Ep. 15 - Authenticity Sells: Lessons from 22 Years in Real Estate

If you’ve ever worried you’re the “lid” in your own business, this conversation will hit home. I’m Mike Duley, and I’m joined by Tina Johnson, CEO Team/ Leader of Keller Williams Market Pro Realty in Northwest Arkansas, to talk about what real growth looks like when you’re leading agents, recruiting talent, and trying to build something that lasts.

We get specific about the real estate leadership habits that compound: staying authentic, listening longer than you talk, and asking questions that uncover what people actually want. Tina shares how she thinks about recruiting growth-minded agents with integrity, why “attracting” works better than chasing, and how systems and models keep you from relying on luck. We also swap the resources that shape our thinking, from John Maxwell to The Infinite Game, plus why execution matters more than information.

Then we shift into wealth building and impact. Tina breaks down her family’s next venture: sober living homes for people leaving rehab who need clean, structured housing at a reasonable cost. We talk about what an ideal property looks like, why landlords could see it as a win-win, and how real estate investing can support affordable housing and recovery.

You’ll also hear forward-looking ideas on land, multifamily, co-living, and even how driverless cars could reshape development opportunities. Big thanks to our sponsor, Mutual Omaha Mortgage. If you got value, subscribe, share the show, and leave a five-star review so more leaders can find it.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Tina Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Real Mike Dooley Podcast. I'm Mike Dooley, nationally recognized broker, bringing you real conversations, real strategies, and real insights into today's real estate market. Hey, hey, real Mike Dooley. We're making it happen. My voice is cracking a little bit. Maybe because I'm about to turn 50. Is that like the new puberty or something? You're just young. But I have one of the amazing, amazing people in my life, a business partner, someone I get to talk to every day. I'm not sure if she loves that I get to talk to every day some some days. But I get the the awesome opportunity to interview and hang out with Tina Johnson. And she she she knows, and I say it a lot too, but I really want to thank her and Rob and her whole family. I wouldn't be where I'm at today, you know, with a lot of things that I learned from her 10 years ago. She taught me everything about contracts and we always tease in our Bentonville location at Kellow Williams. I'd knock on her door and knock on our door and always over there asking questions. But we're so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Thanks. Thanks. Well, I feel the same about you. So you've helped me in business and, you know, just helped me grow and give me opportunities, and I really appreciate that. So it works hand in hand, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

I'm gonna beat you to it. We know John Maxwell is your favorite. So when he listens to the show and he he ch uh tunes in, we'll have to make sure that he knows we'll we have to have a little uh a ticker that says every time we say John Maxwell.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

But I know that's one of your favorites. And it's funny whenever I hear that, I heard it I think yesterday on the growth call. So Keller Williams has a national call every Monday, and uh Colette talked about John Maxwell. And I smile and think of you. You're one of the people I think of with John Maxwell.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

And uh Doris is obviously a big John Maxwell person. But tell the listeners, uh, we have people all the way from Paris, and then I say Paris, Texas, Paris, Arkansas, and Dubai that are listening. What's kind of, you know, who are you? Tell you a little bit about uh your role, you know, where you live, where you reside. Why should the real Mike Dooley listeners listen to you?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

All right, my name's Tina Johnson. I am the CEO team leader of Keller Williams Market Pro Really here in Northwest West Arkansas. Uh Mike is the OP, so we do work hand in hand, like he said, uh to grow the market center. I've been in real estate for almost 22 years. It's hard to believe. Um, but I've been everything. I've been a broker owner, I've been a solo agent, a team leader. Um, so I work my way up and I love what I do. I love people and I love recruiting and changing people's lives through Celorams.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

And uh, you know, not any particular order. If we I got questions, I got things, but as a listener's, I would, I would challenge, I think, and I I've known you in a lot of those roles, every role almost for the most part, is this is the one to me I see you thriving the most. And a lot of that is because you're authentic. And what happens is someone comes to you and you've grown people's businesses, you've helped make millionaires, net worth millionaires, which is really cool. So you can help listen to someone and you listen very well and be able to help grow their business. That really is one of your passions, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah, I love helping people reach their full potential. And it can be, you know, different for every person,

Tina’s Path To Team Leadership

SPEAKER_01 3:10

but you really try to listen and really figure out what they want and help them get what they want, right? And so that's the name of the game when you're recruiting is uh and and being authentic. Um I am not a corporate girl, as I say. I am just someone who wants to really pour into people and agents and help them build their business and change their lives.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

And we we say, and it works is attracting. That's what we do. We attract people and attract to us. And it's it's funny when when we see someone and they maybe took a little bit longer. Francisco, I'll go through the list, which he's awesome and great. One of our continue to be future leaders, is when you meet them, they're like, Oh, I don't know if it's the right fit for me. But once you see someone in our organization and thriving, you you already saw it. You saw the puzzle pieces for them. They really connect and move it forward. So that is attracting and it is authentic. So if anyone's listening and you're a leader or future leader, I would say this too is kind of figure out what you're good at. Did you go through any journey or any people always say, what kind of tests did you take? What kind of tests do you give people? You know, I know we have the KPA and other things, you know, we always talk about disc and all this other stuff. For you, you've you've had to go through through some things, I think, too. You know, owning your own businesses, you've been highs, you've been lows, you've been different spots. Family businesses has got you to where you are today.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

