Lets Talk YPN w/ Taylor Labno

In this episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast, Maria Howell sits down with Taylor Labno, ECAR’s Young Professionals Network (YPN) Chair, for a lively conversation about what’s ahead for one of the Association’s most energetic groups.

Taylor shares what makes YPN such a valuable space for connection, growth, and leadership, along with a preview of some exciting upcoming events you won’t want to miss. Whether you're a seasoned member or new to the industry, this episode highlights how getting involved with YPN can elevate your experience within ECAR.

Tune in to hear how YPN is building momentum and how you can be part of it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the official podcast of the Emerald Coast Association of World Tours. Each episode we unlock market insights, advocacy updates, and member stories to help you thrive one key at a time. Welcome back, Ecar. This is Maria Howell, your 2025 president. And I'm here alone. I miss my comrade or our comrade, I should say, Chad Nelson, our marketing communications director, who um is under the weather. So we're looking forward to getting him back here soon and hope he's resting and um we'll feel better soon. So today I am here with Taylor Labno. Welcome, Taylor. Hi Maria, thank you. Yeah, so we have her on. She is our YPN chair this year. So we are going to talk to her about what fun uh events and meetings and whatever else we have going on for YPN this year, right? So I know we need to plug some events, but before that, we want to know a little bit more about Taylor. So tell us, Taylor. Where are you from? How'd you get here? How long have you been in real estate? All the good things.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Well, I'm from California originally. We got here in a car. Um it was middle of COVID, actually start of COVID. It was June. And I was working for Comcast and just took on a VP role, and then we they decided to have to relieve that entire department. So um applied everywhere around the US, found a job in Oklahoma, and my mom's best friend lived in San Rosa Beach, and she goes, You don't want to live in Oklahoma. I didn't. Um and I took uh three small part-time jobs here and moved with my son across country. So and then I ended up getting involved with uh Vacation Rentals, uh with Southern Vacation Rentals, and that was a great introduction to the Emerald Coast, and got my real estate license the same day I got hired with them. And the rest is history. I've just been in real estate and um now I'm the publisher owner of Emerald Coast Real Producers. I work with ERA American and I sit on a few committees, but I'm a chair of this committee, so yeah, and you've done some WCR work too, right? Yes, I was membership director two years ago with uh Women's Council of Realtors, Emerald Coast. Y'all should join that. Um, and it doesn't matter if you're a woman or not, you definitely need to go get some education, all of you. Um and um big, big, big advocate for um RPAC. So anybody wants to know my wife, please feel free to reach out. Happy to talk.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Because I'm RPAC vice chair this year. So yeah, thank you for spreading the word because we're still in our you know um fundraising mode. Yes, even though we had the big golf tournaments and next is our blind wine later on. That's the exciting this year, so that'll be fun. So um all right, so as chair of YPN, what are you really trying to build or change right now?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

So the biggest thing we're working on changing this year or addressing more of is the actual networking part of YPN. Last year I was blessed to go up to Chicago um for the national NARS YPN event. I cannot remember the name of it, but it was a very packed two days of meeting with YPNs from across the country, realizing that we do have a huge association because most associations are very small, um, and seeing that you can do a lot with a little. And the biggest gap I see across any of the businesses I am involved in is the networking part and the connection part. If you know me now, you know I network like crazy. Um, I can tell you three years ago that was not the case. Wendy at eCar used to have to come to my car and get our basket or whatever we were dropping off because I would hyperventilate before walking into a room because I knew nobody. Now I do not care. I've watched you, yeah. I look for people, I'll walk in and I'll look for people I don't know or who are very quiet and on the sidelines. But that's something that's a skill I've learned from my son who said it's just like being on the playground, mom. Just go up to a new friend, say, Hi, I'm Taylor. What's your name? And and I'm thinking I'm an adult, but it works. And most people are nervous to walk into a room. And some businesses don't know the marketing and networking side. I had actually Josh Kalla as a real estate coach, and he was teaching me all the real estate stuff, and I that was one of my things I had to overcome mentally. And he had said that it is your job to remind everybody what you do, not their job to remember what you do, and that stuck with me. And we were talking about networking and going into rooms that nobody knows you and how to put yourself out there, and he explained it perfectly like when you are an HVAC or a um painter, you're really good at painting. You you can fix any HVAC in the whole building, but your go-to is not marketing or networking. So I've clap I've we've um lynched onto or clapped onto that. And um, our big thing this year is to make sure that whoever our affiliates that are showing up to these events are getting in front of the real estate agents that are there, so there is an actual connection and relationship built because real estate agents stop coming if they're not getting a value, affiliates stop coming if they don't get a value. And it our next two events that we have, the biggest component I've drilled in is hey, this is great. We can do all these activities, we can go to these amazing uh arenas, but how are we connecting our businesses to the real estate agents? Yeah. So we have some game plans for each one. You have to come to find out. Um, but the next one is one of our bigger ones, it's the field day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Um you guys did that last year, right? Yeah, that was so fun.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

