Hey guys welcome back to the podcast uh really excited to have this conversation with you today, uh. I work with a lot of teams all over the world, a lot of top agents. Obviously, a lot of ceos of companies a lot of startups and everything end of the sun, and you know pretty much every single one of them says: how can i make more money aka? How can i increase my profitability? So i thought what i would do today, whether you're a brand new agent you're, a veteran you're, a tech startup you're in the mortgage business. It doesn't matter what you gross my friends.

The only thing that matters is how much money did you save at the end of the year, so i want to just share with you 10 ideas. 10, things that we know you can do 10 things that you can uh. You know discuss with your cpa. Talk with your team about talk to your tax planner, about talk with your spouse about and make some better decisions.

So, at the end of the day you don't have another year that goes by where your top line revenue is phenomenal and you're. Asking yourself, where is the cash so with that said, i'm actually, if you're, if you're watching this on video, you see, i've got my laptop in front of me and i've. I've prepared a deck uh that i've shared a few times with a couple: top teams and a bunch of our top clients. So if you're listening to me, i will be doing my best to auditorily express everything that i see inside these slides and i'm sure we will make these available if you're listening this at tomferry.com.

So with that said, uh increasing your bottom line and your profitability. So would it shock you to hear the first thing i would tell you you need to set a goal and make a plan right. You need to figure out like what's most important to you about this goal like what do you really want right? Do you want to do you want to gross 500 000 gross 5 million gross 50 million, or do you want to net 200? 000? 2.5 million? So, what's the goal, what's the bullseye? What's the target? A lot of the discussion i've been in with people is whether you follow okrs or for disciplines of execution or eos or any one of the other sort of management methodologies. It usually will say: look you need to set your sites on three really important goals that you and the team can strive for, and one of the things that i've been calling out for people is don't complain about your profitability.

If you don't have a profit goal, if you haven't figured out a way as a solo entrepreneur to express to yourself how important it is or if you're on a team, you haven't figured out a way to tell the story about profitability and why it matters. To your team right for you to grow for you to scale, for you guys to be able to hire more people because you're, the founder and you're taking lots of risk, and you want to be rewarded for that. You want to pay more bonuses, whatever it may be, but it always starts there like setting a goal and making sure that this is something that is up and visual for you in front of you at all times uh. So we can track and measure against it.

Um and then i wrote down behind that. Obviously some other questions like what's important you about this goal. Like so you say: hey, you know, i'm gon na make 400 000 in my real estate business this year and what i really want is. I want a hundred thousand dollars after taxes, after all, my costs to save right.

So, what's important to you about that motive, matters right! If you say you want to be profitable, you got to get clear on why you want to be profitable. Don't just you know! Well, you know, of course i want to make more money. Well, i hear that from people all the time. Why do you want to make more money? What is important about this goal and then the second question i wrote down behind: that is: what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve your profitability goal? Heads up there's a lot of people out there that you know what they do when they have a problem.

They throw money at it, they throw money at it. Thinking that money can somehow solve the problem and hey, maybe you've gotten lucky in the past, and maybe it worked, but generally speaking, i found that it's more important for us to roll up our sleeves and actually figure out what we can do that cost us absolutely Nothing to increase the profit or solve the problem too many people just throw money around like it's everywhere or they've, got this mindset. Well, i'm just. I just need to close one more deal.

You know if i just sell i'm looking at tristan. If i just sell one more bike, then hey, i can get it right like you know, it's just one more thing and that mindset so so maybe the sacrifice is you're, not spending your money on dumb you-know-what for a while right and then the third question. Just all under this first point of setting up a goal is asking yourself who else can support you? I remember when my wife and i now 27 years when we got married one of the first things we did is we put up all of our debts on the bathroom mirror of our house on vista and toronto and newport beach. This little, you know tri-level whatever condo thing we lived in and on that bathroom mirror.

It was like okay, this much debt, this much debt, this much debt, this much debt, this much savings and and the support of both of us being aligned around hey. How much money can we make and how fast can we get out of debt, so we can actually go out and do the things we really want to do, and you know it was the early stages of our marriage. Obviously it was a new relationship, so maybe it's that or maybe it's with your assistant or maybe it's with your tax planner or your banker or your financial planner or you know your uncle larry. Who really wants you to do well? The bottom line is this right? The more accountability you create and structure you create around this, the more likely it's going to happen.