That's right, that's right. Yeah. Um, I, you know, it's always about helping people. Even selling real estate is about helping people. So I just have evolved and I really grew myself as a leader. I took a whole year to really grow myself as fast as possible because I did own my own brokerage and I want didn't want to be the lid for anyone. So I knew if I was gonna grow my brokerage, I had to grow as a leader. So that's where my leadership and my personal development started. And I've just continued that and doors have opened, and um now I make other leaders and help them develop themselves. Um, so that's very important to me as to have leaders around me and help help them grow and as I continue to grow. It's a journey, right? Never get to the end of it. It's it's a constant um thing you have to work on and encourage other people around you to work on.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

You mentioned something tribe. You know, it takes a lot of people. It takes, you know, tribe of millionaires is one of my favorite books. And you think about it. You also mentioned lid. I love that. Me and you running the largest brokerage in the state of Arkansas, which is really cool. We don't sit, I don't think we sit down enough and realize that because we're always going and moving all the time. So anyone else that's a leader is one thing. We never want to be a lid. And together we're always going, hey, did you see this podcast? Let me share this thing. We're sharing it with other people, continuing to teach and continuing to learn. I don't know about you, but I never thought when I got into business I would have to continue to learn this much, you know?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So I would, for the listeners, what's maybe some of your favorite books, some of your favorite podcasts? What do you recommend to people? What do you share with them they should be reading or following?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So right now we are going through the Rookie Book Club. Um, and we're we're having a book club every week with our agents, but I'm really enjoying that because it's back to the basics. So I think everybody needs to read it. I don't care if if you've been in real estate for 20, 30 years, it doesn't matter. You need to read that book and implement some of the things in that book. I I really enjoy that right now. Because that's what I do. I coach, you know, and I train and I consult our agents. So, you know, just having those nuggets in that book, uh Jay is excellent in his writings. Uh, so it just um has really um I've really enjoyed it. So I and I think we'll use it in a lot of different ways in our market center.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Well, if you guys don't know, we'll put in the show notes is the rookie book from Jay Papason. He was one of the authors of The One Thing, and then with uh Dave Jenks and Gary Keller wrote the Millionaire Real Estate uh book also. But he's such a great guy, and obviously we get to know him personally, and I get to see him all the time, authentically, to your point. Just someone that I love following and so great. Yes, there's something that's coming out of the book in your 22 years of experience. People always go, Oh, you probably know everything in real estate. You've probably seen everything. I feel like there's every week me and you go, Well, I never thought about that before. I've never seen that before. After all these years, there's always something we're like, oh, I never thought about that before. How do we do that differently? Something in the book already that the listeners can go, oh, I can grab onto that.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

I think a lot of it's just a reminder that, you know, we're there as a guide and to help uh buyers and sellers through the process. We give them the facts and then understand really what their needs are. That means asking a lot of questions, right? And so you find that out and you help them stay on track, like uh not getting, you know, overwhelmed at times through the buying process or the selling process. So, you know, just really getting to know your clients and your fiduciary duties, do them at a high level, make sure you're protecting and guiding and and and um, you know, just coaching them and uh consulting them and and how to buy and sell a home.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

I know there's a lot of listeners that are loan officers, title people, other things in the real estate world, even entrepreneurs and business people. One thing I just heard you say, which I think you do very well, it is actually a challenge for me. And I have other mentors in my life that I always want to speed to the answer and I want to help drive my clients to this is where they're going, where I think they're going. So sometimes as leaders, we have to slow down. I think you do a really good job of that is just letting the person get it out so you're not rushing to a judgment or rushing to an idea that's yours and not theirs.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

We talked about that this morning initially. And it's asking a lot of questions, coming from curiosity and really understanding where they're coming from. And I do the same with recruits. Uh same with people that I'm see them at Keller, I want

Raising Your Lid Through Growth

SPEAKER_01 8:55

them at Keller, their talent. You know, I really tried to put myself in their position and really try to help them get what they want.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, and if you're listening, Tina has mastered and and and continuing to master, attracted over 100 people to our organization last year, and we netted 69 people, which was the number one uh we call them market centers, but Kella Williams' office in the whole world, which is pretty awesome. So pretty cool. So she's someone to listen to, so you're continuing to listen to. And that was something I wrote down in my notes, what you just said, is asking questions, because people can tell whether you're a loan officer, you're an agent, you're a leader, and you're asking questions. Are you just going through the motions? Are they just like, oh, they've done this 20 times? And when they talk to you or someone listening should know, no, this is the first time I'm busy with this person and face to face, and rarely asking them questions to get to know them. And I think that's a strength. Anyone should listen to you really do want to get to know them, not only just from a business perspective, from a human perspective.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yeah, understand them.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, did that change personality?

