that never existed before because there's an alignment of interest. Right. When you win, I win. So you want my listing presentation, it's yours. You want my contracts with my agents, with my employees, whatever you want is yours. Because if I can help shortcut your learning curve and get you to your goal a lot faster to winning, then I'm gonna win with you. And that that's where that fast forward movement comes from is like we believe everybody has goals and that they're all gonna accomplish their goals. Just a matter of how long is it gonna take. Well, if you can surround yourself with people who are at or above the level that you want to get to, you can surround yourself with those people and they're gonna help you get where you want to go faster.

SPEAKER_03 47:11

You know, it's interesting, you know, working with the systems and seeing the people around me and going through that with you guys too. You know, and I think everybody's big question to me is how, you know, I was talking to an office the other day, and they're like, let me ask you a question. How do I build a downline the right way? And I thought to him, I go, that's a great question, you know, to think about how you're structured. And I told, you know, I gave them that idea of what we have to offer and show it. But how would you say, what was the one thing you would say, how do you build a downline the right way?

SPEAKER_01 47:43

Sell more houses.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

Yep. Yeah, you don't have to recruit anybody. You want to attract people. Well, what's attractive to a real estate agent? Selling more houses. So Jeremy Larson always like comes to mind. Um, when he came over, he was selling nine million dollars. He plugged in, he showed up to the masterminds and he executed. He went from nine million to thirty million. What do you think happened? People started calling Jeremy, like, dude, how the hell did you go from nine million to thirty million?

SPEAKER_02 48:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

And then you know what Jeremy did the next year? He went from 30 million to 100 million. What happened? He got even more phone calls. And the people calling were bigger players that were calling. Then he went to over 200. This year, I think Jeremy's probably gonna do north of half a billion. He's gonna do 500 million plus this year. Jeremy's gonna keep getting calls. And Jeremy's the great example because he's not a big influencer, not a big video guy, doesn't speak on a million stages. He just works and sells homes. And people are like, How the hell are you selling all those homes? I plug in, I get on the masterminds, and I execute. People are like, Well, tell me about the masterminds. Well, why don't you just hop on one? Let me show you. And they're like, Wow, that's amazing. I learned more in that hour mastermind than I learned in the last year at my brokerage. Great, let's talk about it. And that that's Jeremy's model, and that's that's my recommendation to everybody is nobody cares what you have to say if you don't have production. Like if you're not selling homes, you're not attractive. Now you're recruiting. If you're making calls and you don't actually sell any homes, yeah, that's recruiting. But if you're actually selling a ton of homes, you're actually going to attract people to you. Right. And it changes the game and it's fun. But the thought of traditional recruiting, I get it. Like, that's not attractive to me. I don't want to make a bunch of phone calls and like, hey, Steven, come over to this brokerage. Like, no, I want to go sell a ton of homes and I want you to call me and be like, bro, what are you doing? Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

You know, it's funny so listen to that.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

But you have to be public, you got to share your numbers.

unknown 49:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

You got to put it out there. You got to put yourself out there. You got to say, like, oh, I, you know, I was on this, our mastermind of money. I got this great idea. Like, somebody gave a great idea. We were talking about how do you overcome the Redfin objection. Somebody's like, Have you ever actually pulled up Redfin's Yelp profile? No. Go on Redfin's Yelp Profile in San Diego. They have 15 one-star reviews. Right. They're like four stars overall. Like it's now that's a takeaway. So share that, right? Publicly. Like, hey, I was on the mastermind on Monday. I got this great takeaway. I wanted to share it with you guys. People were like, hey, what is this mastermind? And then boom, you invite people onto the mastermind.

SPEAKER_03 50:14

Right. So how did you did you start Fast Forward Movement right away, or what did you what made you shift into that?

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Yeah. So Dan and I and Mary Maloney, who started Fast Forward together, we just knew we were going to get together once a week and just kind of brainstorm ideas. And we were like, we might as well just invite people in case anybody wants to join us. And so the first one we did, there was like six of us sitting at a Panera bread. Um and we were just brainstorming. And then it was like we told everybody, like, hey, you know, next week we'll be right here, same place, same time. You know, bring a friend next time. And then there was like 10 people. And then there was 20. There was like, okay, we can't do this at Panera anymore. We're too big. And now, you know, that same mastermind, every Monday, we average north of 500 people on that mastermind now. It's a great mastermind. Which is which is crazy. That started as like six of us at Panera, but it was all around the thesis that, like, let's just share everything that we do. Even then, that was all of us are in San Diego. Like, it's not like I'm sharing with you where you and I don't compete. Those are all people in the same market, but we just were like, let's just open kimono, let's share everything. Right. And it turns out when you open yourself up and you share, that's attractive to people. Yeah. And they invite friends. And then the beauty is like, because that's how we started this thing was all sharing how we achieve the levels of success that we do. That's the culture of fast forward, is everybody shares. So now you get on a Monday mastermind and somebody's talking about like how to increase their listing conversion rate, and they're like, Oh, I send this pre-listing package. And like, well, what's in it? Here's a link, here's everything in my pre-listing package.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

That's crazy. Like, that doesn't exist in other brokerages.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

Nobody's sending you their pre-listing package that they use to beat you on a damn listing. Right. It's crazy. So that you know, that starts at the top. So if you want the culture and your organization to be like that, that starts with you. And so that was the way we started the organization day one was let's just meet up and let's just share everything we're doing. And you know, that's turned out really well for us.

