Welcome to the team builder show where the most successful team leaders share, how to build scale organize and ultimately maximize your sales team results. Finally, i've got teresa on the set welcome to the show team builders. Listen to these numbers: 814 transactions. Last year, 17 sales people that's 47 transactions per person, productivity, 235 million dollars in volume, 6.7 million dollars in commission with an astounding 60 net profit.

After splits, yeah girl power. We have a lot to unpack good, give people some context that maybe haven't met. You haven't seen you at our events, so you know you get celebrated a lot because of your success and certainly your amazing coach who's sitting over there um. How long have you been in the business tell us about where you work and then we're gon na unpack everything? Okay, so 2005 is when i actually started what were you doing before? I was human resources for hershey chocolate, really interesting: okay in savannah, georgia, yeah yeah.

Okay, we didn't make chocolate, i mean we made aesthetic milk, but what it doesn't matter. Yes same paste starch same company, so why did you go into real estate? Well, they actually shut we're shutting the plant down, they were selling it and i had a choice to make whether i was going to move with them or stay with my family yeah. So i chose to do this. I bought a tanning salon.

It was bored out of my mind and then was actually driving to tj maxx. This is a horrible story driving to tj maxx. We want all horrible stories. This is good, yes, praying god.

I know this is not what you want from me. I know there are bigger plans for me. Looked up missed my turn. Looked up real estate classes, starting tomorrow, wow literally turned in signed up called my mom, said hey.

I need you to watch my kids every monday and thursday yeah, so so, 2005. Uh, being a historian of real estate gave you, 18 months to two years before the wheels came off yeah. What was that first experience like and then how did you do during the global economic meltdown? I didn't know i didn't know any better, like i came in on the end of what my friends call stupid, money yeah and i just didn't know any better. I was just working working working.

I had three kids, i was divorced and i just i had to do it like. How did you do key distinction you had to yeah? Why do you do you think that the only people that should get in this business have to make money? I think you have to have a passion for it, whether it's because you have to or you just love it, that much yeah, because in the beginning i had i mean i had both. I still have both. I still love it, and maybe i don't have to as much, but i still love it, and you know people ask me all the time when are you going to retire? When is enough - and i'm like - i don't know i'll figure it out when i get there right like when it's not fun anymore, i won't do it anymore.

So so let's go back 2005 you get in and - and i imagine we won't go into all the details of year - one year two year. Three at what point did you say enough? Is enough or whatever the moment was that you said team? I need to build a team, you know again, like 2011. I think i was on stage with you about that time and you were asking me some of the same questions and i said you know my hair was falling out. I wasn't seeing my kids like it was just a really stressful time.

I sold like 93 houses by myself with a part-time assistant, and i was like this is it i can't do this yeah um. So as remarkable as that was like. That's a very revealing real moment because someone's gon na watch this and go that's me: yeah 93 could be 62 could be 36, but that's a lot of business for one agent, it sure is, and it's a lot of responsibility and you still have your family right And they should be the you know just as important as work more important actually, but you know when we're trying to make sure we can pay for college. You know we're just going going going um, and so we uh we had a guy come approach.

Us or i had a guy come and purchase, he want to be a buyer's agent and he had been in the used car sales business and he just got his license. I was like come on, can't hurt nothing, let's go what's the worst case, so he was with. He was my first buyer's agent and then we realized that we needed. You know some additional admin help and yeah.

We just kept going going going and we just kept growing the. It was just like the more that, the more that the more people i added the more business we have tried to have some more you know, and it got down. It got crazy until i started coaching and i started like tracking and measuring everything yeah and then you were then you were like okay. I have to have this many agents for this.

You know and it became more manageable yeah. It sounds like in the early days. You went through what a lot of people go through is just capacity like. I only have so much time only got so many days and i got so many priors, and that requires so many showings and so many listings and it's a capacity issue um going back, though i want to know like you're at 93 transactions.

You already have an assistant you take on this buyer's agent. When did when? Did you finally realize okay? Wait? A minute like i could be the most dominant, like team ridge in town yeah? We were already getting there because we did things that other agents didn't do. Yes, you know we were already thinking outside the box and and then of course, we joined coaching and it got even better because i wasn't creating everything myself or staying up at night trying to figure out everything yeah, because somebody had typically already done it and would Share it with you yep, but um as we added and we grew and we did different things, and i i told somebody not too long ago that people said oh she's, crazy, yeah, you're crazy. Why are you doing open houses, you're, crazy, yeah? Those crazy people in california are doing it works well for them.