So if we just stop right there - and i just said you look - you want to make more money set a goal right, get crystal clear on why it matters and then figure out, what's important to you about that goal. What's the, why behind it, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it and the last one is? Who else can support you from there? It should be pretty obvious the second step, and these aren't chronological. This is just you know. The second thing that i wrote down is you've got to create a budget.

So it's interesting to me. You know now uh having started as many businesses and then consulting for as many companies as i have uh. You know when i, when i'm developing the plan for the year, we're usually starting with the financial budget right. So in your case, you need to look at your costs right.

So you know, if you think about like a typical uh good real estate, professional loan officer. Uh they've got an assistant right, they've got uh marketing and lead generation costs, they've got uh education and coaching. Yours truly you've got supplies and you've got printing you've got listing launches. You've got all things: tech right, communications, tech, you've got all of your dues.

You've got auto insurance insurances, eno equipment, you start breaking all that down and what i tell people is look at the end of the day. You don't want to have more than 30 fixed cost and i don't mean fixed and like you can have some variable. Obviously, inside there, but no more than 30, which puts you at a 70 margin business like that's a really good business right, so obviously from there you're gon na budget, your taxes - and you know, you've - probably seen one of my most uh popular videos on youtube. Where i say look, there's three kinds of money: managers, people that are incorporated people that take money and they automatically every time they get a check.

It goes to their business account, a percentage goes to their tax account and then the balance goes to run their home life and their savings and everything else. So i'm going to assume that every time you get a check, you're budgeting for taxes right, whether you are in the u.s or canada, or europe or australia, or new zealand or mexico, wherever wherever i find you today, south america um taxes are just a part of What we pay to be in business and do what we do in our country, so i say to you: don't complain about it, just allocate for it right figure out a way you can make even more money. So you get the net that you want. So again, back to back to this second point: around budget is set up your operating expenses and try and have it be no more than 30 and then figure out with your cpa.

Having a conversation there to say, you know what, after my expenses and my write-offs and all the things that i'm able to do, you know what am i looking at as a as an estimated percentage of my uh, you know post-cost profit and therefore taxation and then The balance is your profitability and and here's the thing. It's not a tricky formula. It's it's not complicated. Um.

If you say to me, i'm just not a math person, i'm just not good with math boy, don't say that to someone you're negotiating with and don't say it to yourself like this: is your business and and money and profitability. If that's your aim and that's why you're listening this, you have to start saying yourself: business is math and i'm a math person and profit is math. I'm a math person and you know what like having a big savings. Account is a math equation and i'm really good at it.

I mean, if you're going to lie to yourself. You might as well lie to yourself in a positive way. I feel like i'm talking fast. I don't know.

You'll have to give me some feedback and let me know so operating expenses again. You know if you, google, uh typical operating expenses for a loan officer typical operating expenses for a real estate professional for a large team for a brokerage for a startup company for a tech company. The good news is you're. Gon na find a lot of information out there, but start by just looking at all of your existing costs over the last 12 months.

By the way, do you try and put everything on credit cards right, ideally, a credit card that publishes a list for you at the end of the year that says: here's all the money you spent on marketing, here's all of your meals. Here's all your entertainment! Here's a bunch of service providers, so at least you can begin to look back and say over the last 12 months, right, ttm trailing 12 months. Here's what my expenses were right before we look at. You know some of the other points which are going to be.

How do we reduce some of those expenses, reduce some of the waste and, most importantly, figure out how we're going to increase top line revenue so operating budget? That's number two number three is, i would argue if you really really really want to have a higher profit, you need to create a monthly p, l, accountability meeting. Let me say it to you again: if you want a higher profit, you need to create a monthly profit and loss accountability. Meeting right - and in this case you know, with your team, with your coach, with your mastermind, with your cpa, with your financial advisor with your spouse, with your puppy again, the more structure you have around, it's funny, i'm looking at tristan right now and how many times I've said him: how much money do you have saved like right, he's laughing right, because it's like the the people that i care about? I want them to win financially right. It doesn't matter how much you make it matters, what you do with your money and how much you're able to be disciplined and save.