SPEAKER_01 9:57

I want to know everything about them that I can in order to help them reach their full potential.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

I I love that you think about real estate is not done the same way. You know, we we we did, you know, over almost 3,500 transactions last year, which is pretty amazing. And not one of them was done the same by the same person or differently, you know, from commercial to land to investments. So real estate can be done 5,000 different ways. So I love that you said connecting them, and that's what we're continuing to do, and that's why we're we don't want to be a lid for our people.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Right, never a lid.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Did you did you figure this out yourself? Like when you you so now you're five years as a leader uh here, one of the biggest brokerages in the state of Arkansas. Congratulations. And you think about it, we don't even think about that or celebrate that, which is cool, because we want to be the biggest brokerage in the United States and the world. Just keep keep going, right? Jubaya we're coming for you, right? Um, did you figure out a time in your career progression where you said, you know what, I'm either gonna slow down, be authentic? Did you change something? Or I mean, I've known you now 10 plus years. I don't feel like you've changed that much, but I mean, your leadership, are you doing something methodical, reading something, that something unlocked for you?

SPEAKER_01 11:07

So it was my journey to to raise my lid as fast as possible. Um I knew I might have the opportunity to come back to Keller uh after I started my own brokerage. And I knew if I was gonna lead 300 agents at that time, I was gonna have to grow myself uh to make sure that I, like I said, wasn't a lid for anybody. So during that time, uh, you know, I just I needed leaders around me. And that's why I came back to Keller. Because I, if you're um a brokerage owner, it's very hard to grow yourself by yourself. So I knew Keller had all the leaders um above me, around me, that I could grow so much faster than by myself and help so many more people. And through the five years I've been with Keller, I've been to lots of training. So that's taught me how to be a better recruiter, be a better listener, um, you know, be a better CEO team leader and run our market center at a high level. And I gotta say kudos to my team. I mean, um your team can make your break break you, John Maxel says, and it's very true. And mine has made me. Uh they're phenomenal. Um, so I'm very blessed in that area. But you know, it's not easy to attract and keep talent. You gotta continually challenge them and help them raise their lids. Um so but I think we've done a great job.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

And and I was gonna say too, it's it obviously we always want more out of ourselves and our people sometimes. But I love this about one of our leaders. Uh they they thanked me and you both for allowing them to challenge us. So in your leadership, sometimes you you talk about lid and other things, and this is something for me to think about. You always think, Oh, I know best, or I've been through it, you know, 22 years, 10 years, whatever it is. And I love that sometimes they appreciate them saying, Hey, I have a different perspective.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Me and you talk about this all the time. And this is where any broker owner, lit, anyone that's in any any brand, whatever it is, the real Mike Dooley's about helping all and any is young professionals. And we saw that, you know, before COVID, they talked about 54 years old was the average agent. Now that's pushing down, pushing to 40 and 34. So we're thinking about our growth trajectory. What does that look like? You know, so we're thinking about our young professionals. That's something we're looking at. So are there any any tools that you said I'd never be on that? Like right now, I find myself, I'm like, uh, do I need to be on Snapchat? Do I need to be on TikTok? Anything you're doing to continue to stay relevant.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah, I think it's a constant battle to be consistent and tell your story. And you know, I want a lot of people to know who I am, not because of anything to to fluff myself, but it's to let them know I can help them. So I really want to let them know I'm there for them and I know what I'm talking about. And I've I've consulted and and coached lots of people and I can help them too. So that's really

Book Club Basics And Client Guidance

SPEAKER_01 14:05

what I want to portray on my social media when I do my videos and and then we do fun videos, of course, to get attention. You know, Gary V says attention's, you know, the thing. So we do some of that too.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

And I I think that's something too that I even my wife wants me to do that. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable because you don't want to feel like this business professional or business acumen is like down. But we're all people, we're all human, you know. So I think they're really fun. What's one of one of your uh funniest ones that you've loved, one of the videos that you guys have done that you're just like, you know, you chuckle every time you see it.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um, there was one where we were all at the computer and it we got an email in that somebody's joining and we just went crazy. That was fun. That's because that's really how we feel.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

It was authentic.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Yes. Well, and I think too, we just realized that we've had so many people come through our doors that we really have been able to change lives. And I would say I want to change gears on one thing. But a funny thing is, uh Cody and I have been doing some videos. My favorite one was where they had me throwing paper at her.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