Let's try it right, so we just did a lot of things that other agents were prepared to do and would not do, and we answered our phone yeah. Oh okay, we're gon na we're gon na come back now because i know like when it comes to online leads, which you know you guys do a lot of, but not all of it right, but it's a big chunk of your business. So, let's, let's unpack, though there's you make it sound like it's easy right was that because of your, you know experience as an hr director in a major you know major corporation, so you were battle, tested and trained on hiring profiles and organizational structures and scope management. Like like, where did all this come from or or maybe what were the mistakes that we're not seeing yeah? I probably made every mistake there was, and i promise you has wasted a lot of money in the beginning.

You know with all the people that call and say they can make you. You know number three on google or whatever yeah, but i wasn't afraid yeah. You know i wasn't afraid to try something different or do something different or be goofy. I remember you know being with you and you're saying just do it.

You know just make the video it doesn't matter if your hair is good or whatever, and once i realize that it really doesn't matter, nobody cares what my hair looks like nobody cares. If i have makeup on or not yeah, you know just do it just do the video yeah and we were one of the first teams that did video and we all did it yeah. You know and as we as we grew little savannah georgia, i'm sure they got tired of me saying well, sheila said tom said, and they used to tease me all the time about. Oh my god, she's going to a tom ferry event.

What is she going to buy this time right? You know what platform or whatever that's the new software he's recommending or programming we're gon na come back and we're all gon na have to do this yeah you know, but we did and and that's why we're successful. We listened so, if i said to you - and i already get you know, just your dna as like: go forward. Go forward go forward, but i'm just curious if you'd unpack, if you had to reflect back on the three low moments, the three biggest mistakes, the three toughest losses that makes us who we are today, what would they be? Well, i will tell you the first that first buyer's agent um making the decision that he wasn't the right fit for my team anymore was crushing. Why? Because i loved him i cared about him and and because he he was ready to go too.

He didn't like the way we were going and it wasn't a partnership yeah. You know so it's like i we can we're still great friends. Yeah, like we can be friends, and i will help you and he'll still call me every once in a while, because he freaks out about everything. But it's like my road is not your road yeah, so go be successful, going down your road and he stayed with our brokerage for years after that and was super successful and still is that's great but um, so the so the pain of losing someone you love Yeah they're your friend, like they're, part of your life that you spend as much time with them as you do your your family a lot of times, and you know it's just so it's all.

It's like a breakup kind of yeah ev every team leader says the same thing yeah. You know, alicia essex said to me. I you know i'm interviewing today and she said god, like the first person on my team or like she was a manager at her brokerage. She's like, and i gave this woman so much about my heart and soul.

She was my friend and i helped her get to this extraordinary little business and then she left you another brokerage yeah and it happens and you just have you can't take it personal yeah. It's not personal yeah like they're doing what they think is best for their family, and you just have to love that. That's just i love you be successful. You know go! Do it yeah? What was mistake? Number two or moment number two that you were like.

Oh, that hurt realizing how much money i wasted that i was wasting. Tell us about that. You know it was when we started tracking everything. I remember when sheila sent me the first production report and said you got to put all this stuff in there and you could and - and my assistant at the time said, you're never going to do that.

I was like we're paying the top fair organization a thousand. We are going to do this somebody's going to do this. God is my witness, and so we did and asked the production report was like the sign. You saw real estate ads or whatever, like you know, coming to real estate.

I live, she will she's still with me, and that was like you know, 10 years ago almost, but she will tell you that that production report was the real estate bible right like that is what we lived. Every single day of our life bias like how many do we have under contract? How many? How do we have? You know how many of you closed, who closed what da da da da and then it was the quick books? What's our you know, what is our our production versus what we're spending and you know done and where are we getting things from and i'm not analytical? No, that's not my that's, not my my innate trait to be analytical at all and you spend everything into the positive. I do because i'm like, what's your biggest, i know i'm not pollyanna either, but people will say that i am so sorry, but it is. It is what it is right.

I love it like. I just have to. I have to punt and roll and go with it and and things aren't always, you know roses and cherries, but i got ta pretend like they are right. Why do you think um? So many not just team leaders, but that's really.

This is the show so many agents in general, just mis, missed the whole business's math marketing is math and oh by the way. It'd be nice if you had a profit and you need to pay your taxes on time and like like. Why do you think so many people miss that i i don't know. I think that sometimes you're so busy doing the business that you don't have time to.