So you know how's your stock, you know how's the stock portfolio. Doing right, which again you know you can't see tristan is behind the camera or actually on his phone multitasking, while i'm recording a podcast. My point to you is, if you don't, have the accountability in place right you're not going to do your p l you're not going to pay attention to it, you're going to fall into the trap of. Let me just go find another deal.

Let me just make a few more dollars and then oh now i have taxes owed and you got to scramble and that's just not the way you want to be. You know uh on a board call recently for one of the businesses that i'm super excited about. It's called legend spirits and we have uh one of the fastest growing tequilas bourbons, it's you know, spirits, company and then a new wine project and myself and martine and chris and to the senior executives. You know we're beating up the profitability of the company and even though it's a spirits company, it's a startup company.

If you know anything about those, it's not often based upon profitability, it's more about how many cases you can sell and how fast you hockey sticking. I can't help it i'm like look: let's talk about what our costs are: who's being effective, where we have money waste where, where do we have opportunity for greater growth, because you have that kind of accountability in place like i just know it's going to be a Tighter ship, so i would challenge you as you're. Listening to this, do you have a p l every month right? Do you have someone you your spouse? Do you outsource it there's a lot of outsourcing solutions if you're a software junkie, there's tons and tons and tons of software, but somebody has to input all the data, no matter what you should know, how much money came in how much money came out and how Much money is left and then what goes to taxes and then what goes to the house and what goes to my actual profit. You got to know it.

You got to know it if you still want to be as profitable as you say, you got to know. Speaking of number. Four on my list is just a question. When was the last time you sat down and reviewed all of your expenses or better yet asked your operator, your assistant, your admin, your spouse or whoever's helping you manage the money or your cpa, to review everything.

You spend money on everything you spend money on. You know they might say to you: you have a 400 a month, starbucks bill. They might say to you what in the world are you doing with 800 pairs of shoes right now? I don't know, but i know a lot of people spend money on dumb stuff. A lot of people spend money unnecessarily and i'm not saying look, i'm i'm listen.

I'm not perfect! Believe me, if my wife is listening right now, she'd be like you spend money on this and this and this and this and yes, yes, we all have those things. I, though, have a quarterly plan where we sit down and we review all the expenses. My cfo myself, my outside counsel, right, my cpa, my tax people, where they're auditing, the books and they're making sure like hey. You said you were gon na.

Do this? Here's? What you've actually done and then they just point things out like what was this cost or how come you had this decrease in expense right and when you have that kind of support, and this may already feel overwhelming for you - i don't know - maybe you're looking for Some magic formula, some cookie that was suddenly you're gon na eat it and become profitable. That's not how it works. You got ta work it like everything else. You got ta work it you got ta pay attention to it.

You got ta manage it. You got ta hold it accountable right. You got ta like constantly rigorously examine and re-examine what you're doing so. The question is: when was the last time you asked the people around you to look at all your expenses and propose a three percent: five percent 10 reduction in non-growth costs.

That's the key! Now i'm not saying you have to do it, but when was the last time you actually looked at all your expenses. That said, could i make a three five or ten percent monthly adjustment or annual adjustment in in a reduction of non-growth costs? Right so remember in business, you've got cost centers and profit centers cost centers and profit centers cost centers. Are i put money there, but it doesn't generate any more of it. So that could be a simple example.

Maybe it's a runner that you have right someone? That's doing all your running and you say well, no, they do make me money because they free me up. Okay, great. So then it's a profit center for you but kind of uh. Maybe it's the third car that you own, that you can't write off but you're paying for as an example, um, you know, know your tax laws.

The bottom line is look. If you say to me well gosh, i can cut back on my ad spend on name the platform. I would say you will wait a minute. Let's look at the numbers every time you give that a dollar you make four, that's a profit center, don't cut that back right.

Instead, let's look at a femoralization. How can we get more from it? How can we increase conversion? How can we do even better and then maybe spend even more because anything i can put a dollar into and get four out? I want to give it like four million dollars. You with me on this. It's a math equation, so really good to do that with your cpa, because they're going to look at it completely different and actually make you break down and and thoughtfully share what you hallucinate to be true as to why you spend the money.

The way you do it's a really good exercise, especially if you want to be profitable. So what are you thinking about so far? I think i've gone through four of these and i'm only going to do 10. um. What are you thinking about so far? What are you going to do? Set the goal? P, l meeting is it you know making this one of your primary objectives for the year.