That was funny.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

And I I giggle and chuckle all the time. I don't know if she liked it so much, but I kept telling them, I don't know if I got that right. And I kept throwing papers at her. But I was gonna say one area that I saw you really change dramatically in my mind, maybe not dramatically, but really continue to raise it was when you started really investing in multiple ways. You became an owner of the office, which congratulations is awesome. Then you started to of as you know, a tribe of millionaires, and we do lead this thing together and we grow together. I think anyone listening should be asking their leader those questions. And we are constantly together. Here's our next step, here's our next step together, how do we do this together? So it's not also being a lid for each other. But I think when you got your Airbnb and then you figured out a way to get the camper on the Airbnb, and you got investment in this, and you got, you know, investment in the building, and it's it's kind of fun to look back, and you know, and I know you don't do it enough because we're just moving so fast, you know, you're exploring another building coming in the horizon. Is that is just generational wealth that's to keep happening, and you don't think about it, you know. And I know uh real fast, I heard on a podcast, Warren Buffett actually, in all his years, only made 12 moves that were significant. So, which is really crazy when you think about all the things that he's done being this multi-billionaire, and they talk about compounding, but he's sort of like it was 12 moves that made all that happen. Um more my question was too for the audience, too. Uh I know I know Robert and you have been in together, and Robert's more like Cody. We're a little bit slower to act sometimes on that, which we need that in our life because we need someone to be methodical, being an engineer and make sure we're thinking through everything versus just going sometimes. But do you think that helped unlock some things for you in your leadership and your life? I I did. I just, you know, from my perspective, I saw and I just saw you continue to you're working on and maybe we can share a little bit too. I'd love it too for any of the audience might help us. You want to go into if it's all right, maybe about the next venture that you're doing, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yeah, next venture is uh run by my whole family. So we are starting sober living homes and it's uh at level one and two. So it's after they get out of uh rehab, it's a place for them to stay and it's clean, it's sober, they have structure, and we really provide a place for them to stay at at a reasonable cost so they can get their lives back. So that's our next venture, and we're um you know, looking for our first home to open and we've got lots of contacts and there's a huge need out there. So um just it's a win-win and we can help people at a high level, and we're pretty excited. And speaking of uh, we talk about strengths well ago. Um everybody in our family has different strengths. So together we are one great team. So I've taken what I've learned how to run a team, and now I'm using it in our family to run a business, um, which is phenomenal to me and exciting to see uh where we can go with that. So and I want to thank you, Mike, because I think you give me the confidence um to go after different things because I see you do it in at a high level and it gives me confidence because I know I can always come to you and say, hey, I need help. What can I do? You know, and ask questions. So I really appreciate your um your ability and your that you share with us on in wealth building. We have wealth building every week. That was one of my favorite things because you unlocked possibilities for me that I can know I can do it just by figuring out how to do it right and how to do it in the best way. So I appreciate you for that.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

It takes a try. And Gary Keller is one of the people that taught me that. He said you can be anywhere you want to be in five years, and I believe that. So I think at your core, when someone says that, it's about education, about learning. We actually in our country, we have no we don't have a lack of information. We have a lack of execution sometimes. Right. And as me and you know, we failed five million times, but we don't spend a lot of time on it. Usually we say, okay, we fail from that. How do we learn from it? How do we move and how do we pivot?

unknown 19:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Uh so I thank you for that. I just think too, sometimes having the courage, and you need a tribe to do that, that courage, you know. And a book I would throw out to anyone is the Rockefellers. What would the Rockefellers do? And they talk about the story about them and their family. And I think they're feeding over 250 people. Imagine that legacy. Rockefeller's been duh dead for, you know, hundreds, hundred years or more,

Curiosity Selling Through Better Questions

SPEAKER_00 19:25

and he's continuing to feed his tribe, a millionaires, his family, and stuff. So you think about what you're doing and building something. So any of the listeners, all the hundred thousand people that listen to Real Mike Dooley, thank you. Make sure you subscribe, give us a five-star review. But if you know of something, can we let the audience what would be an ideal property?

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Yeah, we're we're gonna start off leasing. So anybody that has some property that they would like, uh, a long-term tenant, and four to four, two to two, five, three bathrooms um and bedrooms. So yeah, we want a little bit bigger house. So but we'll take great care of it. They have they will have chores and we'll know what's going on there all the time. You won't have to worry about a tenant destroying your property because we will be in it uh with these people and helping them. So uh I think it would be you know a great win-win for somebody that had multiple properties that they needed to rent out for a long-term purpose and help the community.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Uh as you know, real estate, there's ways to help people. So you you and your family are gonna make revenue. You're gonna be able to help someone that's kind of the the win-win-win. And, you know, so if anyone wanted to follow you or is doing this throughout the United States or throughout the world, it's Tina A. Johnson on Instagram. Right. They can message you or whatever, connect, or if they have a passion for it. I bet, you know, we've been talking about this. There might actually be some grants, some state grants, some government grants for doing this to make it a win. So that's something we were exploring. We were just talking before the show. Uh, one of the organizations, one of the companies in Arkansas is going to be relocating some people to work in their their company. And they're going to be on six-month visas. So this is just when you think about it, just unlocking ideas.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Right. Possibilities.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