SPEAKER_03 52:18

You know, it's funny as a um, because I had my own brokerage too. You know, I also went through that same phase of compass offering a bunch of money. I did the same, you know, it's funny you said that. Same reason why I didn't go after we actually signed the contract, and I was done with the contract, they started telling me what I had to do. I was like, well, hold on a sec. That's not how this works. And you're right, it was not gonna be good for my team. So I said, we're not starting. They're like, well, what are you gonna do now? And I was like, I had to reshift real quick. But one thing I really loved, and it's funny because I had everybody coming to me going, hey, you gotta talk to Kyle. You know, you gotta understand the XP. I'm like, well, I understand that. But the one thing I felt the first shift was I can actually run a team without liability. I was like, whoa, that was one of my first big wins. Like, I don't have to talk to another attorney again in my life. And as a team who does 100 plus deals a year, you're like, this is good, right? Oh yeah. Then the shift all of a sudden started going, oh, okay. You're taking in different teams, but you're also building something behind you because all of a sudden money will start coming in. And I didn't really, you know, to me, it's like, okay, whatever. Let me just keep on building, let me hit the 200 million, let me just do this, right? But it's kind of funny because it does make a big difference. And and you want to get to everybody, but everybody has to, you know, because they're so used to the big box and that's going away so fast. And they don't care about their agents. They don't want to care. And I laughed. I've sent people to go, hey, look at that. Just take some Monday, learn something, stay at your company if you want, just go learn something for a Monday. Let me invite you to learn something. And you know how many times, Kyle, I laugh and they don't show up at all. And I'm going, what did you do otherwise? And you know they didn't do anything. They weren't busy. Yep. They just were stuck. Yep. Stuck and not knowing what's next. Exactly. And now they're gone. But on the other side of this, I'm gonna flip it completely so we can end this right with you.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

I always love the fact, because I watch you every time you do things, you know, you do a lot of stuff all over the place, and your football teams, everybody. I know, I get it. You know, my Rams didn't win, so it didn't matter. But the idea of it is when I look at it, right? You know, you're a husband, you're a father, you you're a business owner, right? How do you structure your day under that game plan?

SPEAKER_01 54:46

Yeah. So my commitment to my family is I work four days a week. I'll be home by six. And the only reason it's six is because I have a commute. Um I and I bounce around. We have multiple offices, so I bounce around depending on which office varies my commute. But I'm committed to being home by six, and I just do one late night a week. So one strategic, like last night, I had a help this team do an announcement with like their inner circle last night. So I selectively choose like what's my late night. Last week, my late night was we have all these like clubs inside of our team because our team's gotten so big. We have these small little clubs, so we have a poker club. So I might use my late night to be to hang out with the poker club um last week. So that's just what my commitment is, and I am obsessed, right? Like, obviously, I took this podcast and I did this entire thing while driving in a car. Because otherwise, I'm gonna sit in a car and I'm not gonna accomplish a whole lot. So I just make the maximum usage of every minute of every day. So what I get done in an eight-hour day, like I've had people sit with me, like they'll come shadow me for a day, and they're like, is this what every day is like? Yeah, this is what every day is like. Like my normal day, there's usually like 10 to 12 calendar events in a day. There's just no downtime. So it's like I'm I'm gonna get everything done in the amount of time that's allotted. Um, and that's it. Like, but I'm gonna be so diligent with the usage of that time. I'm not gonna waste any of it because any time that I'm wasting during the day is time that I'm not gonna be able to spend with my family at night. And to me, there's nothing I'm gonna do during the day that's more important than spending that time with family at night. So let me make sure I do the right things during the day so that I get that family time at night. So you answer so many questions. It ties back to what I talked about with my dad earlier, right? Like not being at games or showing up late. Like I'm obsessed. There's I've learned this term of like anti-role model. There's role models, there's anti-role models. So, and I love my dad to death. Um, but I don't want to be that. I want to be at every game, I want to be on time, I want to be there for things. Even when I'm not expected to be there, I still want to surprise and show up to things, like you know, where my daughter knows she has something and I'm supposed to be at work and I'll leave work early to be there for her. Right. Um like I I'm obsessed with that because that time, you know, your kids, my my oldest is nine. Like, what do I got? Nine summers left with her? Like this, you know, like still huge.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

But you just said is the biggest thing that people don't think about, right? Because I was the same way. I had a dad who was a workaholic. We never had dinner before 8:30 when you got home, and it was okay. But he was he had his own way of his success. And I did the opposite. I was like, I'm gonna work hard, but I'm gonna calendar myself to make it happen. Um, you got so many projects, you got companies, you got real estate that you're buying and selling and doing your own stuff. You sh your balance, how does that all that exist in you?