Getting clear on your motivation? Is your budget right? Is it creating some accountability on a monthly basis? What are you going to do? Do you all the above, so let's go one step further number. Five, if you say to me, i want to become more profitable, i'm going to say, then you need to measure the marketing investment that you make. You need to measure the marketing investment that you make, so you can figure out the conversion percentage and therefore the return on investment by lead source and, if you're, a team by sales associate. I was talking to spring who's.

The wife of brian brian is the founder of sisu and we were chatting. You know she had more than 250 transactions in the last 12 months and that's a that's a serious business right in the real estate business anyway, you add it up. It's a lot of transactions and we were chatting in a live show actually, where i was the guest and she was saying you know, one of the big breakthroughs for her was actually looking at each one of her sales people each one of the lead sources that She gives to them right. I gave you a zilla lead a realtor lead at this price point versus that price point, and - and she started to to realize that people that she thought could convert really well, actually didn't, convert all that well and people she thought were kind of the you know Tortoise versus the hair that the tortoise was winning and the only way she would know that is if she measured so so, if you really want to be profitable, you got to stop rolling the dice.

It's not just your budget, it's also. Okay. I got five sales people on my team. I give them all the same amount of leads tristan seems to outperform tom.

Could i give tristan more leads right because, if he's making me more money on my return on investment for my cost, like that's just common sense and before you say well, is that fair? I don't know like somebody in baseball's, got ta, be clean up right and they usually put that person in the fourth position, because they have the highest probability of knocking it out of the park and putting in runs right and the the guy or gal. That's gon na bat. First, they have the highest probability of getting on base to create momentum. Listen, i don't know what your meritocracy is, but mine is like hey if you know how to kill i'm going to feed you a lot right, because i want you to eat.

I want you to be happy and be successful, so think about it. For yourself, you might be a solo person, the solo agent saying well gosh, you know, i think my highest profitability is on my past clients and sphere, because there's no cost there and then i'd say really. Are you sure? Have you broken down gifts and holiday events and all the things that you do have you looked at the fact that you might be decreasing your commission on average, because they're friends, you know, maybe there's some outlaw costs, you're really not paying attention to so so, maybe, As you're listening to this, maybe the note that i would make is i'm going to go back and i'm going to break down every one of my transactions and figure out all the costs i had associated to them. At least the upfront, the the leading cost, the direct mail that i send, the cost of the email email's free.

No, the software isn't free right. The time isn't: free, uh, the amount of text messaging and the sms software that i might be using right. There's a cost associated every ounce of this business, even your own time, so number five measure, the marketing investment, the conversion percentage and the return on investment per lead source by salesperson. That's a lot, but it's so big.

All right! Let's go to number six! I think it's actually number six uh. This is a great one. I love this question i'll sit with people all the time, especially with like really really smart. People like you who is listening to this podcast, and that is what is your most profitable transaction, and how can you scale it dramatically? What's your most profitable transaction and how do you scale it dramatically so i'll give you the back story on this, because the slide that i'm looking at actually has a bunch of sugar cookies on it.

So i was uh. I was introduced to a guy named mike mike and his family have built many very successful businesses, um uh, i'm now spacing on it, that's horrible, but one was a very famous clothing line. Sorry, mike, if you're listening, tim smith, you know who i'm talking about you referred me anyway. I was sitting down with mike and he was saying to me.

You know i've thought about making this investment into real estate, that investment into real estate would love to just pick. Your brain tim, you know, spoke highly of you and i said yeah, let's meet so we sit down. I'm like give me your background. Give me your backstory, he says.

Well, you know st john nitz. Thank you saint john ned, so he said you know um my family started this company and then they sold it and i think from memory i think from memory he bought it back again. I think they sold it again, not 100, certain. So no fact checking here on the tom ferry podcast just from memory.

I got a smile out of tristan, that's good um, but long and story short. I said so what'd you do after that he said. Well, i decided i'd go into the cookie business like cookies, like you know like chocolate, chip oreo. That kind of thing - and i said, tell me more about that.

He said: well, you know i learned a long time ago that you can pretty much look at every business and say to yourself if you're going to be in business, you got to have the macadamia nut and i remember, like writing, notes in this. In this breakfast meeting, like macadamia nut and like okay and then he goes and you got ta have the chocolate chip and i was like i'll get chocolate chip. Then he goes, but you really got. Ta have the sugar cookie and i'm like okay, sugar cooking.