So we did change it from doing kickball because that's extremely um physical, and there's not a lot of us that want to be physical in the heat. Me is one of them. Yeah. Um, and it's less likely we will hurt something. So um it if you think old school field day, like at the end of elementary school, um, we have tugower, we have relay races, uh, three-legged race. Um, there's also they're all real estate themes. So there's also a lockbox relay race. Yeah. We have to go down, unlock it, run back. So we have three teams signed up so far. Um, it's a very low barrier entry for anybody who's looking to be an affiliate and sponsor. Um, we've made sure that we were very conscious of our budget, not only the one that we were given by the association, but also what our affiliates need to bring to the table to be in front of us. Um, so I encourage everybody to get in there, sponsor, show up. And if you can't be there, we have some sponsorship levels for that. If you can't build a team, that's where me and the committee come in. We will build a team for you. It's it's been one of the most fun things. And this is a family-friendly event. So if you have your kids with you, no, you got to watch them because I'm not watching kids. But we do not have babies.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

It's great for like the teenagers. So last year we had the board team and Chad and Shelby and and Shelby's girls were on our team.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

They had so much fun. Colby gets plugged in everywhere. Now he he's not he's not around anymore after the end of May. So he are actually right before this, he won't be around to participate, but he definitely gets used to get plugged in wherever we needed a body. Yeah. But we do have a robust um list of people who want to be on a team right now and they don't have a place, so we see some teams. And the biggest event that YPN hosts with us and our local association is the um summer solstice party. Okay. We've over the past few years, we've been getting better and better with it. And this year we've elevated it. Um, it'll be at Marina Cafe down on the lower deck. Oh, wow. So we're gonna get some amazing pictures. It's it's gonna be as close to sunset as we can get uh without getting into too crazy of the traffic. Um, but it that one is towards the it's in June, actually. I don't have the date in front of me, but um, it is online on the ecar Facebook page. Reach out to me if you need help with that, or reach out to Sam at Ecar. Sure, she'll love that.

unknown 7:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Um, but that one is an all-white attire, it's preferred. And um Kylie and Sharon Thomas have been amazing at helping plan it. That's one of the things we changed this year too with YPN. Yes, I'm the committee chair and Cortez is my vice chair, but we have um made subcommittees. That's good. So each event has two people focusing on that specific committee or on that specific event, so we have more eyes on it, and we're also teaching people how to plan this so then we have a bench strength as we grow YPN over the next few years. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Now, when is the YPN event? What date is that?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

That one's in June. I want to say it's June 25th. It's a Thursday. The summer solstice. Oh, summer solstice is June 25th.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

June 25th, and then the YPN field day is May. May 15th. May 15th.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yes, we used to have that on a Saturday. It seems like all the people that normally go have a bunch of kids that have sports. I don't know anymore because I don't do any sports. But uh, so we moved it to a Friday, and we've actually got a pretty good turnout so far. I'm very excited for that one. I think Friday's a good day to have that. Yeah. We'll take like happy.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

There you go. So, all right. So, what's uh sometimes a misconception about YPN? Like, who is it actually for?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

So I get a lot of questions and I've gotten a lot of DMs about this is young professionals. I'm not young. I'm like, well, mentally you are. Um, I hear that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

It's like, no, it's young at heart.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