For sure, for sure. And I I know one of my strengths right now, which I don't know if it's not a system, is I have a good memory. So what I'm afraid. Maybe 10 years from now when I don't have that, I count on that and I rely on that a lot too. So something I challenge myself too is how how do I move that forward, you know? Yep. So you're listening to some podcasts and books right now. So I do I started to ask you too. So John Maxwell obviously is one of your favorite.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Any of his books, read them. They're awesome. And I listen to countless and countless hours of YouTube videos with John Maxwell. That's really probably my basis because I can do it anywhere, you know. So, um, but I have I've read lots of his books too. So yeah, they're important to me. And uh yeah, lots of different books through Keller. Um of course our next book is Infinite Game. Uh our leadership's gonna read that.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Uh Simon Seneca, right? So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

So there's there's endless books that you Can always be growing and um the gap in the gain. There's all there's a lot of different ones that have helped me grow as a leader.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Dan Sullivan will love his 10x versus 2x, but I love the infinite game. I actually heard in the podcast, My First Million, and a guy came on and he talked about a football game. Well, you have you know 11 guys and 11 guys, and then there's an inf there's a default definite time or finite time that it ends, 60 minutes or whatever it is, but it's like infinite is business. You know, you think about our business. Did you ever think, you know, think about it? You were you've been at Keller Williams, you said real estate 22 years. Did you ever think, you know, you would be be an owner and be part of it? And I just think back to the infinite game, you know, we we we could own, and we saw John Maxwell, I didn't want to forget this part in Tulsa, which is very cool. And he was awesome, he was great. But you could be owning, you know, part of regions, part of other things, and that that's back to the infinite game is is continuing to to move on to other things and bringing your family along the way.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

So you could be well I love about Keller Reams because you see all these people doing all this these things that there's no lid, there's no um, there's no ceiling because somebody around the country at Keller Reams is doing something bigger than you ever thought about. So that's one reason I love that it's really uh unlocked all the possibilities in my life to really have a lot by design.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

And you know, it's it's funny. We were talking about this yesterday on a call, is everyone's welcome to any training, to every training. Uh to you have to find your tribe. Not all of them are necessarily the same throughout the United States. I believe they're on the foundation of God family business, most of them, and I believe, and I was talking to one of my coaches yesterday, I believe at the heart of it, people have the heart and want to help people. But I've what I've seen, when I've seen people either leave Kelly Williams or leave other brokerages, if they say the stat is people go to three brokerages in their career. And I know you've done that, so is uh what it is is they don't usually lose leave organizations sometimes. It's people.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

And what happens is, and that's why we don't want to be the lid, if for some reason someone's they're like, I'm not gonna learn from this person anymore, I'm not gonna grow. And we're always thinking about new things. I know right now we're looking at a multicultural division and thinking about that differently. We heard a stat that said the first-time home buyer used to be 40% of the marketplace. Now the Hispanic buyer is gonna be 40% of the marketplace. So any of our listeners, are you thinking about that in your organization? And we need to. Sometimes we might look up and might say, Well, is that our demographic of where we live in Northwest Arkansas? And yes, it is. But if you just have blinders or you have a lid, you don't understand that you're not growing in that way. I I I love the sober living. I was gonna ask you a question too. If you see real estate in the next five, 10 years, and I asked Henry Washington, I know you listen to the show, asked him about this too, driverless cars. I heard this, I can't take credit for it and I didn't remember where it is, but I'm thinking about it a lot is parking garages. If you had a driverless car and just follow me, you're starting to see them more and more Scottsdale, uh, Austin, all these places, and you owned your own car, well, well, you're at your office for eight hours, it's going to work. And you're actually making revenue with your car. It's the new Uber, it's a driverless, you know. So our parking garage is going to go away.

Social Media That Tells The Truth

SPEAKER_00 25:10

So one of the things that I think about, can you buy that and convert that to a multifamily? Because they're usually in a high dense population, a high dense area. Those are things that I'm thinking about too. And maybe you even phased it if you needed to. Kept part of a parking garage for revenue. And as you went along, there's a way to do that, maybe creative financing. But as you see the future, sober living, is there other things that you're thinking about, asset classes or other things and real estate that you see are going to be coming up?

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Uh for me personally.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Or just in general, you know, just for our audience, you know, you're you're seeing 3,500 transactions every year, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

We're just I was just at a training in a market center about land, how to build your wealth through land. And Mike, you talk about this a lot. And you do it. Um, is flipping land or buying and holding or just all kinds of things you can do because they're not making any more land, right? And it only goes up in value every year. So especially around our area, land is in high demand. So, you know, um definitely buy land and hold, uh, buy real estate, any kind of real estate, buy it, right? Right, but buy it and hold on to it. And, you know, our goal is to open a hundred homes in five years. So whether it's all in Northwest Arkansas or in different areas, um, you know, people go a long way just to get a home. Um, one of our agents' son just went to Jonesboro because there wasn't a place here for him to continue his sobriety. So there's a huge need for it. So, you know, we'll see where that takes us and where we're gonna go with that. Um, but multifamily, you know, you talk about that a lot uh in the area. And I even hear uh people sober living doing the multifamilies um and and helping people with uh have affordable housing, right? So there's all kinds of possibilities with this. Um and there's veterans you can help, there's um, you know, uh assisted living, there's just a lot of um under this co-living umbrella, you can do a lot of different things. So we'll see where it takes us.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