Of course, my response was what the hell are you talking about, and he said: okay metaphorically, the macadamia nut is that is that super exclusive, very high-end, uh. You know piece of your business that you know. Maybe you sell one now and then and it's just bonkers, but you know, there's a lot of competition and it doesn't happen. Often i was like okay, i could think of that.

Like super high-end, real estate was kind of the direction. I was thinking here that odd crazy property - you might sell, got it and then he said, then you got to be in the chocolate chip space, which is like the bread and butter space everybody's in it. It's uber competitive, but there's a lot of cost there and there's a lot of competition. There there's a lot of um.

You know things that would would impede. You know high profitability because of just margins to do that business he said, but then there's the last one, which is the sugar cookie kasha very little. You sell a ton of it and you got all the margin in there because of the low cost, and i was like cool and of course i'm listening to this guy and he's wildly successful and and of course you can play with those three in a lot Of different ways, but what it really got me thinking was for all my clients. What is the most profitable transaction you do and how can you scale it? So if you want to increase profitability, if you go back to the earlier comment that i made, which was you should be measuring against every one of your lead sources, what your conversion percentage is and what your roi is for you and for your sales person.

This one falls into it more so so you know i'll give an example like in the real estate space, as zillow has moved from, you know, i think five different financial models of how they would sell a lead or a contact to now ultimately saying we want A referral fee with their flex program and they're, not the only one, and i know some people will be like yeah and some people were like right. Forget you know let the emotion go. Just listen to the example um. You know.

A lot of companies are doing this home light and up nest, and you know op, city and just on and on and on and on it's become it's become part of the game. What i tell people is, look you have to decide is that a profitable transaction for you, yes or no, and if it is a profitable transaction, you should take on as much as you can. But last time i checked for most agents. The most profitable transaction is the listing that they take that they double end.

Think about what i just said there it's the listing. They take that they double in. I know some countries, some states right, there's there's some legalese around that. But you know i'm not telling you to break the law under any circumstances, just saying as an example: that's a really profitable transaction.

Another really profitable transaction is, for example, a come list me call from a geographic farm where you know you've been farming that area for years, and you have baked in so much trust and so much respect in the community that you're just on the consideration set for A really large number of people and they call you and say, hey lydia, it's time to move, we want to sell our house and you're our gal and - and you know you could say but gosh tom. What about the upfront cost of direct mail and i'd say? Look again if i can spend a dollar and make seven that's a profitable transaction, and that seems to be pretty typical for the vast majority of more experienced, more mature geographic farmers. As an example, another one could be agent agent, referrals right because gosh i just built this network and this brand and i'm really like i'm engaged with this great community and i yeah - i pay a 25 referral fee, but really what i'm doing is i'm just relating And hanging out and having a ton of fun and bringing value and being a part of this community and the the 25 sure it's a price of doing business but man, i love it so yeah, maybe it's less profitable, but you'll love it right. Maybe that was a bad example.

You know what i'm saying: i'm just giving you ideas: um, calling your past clients in sphere, very low cost, very high return, uh, calling an expired listing right, someone that tried to sell and it didn't work out very low cost very high return. Right and again, if you can double end it even better, my point is: if you just go back and you analyze through csu or any other, you know any other platform that you use in excel spreadsheet, to really break down each one of your transactions figure out. The one that makes you the most net dollars for the time and money right allocated to it and then ask yourself how can i do way more of it and if you can scale it that should be part of your concentration because that's going to increase profitability. So, let's keep jamming, i think, i'm on number seven.

I didn't actually write any numbers on these, so we'll see how it goes. Uh number seven is this is kind of a simple one, but a complex one, which is you need to maximize all available. Write-Offs and expenses, which really means you need to know your tax laws, like my guy manny, big, shout out to manny and uh emmanuel ramirez is his actual name. If you want to google them, you know an unbelievable cpa.

Tax planner part of a huge firm. They deal with a lot of businesses when we first started working together. I was very blessed that he'd even take me on uh, because i had a very small company when i first started with him, so i've been able to grow with him. Manny is one of those people that, like i know as you're listening to this you're like well, i don't have a manny.