SPEAKER_01 57:48

You know, it's cutting stuff off. Like I was doing development and it was getting to be too much, and I basically shut that down because I was it was overwhelming me, it was stressing me out. It wasn't it wasn't um fueling my or it wasn't filling my cup, and so it's like I I can't do this anymore. I cut the partnership off that I had with that. I I halted some of these projects because it was like I don't have the capacity, right? And I don't need the money. Like it was a fun challenge, but it was like if it stresses me out, it's not filling my cup, um, it's draining me, and it I could feel that like I'm really obsessed too with not only being there physically with my family, being there mentally. And I don't want the stress of the day spilling over to where maybe I'm home, but now I'm pissed off, I'm frustrated, I'm exhausted. Like, that's not fair to my family. Like, they had nothing to do with that stuff. So sometimes you have to realize your overcapacity. You have to be okay to admit that. Like I'm human. And and of course, I have the choice, like, sure, I could add working full days on Fridays, or I could work Saturdays, Sundays. Like, but that's that's my choice is I want to work those four days a week. Um, I don't want to go beyond that. And so then you I I'm faced with that choice of like I gotta let something go, or I gotta work more hours. And to me, it was easier for me. What I want in my life is the time with the family, so it makes more sense to let that other thing go.

SPEAKER_03 59:15

So uh on a funny note, right? Um, what does your daughters think you do?

SPEAKER_01 59:20

Um, my daughter knows because she actually sells to my real estate agents. So she started a company about a year ago this time, selling gift baskets to my real estate agents. Oh, how funny. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_03 59:33

I remember bringing my my kid around the business, my first daughter, she's like, I didn't know it's just what you do all day. Started laughing, like, yeah, this is what dad does. She goes, Wow, this is crazy. Then she started seeing the checks going and she goes, Oh, these are pretty good. Yeah, it takes a little time to look at those, but you get them.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

My daughter's actually been on my podcast one time. It was really fun.

SPEAKER_03 59:53

That's awesome. That's awesome. So, look at I I know I took a lot of your time today, and I I got I had I could ask you questions all day long because you're so knowledgeable on so many things. I mean, you talk about brand, you talk about AI, you talk about everything. And it's funny, I want to get more people involved with you too at the same time because you know, to me, I see you as a huge light for people to understand there is a better way. And the problem is is they're going to the wrong places to try to find a better way. And what you know, we always said like, you know, a manager is not the manager, he's not the salesperson. So you're not going to learn everything that you're going to get. But if you come into these networks, man, you get it all right away. But, you know, I appreciate a great conversation with you today. Um, what stands out for me is your journey. Um, you're just evolving all the time, Kyle. You know, and it's cool. I talked to uh uh Alan about you, I talked to all these people like, hey, I love the fact that how you and even Daniel, you're shifting around all the time, you're thinking about how to make cost-effective moves, how to make production moves. And you know, agents are always stuck, right? And the thing to get out of being stuck is uh being on these kind of designs that you share on and that you do, and being able to be open-minded instead of closed off because of what you hear on the outside, right? The outside is always static, right? It's always that blah, blah, blah, and get in the inside where everybody's making money and doing well. So, you know, what I love about it, you're a long-term win, and there's a lot of people who can is gonna get a lot of these little tidbits here today and and get the plants a chance to exceed in this in a sense. Uh and again, I want to say is you know, uh you are unique, right? Because you've done a lot of different things. You went to every different lead gen and handled it. But the most important part is you're able to express good and bad and make pivots quick, like you said, like the short sale process, you know. So um, for everybody who's ever tuned in today, you know, thanks for coming to Conversation of Legends. Kyle, thanks for being such a big part of this. And a lot of people are gonna be thankful that you actually shared what you did. So thanks again.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

Yeah, yeah. If you guys want to stay connected, just go to thewistleway.com, thewistleway.com. That connects to all my socials, podcasts, YouTube channel, all of that fun stuff is on there. So that's the best place to stay connected, or just on Instagram at Kyle Whistle.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:21

You got it. I'll be sharing all that in there too. So perfect. Sounds good, man. All right, hey, again, thanks again. I know you're busy. Do your day, and we'll talk soon, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:30

See ya, dude.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:31

You got it.