Speaking of, we need I sat next to a plane when I was flying to Florida to the chaplain of the veterans in Fayetteville. So we need to make sure we connect with him because he talked about half of the veterans here or so have a challenge with alcoholism. So there might be a way through government funding or something to think about that too. But I love land was never even really on my radar. But now anyone listening, land, there's when we talk about exit strategies, there's so many things you can do. I met with these people recently that they're maybe need drone facilities, so they need land, and it's only like 20 feet by 40 feet to be able to park land drones to charge them to be able to fly off. So it's more a temporary solution. But if you had land, you could do, you know, drop yards. There's so many things. When I was driving to Florida last week, I just looking all over at different things that you can do with land. You could split it, you could, you know, rent it, you could there's so many things. I actually had someone approach me about parking 18 trucks on my land at my house. And I was like, Yeah, think about doing that. Cody's like, I'm not looking at 18 trucks. But I was thinking it is for sure, and there's ways to do that. So well, good. I wanted to make sure for all our listeners where they can find you again is Tina A. Johnson, if they want to want to get involved too. I was going to go into a little bit, change gears, recruiting and attracting talent. You know, is is there something that you're thinking about too that maybe if you're listening, maybe there's a new leader? Is there something that kind of bings in your mind where you're like, oh, there's talent? I'm paying attention to it. Either a skill, a soft skill, the way they lean in. You know, sometimes too, our young people are not very good at eye contact, are they? So is there a few things that you're looking at that are just cues that go for our new leaders or people listening there going, hey, let me pay attention to talent, let me lean in. I know at bull, we talk about mirroring and matching the other person. Is there some skills or things that you're doing over 22 years?

SPEAKER_01 29:05

So w what I look for in a recruit is I want them to be growth-minded because that's who we are at Keller, um, and that's who I am, that's who you are. We never want to stop growing. So to find those people who want to grow and they're talented already is the sweet spot. Um and to attract them to Keller for the opportunities that's here that they may not get at other brokerages. Uh so that's um, you know, that's what the key I listen for that. Are they growth-minded? Have they done things in the past to help them grow? Um, you know, and and just being uh have integrity, I mean, that's huge. You know, there are agents that I don't recruit because of integrity issues uh with other agents. So, you know, you gotta have a standard and then you gotta see possibilities. And that's where all those questions come in. When I start digging and really seeing where they're coming from. And most of the time they don't believe in themselves. So I always say they just need to borrow a little bit a little belief in themselves from us. And we because we can see their possibilities, and then they do a few things and have some wins under their belt, and then they really start believing I can do this and it really changed my life if I have systems in place, right? A business plan, a focus, and uh and go by the models, as we always say.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

A little bit of luck too, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:28

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

But I love that you said that too. My own financial thermostat when I moved to Arkansas and made 29,000. You know, and you think about that too, there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. But if you want to have the dreams, uh one of the things I always talk about is Evelyn or Sinclair ever want to go to Harvard and they get in. Now, Cody's gonna say no no matter what, no matter how rich, rich we are. They're going to the University of Arkansas. But I always wanted to be that parent to if they earned the right and they did the work, to not because of me, because either dad was lazy or you know was a lid or didn't put in the work, I was gonna have to tell my kid no. And that's something I always think about all the time, why I keep pushing. A lot of people ask,

Investing Mindset And Sober Living Plan

SPEAKER_00 31:05

why you keep going? And Ben Kenny, I've heard him say this a lot too in different stories. He said friends or family members or different people need a kidney transplant or cancer things. And a lot of that is cash. If you don't have the cash, imagine your grandma, your aunt, whoever needs something. Well, you if you took your foot off the brake and you weren't able to do that, it's something I think about all the time. That's right. But as you know, when we bring people in our world, and that's what we see about it, you know, we talk about recruiting and attracting, but really we just see no ceiling in income. We're seeing people in our organization make millions upon millions or whatever, and they're doing really good things with it.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

They are. They are. Yeah, Gene Rivers talks about the same thing, uh-huh, about having enough wealth to to live your best life, and that can be helping your parents when they need help. I'm in that stage right now where my mom's in assisted living. So it does happen eventually, and so it's good to be able to help take care of your parents. And yeah, because they took care of you for so many years.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

For sure. Well, so you know, as a leader too, and you think about we already mentioned uh your grandma, your wife, your, you know, all these things, you know, business leader, and how do you really balance all of it? That's something that we think about too. And I uh to me, you know, and obviously I'm inside and outside a little bit both, I think you do it really, really well where I think you're thriving in all those areas. Is there skills that you have in place or parameters or or things that you think about um that you do?