No, young at heart, young and if you just started last week or even two years ago, you're still younger. Okay, if you're under 10 years in real estate, you are young in your profession. Because five years in, I still feel like I'm a baby realtor. Yeah. Um it's for anybody who feels that they need to get plugged in and get networked. Lena, don't focus on the young part of it. Um, I think the young really reflects the activities we do, like field day, the um summer solstice. It's more of a soare, it's more of a Hamptons vibe. Like it's not, it's more to network with people and show up as a professional. If you need to hone your skills as a professional, we do have a later in the year, we have a panel of um realtors and um our affiliates that are gonna talk about how to stand out in a crowded market space. Um, but it's really just growing yourself as a professional and getting to know each other. One of the big questions I get too is why would I want to network with other realtors?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Because I can call Maria at 8 p.m. and say, hey, I've got this is my scenario, this is what I've got going on. You've got a listing. Is it worth us driving in an hour and a half to your listing? Or is this not gonna go? Or hey, this is my what we're looking for. Do you have anything coming up that might be clutch? Um, so it's I thrive on having a long list of people I can call. I don't know how many listings I look at. I'm like, oh thank goodness it's that person. Because I know it can just be very much cut and dry, and here, this is what we need. That helps both sides. We're not getting clients' hopes up, we're not having crazy emotions back and forth. And it's and when it does go sideways, both agents already know each other and like, hey, yeah, we just gotta get it done. Because once we're both sig once the offer is signed, then we're both on the hook. So we might as well work together and get the deal done. So both sides are happy.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, that's that's my biggest thing. Even when we do new member orientation, you know, it's like, hey, go and network, go to these events because yeah, when you know the other person, you know, on the other side of the transaction, it makes it so much easier.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

I've had a really difficult listing. It was it was just all kinds of the property itself was all kinds of mess. And it was gonna be very it could only be a cash deal. And the fact I knew 10 agents immediately that would have buyers that would have this. We had over 18 showings the very first hour. This was two years ago, and or no, when the market really started really slowing. Yeah. And I knew there was not gonna be very many cash buyers for this thing. And we had 18 showings and we had a contract within the first day because I had done my homework, I knew who deals with who, who usually plays in that city in that space. It was easy to say, hey, this is going live at 4 p.m. Please check it out on MLS. Let me know if your people have questions, spread it out so we can get this done. Yeah, the property itself was a mess, but the situation for the sellers, they just had a couple of tragedies, and it was one of those for them to move on. They needed it gone fast.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Yeah, they needed to go. It helped. Yeah, it definitely helped. So, um, what makes a YPN event different from just another networking event?

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Because we do, because we are young at heart, we do things a little bit outside of just being this the normal professional networking. It's usually really high and vibrant with the music. Um, we do keep it PC. Um we want. Yeah, well, no, now we do in 2026, we do. Just kidding. Um we have learned from our ways and grown up. We're growing up in our professionalism. Yeah. Um, so it's different because it's it's I want to oh, this is gonna sound crazy, but it's more like the um those dating events you go to where you're mixing and making dating. Yeah, speed dating. Obviously, I've never been to one, but me neither. Um, but that's what I imagine it would be like. It's just high, high energy, yeah, um, very vibrant. Everybody's there to network. And there's not a whole we don't focus too much on education at each event. We do have one educational event a year. Um, but it's more just a meet and greet, mix and mingle. And if you're not used to networking, this is one of the best committees to start because we have so many people who are newer, and we have so many people who have been in the business a long time that keep showing up. Some of our affiliates, like Kayla with Waypoint or Albert with um Laurie JPEX, um, they both have been doing YPN for so long. They're and they're very good at networking and just welcoming and saying, come on with me and let's go meet some people. It's okay to be the person that's shy and not knowing what to do because we'll help you break that barrier down. So that's the difference is like we are our whole goal is to help connect people. And it's one of the easier committees to be on because we only have we do four events plus we do a joint one in December with camo.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Um, that's our it's only one we do anything with um fundraising or collecting anything. But um we have four events, they're very easy to plan, and because they're more of the fun events in high energy, it's a little bit easier too. So you get your feet wet, and then you get addicted to committees like me, and you sign up for everything.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah, sign up for everything, and then you get busy, and then then you realize you have to step back. Learn how to say no, which is a complete sentence. Yes. So um, what are you seeing from newer agents right now? I know we just talked about that, um, and where are they getting stuck?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