You know my uncle larry does my taxes, my aunt martha does my taxes. Let me give you a heads up. If aunt martha's doing your taxes you're making a big mistake if uncle larry is doing your taxes just because he's good with a calculator and you're not like that scares me you're running a business, you need to surround yourself the the financial fortress. In my opinion, you need to have around you with a great attorney and then a really great attorney if something's really wrong a great cpa right, a great tax strategist, a great tax planner people that it is their mission every single day to know legally and morally.

Every single thing you can do to minimize your taxation to have increased profitability. I don't know a wealthy person and i don't mean wealthy, like bazillionaires, i i don't know a wealthy person, that's got 5 million bucks, you know saved, or you know 10 or 20 or 100 or 200 million that doesn't spend time, studying the tax laws or spending A lot of time on the phone calling their people and saying hey, i heard about this: what do we do? What are the options? How do we make it work, even if just to brainstorm? So if you don't have that financial fortress, if you don't have that team, i would strongly recommend you start interviewing. People start asking more successful entrepreneurs that you know hey. Who do you work with? Do you like them? Would you refer them? Yes or no? What do you like, what do you dislike, etc? How accessible are they um? I will tell you like: when we buy real estate, i usually end up calling two people before i actually call the agent about the property.

I call my my tax guy right and i call my bank, and i say this is what i'm thinking about doing my my not my lender, my banker um, and i don't mean that, like i'm, some, you know who be do i just mean, like you know, If you bank, with someone long enough and your business deposits enough money, they will eventually say, would you like to have someone that talks to you and thousands of other people that are probably you know more successful than you are as they are with me, and then I call them and say: hey, that's what i'm thinking about doing like you know how what what should i be looking at? What should i be considering you know, can i pull off this deal, etc? I surround myself with those kind of people, because you know what i need people to say. No, i need people to say bad idea. I need some people to say you heard that information. It is incorrect, you cannot do it or it doesn't work in our state or it doesn't work in our country, etc, etc.

Right, because the last thing you want to do is make a mistake with your taxes, just saying all right: let's keep going you're like profitability. You're talking taxes, heck yeah, you want to increase your profitability legally minimize your taxes as much as you can, and you get the rest. That just makes a lot of sense to me all right. Here's an easy one! You want to increase your profitability, raise your average sales price.

Let me say it to you again: raise your average sales price. All you got to do is go back to like j abraham 101, three ways to grow any business increase the number of clients increase the frequency of purchase or increase the average purchase price same amount of work higher commission. So i would ask you like look around on your marketplace. Are you most comfortable at price x when price above x is available at this point, especially as a tom ferry client? As a someone in my community, you know that you can market your way into any price point yeah.

It may take a little more time and sure there's lots of competition, but there's lots of competition in every price point. So if you can raise your average sales price, do it many of my clients, we say every single year as we're doing our budgets. We say: okay and we'd like to sell the most expensive home we've ever sold ever in this year, because that one commission, that you know if your average commission is 10 000 and you suddenly do one for 40 or your average commission's 40 000.. You suddenly do one for 400, 000 and yes, those happen all the time.

One of my clients got a check this year, a commission check for one million dollars, like that's bonkers. You with me on this that can have such a massive increase on your profitability, and it is something not that you have full control over, but you can farm your way there. You can geo target market your way there. You can prospect your way there.

You can do something about it all right. The next one is one that i have been talking about for seven years, because it's a trend, that's going in the wrong direction. It's called commission compression here. I'm saying raise your average sales price to make more money per transaction.

On the flip side, i keep saying to people, you think it doesn't matter in the moment when you say: okay, the age, the other agent and i are going to throw in a piece to get the steel closed. Uh. You think it doesn't matter, but when you do that 18 20 100 times it really adds up it really matters. So i just i just wrote down like the example.

Your average sales price is five hundred thousand dollars. You charge two percent, it's ten grand you charge. Two point: seven: five: it's thirteen! Seven five! It's a big difference, my friends. So what i would tell you is if, if you're listening this, if you, if you are as savvy as i believe, you are because you're listening to this podcast about this subject, if you haven't taken the time to listen to people like chris voss, to really figure Out how you're going to negotiate uh negotiate more effectively for your own fees? If you haven't done that, please start the number of agents.