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Um, you know, I always feel like I need to do a better job, as we all do. But, you know, uh my family's great. Uh we're close, they live in the area, my grandkids live in the area. So one reason I wanted to help them or build this uh co-living with my family so we could be together and learn together and grow together, right? And they could have opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise. So that's part of my strategy was to spend more time with them. Uh and I love business, so I'm kind of marrying, kind of cheating a little bit. I guess that I'm marrying the two together and and helping them, you know, understand there's no ceiling, you know. And um, so um it's just a balance, it's always a balance. So I love to work as and you do too. Uh so I have to watch it sometimes because I will work and work and work because I have lots of different uh hats I wear um and different um, you know, entrepreneurs uh have multiple jobs or multiple businesses that they're running in any one time, most of them. So, and I'm the same. I love it, and I'm always looking for the new adventure that can stretch us and grow us and build our wealth.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

So I think about you know, Wyatt and Haley and all of them over the years, and I obviously, you know, is at the office, I think too, I would challenge anyone listening if their leader is frowns on that. We actually are like, Hi five, how are you doing? You know, you're in the office, you're letting them experience it. My own kids too. I would challenge anyone, kids, nieces, and nephews, is let them be part of it, let them see it. I think that's some of the best learnings they can ever do. School does some great things for them, but still they can see in business how you're interacting, and they're gonna see you in a different light. So I think if I had to share one thing, I think it's super cool that you bring them to the office, they're at the office. Sometimes you got to be grandma, sometimes you got to lean in someone's at prom or you're doing the dress or picking someone up. You just we don't overthink that. And I think that's really cool to think about who your leadership team is, is that we all are like, hey, you got to bring your dog, you gotta do whatever, do it.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

We don't go, uh, I don't you shouldn't do that, you know. Sometimes Cody gives me a hard time. I'm not a big fan of shorts sometimes, though. Because I'm like, hey, if you're ready to go and you're doing a $10 million presentation to a listing, it's like, yeah, you know, but we're all people. That's right. It's funny, you know, you'll have your boundaries. But I think that's really cool too for anyone listening is to know, hey, we are people. We're real estate. It is one of their biggest financial decisions of their life, but we're not saving lives. And we think about that. So I would think too, we don't take ourselves so serious. We have high business acumen, but I would think we just take it off a little bit. Just saying, you know what? Hey, we all that's I think another reason makes you a great leader, and any leaders listening is sometimes we have to have grace.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

And me and you talk about that a lot. We've been through some things over five years, too. We have to just uh pray about it, ask for advice, ask other people that's been through it. I think that's something else as leaders, is Colin Powell says this too. If you don't have 70% of the information or more, you you don't act. So I think it says 30% or less, you do nothing, 70% or more you make a decision. And I think we do that really well too. And I think it's not, you're not alone in it, right? So I think that's another thing for the leaders to listen to that you do very well that I see every day is we might bring bring in a few more people to say, hey, what's your perspective? What are you thinking? Yeah. So we don't have this only lens, right? So and have you been like that your whole life, you think, or your whole career?

SPEAKER_01 36:01

No, I think as you grow as a leader, you you make mistakes on your own. So I need everybody's perspective because I only have one perspective and that's mine, right? Um, but if I see a 360 perspective of on a disc, a D and a C, they're totally different most of the time. Um one wants to act, one wants to think and analyze. But I need to I need to hear and see all that perspective before I make a decision most of the time. And I think you're much the same way. We talk about things, we we don't make decisions on a whim. We think about it and pray about it, like you said, and make sure we're making the best decision for the company, even when it's hard.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

For for sure. And I think that's very hard for a lot of leaders to do. Sometimes you want to make a selfless decision at times. We do our best not to do that. And one of the things I think that we do really well, so any other leaders listening out there, is we talk about it out loud. What about this? What about that thought? We actually get every idea out there out loud versus just, you know, keeping it in a bubble. And I think that helps too. And I do like that our some of our leadership teams is younger, you know, they're in their 20s, and they're sometimes we might have a perspective like I couldn't even imagine. I mean, most of the rents in our marketplace, which I never would have thought, are $2,000, you know, $1,700. I remember when I was renting for $800, there's no more of that either. So the cost of living, you know, it's something for us to think about too, and providing uh opportunities. Right. So I'd say another thing that I think you do really well, we do well as a team is also even though a budget might be X per salary, we figure out ways for other revenue.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Right. And uh you're great at that.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

You're really good at that.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

And uh yeah, I think always providing opportunities for people around you, whether they're your agents or your leadership team, um helps them stay with you, right? Because they're growing, they're not hitting a ceiling and they're being challenged. And yeah, I love that uh that we can do that for people and you do it for me.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

For sure. Well, your company is, you know, got to continue to to almost double. We get to 500 agents and you know, you're doing two billion dollars. We did 1.1 billion last year. Um, it does, I don't know about you, but sometimes it worries me. Uh, where a mean is am I the right leader to take us to that that place? You know, so I think any leaders listening, we have to say, okay, I am the right person if I continue to learn and continue to grow. Is that something you think about a lot too?