I think uh from what I've experienced recently is um there's a lot out there, and you get a lot of emails, you get a lot of text messages, everybody wants to work with you as soon as you become a real estate agent. I see people getting stuck with trying to do it all. Um, I've been somebody who's trying to do it all, and you can't do it all. I'll tell you that. Um multitasking is not actually a skill. It's actually, I think it's it will hold you back. Um, get with a mentor. And if you're not in a place or brokerage that has mentors or you're not getting the support, we have so many amazing brokerages around here that do have that kind of skill set or get to classes at e-car. If the test is great, it it just tells you how not to go to jail. Um it it keeps you out of trouble, but the rest of it, you have to learn on the job. Uh, when I got my license, I knew that it was going to be a five-year cycle before I built enough business where I could keep going. Um, some people, very few, I think it's the percentage is less than 0.75% actually hit it out of the gate in their first year and are just rock stars. Um be realistic with yourself and give yourself grace because I think I've seen people just completely cancel or get out of the business altogether because it's only been two years. Yeah, you're just getting your feet wet. Like you're just starting. Or some jobs, you know, usually it's a 30-day um training, and then you're pretty good is to run sales for so within 30 days we had them ready to hit the sales floor and making numbers. But this isn't you can do it. Anybody can literally pick up real estate and do it. You just have to have the tenacity and grit. But we have a huge support system. Like I said earlier, women's counselor realtors, that's gonna give you a higher level of learning. They have some great talent that comes in, and it's um a great place to get um referrals from. I get most of my business actually now from the referrals, and uh e car has so many classes that are free. Just remind you, they are free unless you don't show. Um but I mean, because I used to pay for my classes through the CE shop. Then I realized that we have all this classes on e-car.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

That's part of your dues, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah, I took the three-day course for Torino my CE this year. Um, I didn't realize it's not due till September, but that's yeah, yeah. But it was all done through e-car and it was free. I didn't pay the $199 online or whatever it was. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

That's really, really good advice for our new agents out there. All right, we're at the rapid fire time. Woohoo! Okay, here we go. What excites you most about the future of real estate? That is different every single day. There is no same thing anytime.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, that is so true. Biggest mistake you see agents make not connecting with other agents or not connecting with some trusted partners. Best way to build relationships quickly. Go to networking events, put your name tag upside down so people are forced to talk to you because everybody's gonna want to correct you and they'll come and tell you.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, that's good advice. One thing you wish more agents would do. Reach out for help. Don't you don't know everything, I promise you. What's one YPN event people shouldn't miss?

SPEAKER_01 17:22

The biggest one I would say is the um summer solstice one in June. That's it's top tier. It's gonna be pretty amazing. Um, and we got some great views on that, Dustin Harbor.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

So yeah, that'd be nice in your location, right? Yeah. So we switched, yeah, we switched it up. Yay. All right. So just a reminder we have YPN Field Day coming up, May 15th. So please get a team together and reach out to Taylor. How can they reach you, Taylor? Um, you can reach me by phone.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

It's 850-789-7727. You can DM me on Facebook. I probably will catch it in two weeks. Um, phone's the quickest, text or call.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Um, yeah, that's probably the best. Okay, awesome. And then the summer solstice party at Marina Cafe is June 25th. So please um be on the lookout for that uh coming out in the wave, and there will be a sign-up for that too, correct? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

It yeah, there is a sign-up for that, and we're always looking for more affiliates to sponsor our events. So please let me know if you want to get connected and get networked.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yes. Well, thank you so much, Taylor, for being on the podcast with us today and to hear more about YPN and what you guys are doing out there. So if anyone's interested, please reach out to Taylor and join YPN committee. It is the young at heart or young in the business, or just join. It's fun and you get to network. So, but thank you. Um, if anyone has any um ideas or topics or guests that you would like on this podcast, please let Chad and myself know. And we'd be happy to get them on and um have a great day out there. Goodbye.