I've met that literally i'll i'll. Have this old calculator in my office and i mean like old, like 30 years old, like i haven't, put it in the budget to get a new one. Clearly uh. I would literally clack a late, i'm like okay, so what'd you do last year in volume.

Oh, we did 51 million and i'm like okay, so i would immediately go. You know, like 2.5 percent is a safe estimate. I'd say so you made about this much they're like no. I'm, like you, made more awesome like no actually less and i'm like wow that that means you you netted 1.9 per side.

I'm like is that the average in your area, or are you just really good at giving your shekels away and sometimes they'll, laugh and sometimes they're offended? I don't mean to be offensive. I just mean look if you can't negotiate your own fee. How in the world are you negotiating for all these clients? This is a skill that everybody has to to really take on, because i mean hey how many times you get asked: hey you. Will you write it? We write up this offer.

You can represent us, but you give us 25 of your commission. 70 of your commission. We hear this all the time i go on these all these real estate forums, and i see that objection coming up all the time by the way that has existed when i got started in this business 30 years ago. The same thing was happening and it's the rich and the rest.

The rich know how to negotiate their fees as high as they possibly can. You know i mean meaning the higher than the median that you see in the mls you with me and then the rest, which is the vast majority of people, don't know what to do so. They just give it all away and again maybe you feel guilty about it. Maybe you're like oh, my god, it's it's! Ten thousand dollars, like my parents, made forty thousand dollars a year and i get one check for ten thousand.

Let me remind you of something you didn't get a check for ten thousand. You got ta check for three thousand dollars to your expenses to run your business 3. 500. Maybe four, maybe 50, like five thousand dollars to go to taxes and the balance is yours.

I get a check for ten thousand dollars. I never think i have ten thousand dollars, i'm like okay, if i'm lucky, i got like 3 800 out of this. Like that's my share, everything else goes to taxes and expenses. So you got to change your thinking.

Change your perspective and realize that if you can just go incrementally from two point, two five to two five from two point: five to two point: six: five on the eighteen, twenty thirty eight hundred transactions you're going to do it really really adds up and listen. It goes to the person you wanted to, which is you and your profitability? Okay, next one is, and i actually think this is the last one, what additional revenue sources. Could you add what additional revenue sources? Could you add to your business that, because you're already marketing you're already prospecting you're already doing all these great things, you could tap into something else. So is it fixing flips, right, fixing and flipping properties? Because you found that house that you're, like wow 15 thousand dollars into this thing - and i can turn around and sell it and instead of getting a two and a half or three percent commission, i could make like nine percent twelve percent.

This is bonkers. Could you do development? Is that an option for you different from fix and flip, but maybe you say, hey look. I found a zoned r2 lot right with a single family house on it, i'm going to flatten that baby and i'm going to build. You know two houses or i'm going to build a duplex or a triplex and keep it you know.

Could you start a property management division? Could you create an investor syndication with your business? There's a lot of different ways, my friends, that in the real estate business you could be buying notes like there's just so many things that you can do because you're building your brand, because you're trading creating a lot of trust because you're providing a lot of value. There's a lot of ways that you could leverage your brand in housing to make way more money. So i'd ask you to think about that as well. All right! So that's it! That's what i wrote down.

That's the uh! That's the tom ferry podcast experience number gosh! Only knows i have no idea, but my assistant, ruby just walked up, which means i have to go to a meeting and i know tristan's got ta get on an airplane, so i got ta bounce i'll. Leave you with one last question: what are you going to do? What are you going to do i've, given you all these ideas, ideas are meaningless unless you make a decision and you start taking action. I want you to be rich, not just rich with your health with your relationships. I want those too.

I want you to be rich with some money. I want you to have the ca. I almost sounded like tina doe, my cfo. I want you to have the money, that's how she talks.

I absolutely love it um. We should get tina on the podcast. I want you to be wealthy. I want you to walk in your bank and have them stop and start clapping, because that abundance is available and it doesn't matter where you came from what your background is in this business.

Everybody can do it, starting with you, so set your goals. How much profitability you want right? How much savings? Do you want how much debt reduction do you want? How are you going to surround yourself with the right people? How can you create the right structure, budgets, accountability? Maybe it's setting a target for an average of a 2.75 retained percentage on your commissions. I don't know you know, decide and act thanks so much for listening this or watching it. I wish you nothing, but the best i'll see you on the next podcast take care.

You.