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Or all the time. Constantly got to be learning and growing. You know, we're up to 400 agents. Like, you know, it's a different market center than when I started

Future Real Estate Bets And Land

SPEAKER_01 38:35

five years ago with 268 agents, I think we had. So um, and we've got better people, like higher talent. So we have to be better to keep that talent around us. And I I think if I had advice for a leader, um, I think the number one thing would be to put your agents first. Put your people first, before yourself, before uh revenue, before anything, pour into your people. And I think uh that will compound and grow your organization. I've seen too many times where people don't do that and it doesn't end well.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

So uh that's something we always think about, what's best for our agents and and our market center, but really it comes down to our agents because they who they they make our market center, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:24

For sure. Well, and we're both still agents, if you will, you know, and thinking about I think that also helps. I think about any leader. Are you doing you don't always need to. Uh there's and and I was thinking about this when you're talking to we both have coaches, a lot of coaches. So I think any leader too, if you're hitting a lid, you might need a coach.

unknown 39:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

I think that's something else we think about too, because me and you could have perspective. But sometimes I always say one of Jim, one of my coaches, is talking to 50 different people.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

So a lot of times they're going through the same thing I am, but he's like, oh, I this just happened in uh North Carolina or whatever, you know? So you have that too. So for any leaders, you know, coaching is is very important. And I know that's something that's on your uh career path. We've been talking about a lot too, is so anyone's listening, Tina's. Yeah, we're thinking about coaching. No, we think about opportunities is is coaching.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

I think I could uh help a lot of team leaders because you know the average team leader is 18 months, you know, in their position. So I've been over five years. So um I have a lot that I could help them uh learn and grow faster than I did when you know, and I was trying to figure it out myself, you know. Um so yeah, I want to pour into people, no matter whether they're team leaders or agents or just people in general. I love helping people and putting them first and helping them reach their full potential, whether they're team leaders, agents, anybody around me.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

So I know we've been able to help some team leaders in our region and other places, but just kind of, you know, pieces here and there, how great would it be to pour into someone all the time.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

You know, it'd be super cool. I was also thinking when you're talking about your senior living and getting sober living, getting to 100. Uh, I don't know if you've thought about this or planting a seed to anyone listening. It's franchising. I listened to a podcast most recently talking about private equity getting into franchising. We obviously are in a franchise. It's there's already systems and models, and you think about that, we believe in it. They've already done half the work for you, if you will. Now you have to do the heavy lifting and the hard work, but the foundation is there.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

So for you, someone, you know, if they wanted to maybe do uh sober living in another city or state, Tina A. Johnson, hit her up on Instagram, it'd be a lot of fun. You know, but this is how it grows. Is you think about it. I know my kids go to Mobius, uh, which is a daycare place, an after-school place, and they're opening one in Wisconsin, part of a franchise, too. You just never think about who else is interested in doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

You already have the 22 years of experience, and someone maybe doesn't have real estate experience. As we know, you could creatively own or finance and maybe be in a property for nothing, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

That's right. And Keller Reams has taught me systems and models. So our first three homes, we'll be getting our systems and models in place, you know, so we can continue to open homes and have it run smoothly. So, you know, Keller's taught me a lot, and I'm very thankful to be here and have the opportunities to grow as much as I have in a relatively short amount of time. I think I joined Keller in 15, 2015.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Okay, good. Yep. And I was uh I was trying to think when I did it. It was like Valentine's Day 2016. So we've been together that long. Hopefully another 20 years would be great. But as we're wrapping up, I see you have your journal and your book on there. You probably had a little bit of notes. Is there anything you wanted to make sure from your notes we missed for the audience?

SPEAKER_01 42:37

No, just continue to to I think I saw something uh on a podcast or heard something, and it said, What would one thing that you the device you wish you would have took when you heard it? And I thought I wish I would have started personally growing myself as a leader before I did. Um, no telling where I could be now. Um, but I wish I would have done that many years ago, but better late than never, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Well, they say too, and you know,

Recruiting Standards Coaching And Closing

SPEAKER_00 43:05

I balance, we both balance to it. It's like you're hustling and you're grinding, but sometimes slowing down. I've had mentors say thinking time. You know, what does that look like? So actually like slowing down to understand as you're reflecting or you're kind of looking at the year or do that. So definitely highly recommend that. We want to make sure we thank Mutual Omaha Mortgage for being our sponsor. Thank you so much. They're doing great things in our offices and all the offices uh throughout the country. We would truly appreciate them being great partners uh for us. But again, this is the real Mike Dooley. If you want to follow Tina, it's Tina A. Johnson on Instagram. And our brokerage is uh Kella Williams Market Pro Realty. We are on Instagram and all the things we highly recommend. If you want to check out, hang out with us, please do. As you know, let's help this podcast grow for other leaders and other people in the real estate world. Uh go ahead and subscribe, share, reviews would be greatly appreciated. Love you guys. Thanks for joining us on the Real Mike Dooley. Thanks for listening to the Real Mike Dooley podcast. Subscribe, share, stay real. I'm Mike Dooley. Until next time.