Actually, look at and analyze the business so you're and i might i was guilty too just running running running and you see your paycheck and you're like oh, my god, i'm killing it and then you don't realize that you're wasting all this money and you're really not Killing it like your net, is your net. So what did you and coach sheila do in the early days of that production report or that p l um, because that had to be painful? For you also to say what gets cut, what doesn't get cut or what do we need to optimize and not optimize? Because there's there's pride in it, there's ego in it. Oh, i can't call company x and something cancel, even though we never use the solution. How did you go through that? No, i don't have a problem calling and cancelling things that don't work like i don't, but it was kind of a go through and - and you know, if you buy one more thing without talking to me about it, i treat them a lot of times like i, You know treat my kids and it's like this is how what i would say to my own child right and i'm telling you that if you don't do yeah what i'm telling you it's not going to work, yeah, yeah and most of the time everybody's really good.

They know i have their best interest at heart right, so the first big loss, which is, i think, the great lesson for everybody is people leave right and we all go through that emotion. I go through you go through it. We still expect and they get really upset if you're not upset. Oh for sure, what do you mean you don't care, i'm leaving you just left me, i'm out yeah.

The second one, though, is, is that awareness around we often times as as business leaders, we throw money right at the problem and then later you realize p l numbers math, oh, my goodness, we're wasting money. My wife is listening to this right now and she's, just like yes, because she is just like kill the waist. She just said. Yes, in the background kill the waist, which is, is awesome.

What was the third biggest mistake and what was the lesson or the third biggest moment? You know i i think about this sometimes, and i think that in the in the beginning, maybe even in the middle that i thought that everybody should have the same mentality as me and that everybody should want to make as much money as they could. And everybody should want, everybody should want that, and it took me a while to figure out that everybody's goal is different, and so i have people on my team that are rock stars and are just always going to do just it's never going to be enough for Them they're always going to go, go, go and then i have a guy on my team. Who's, very work-life, balanced and he's been on my team for almost six years right and he came in. He worked for a bank and he's as long as he made more money than that.

He was good and he wouldn't take care of his family and he wanted to be able to tell his in-laws kind of stuff it because they didn't think he could do it. But he could take care of her that way so every year he has planned every year. He does better, but he's never going to want to be the number one agent he's: okay with being three or four yeah, that's where he wants to be yeah, and you know we have new agents and they have to learn and they have to grow and they're Going to lose money and they're going to make mistakes, and i'm going to give you a lead and you're going to totally mess it up, but i have to let you do it right like i have to let you i have to let you fail forward. Yes, so beautiful, so i want to go a totally different direction: um 814 transactions.

That was a major milestone like just the last couple years. It was like get to 500, then it was getting to 650 right and then last year you like blew past your goal. If you were to kind of two two parts i want to get to moving out of production and what that's like, because you did it early and i think you did it elegantly and a lot of people really struggle with it. So i'm going to come back to that, but i want to know first, like my fundamental belief.

Teresa is that we do transactions in chunks or we do them in onesie, twozy right and what i see you, and so many of the great leaders doing is like tons of business from our past clients and sphere tons of business from online tons of business from Farming and they're they're being more selective and rigorous around these tranches of clients to serve mm-hmm unpack for us 814 transactions. I thought, if you have csu or whatever i'm not going to go totally in-depth but like what are the major pillars of lead generation that stand. Your business up well and our sphere and our past clients are definitely a huge chunk of that because we work that and we we kind of know that we have to, and then we have, you know the zillow boomtown. Whatever section we do, the open houses.

We do a lot of community events, a ton of community events and giving back and um the whole team is involved, and we everybody has their little thing. Yeah, like matthew, might have his his downtown ministry, and then we do the sd gunner, which is therapy dogs for um, ptsd soldiers and special needs children, and we we do all these things, but we actually go to it and do it yeah like we just we Go there and do that for without as a company as a as a company - and it may not be everybody at any given time doesn't have to be yeah it's wherever your passion is go. Do that yeah and we, but i the company, the team, supports everybody. So if you've got something, we have one agent on our team who was a social worker at the juvenile detention center.

So every year she she's like. I don't want to go back to jail, but i need us to give a bag of goodies to all the children that are over there. So that's something that we do as well like it's just always, and some things are on video and we're, but and a lot of things aren't yeah, but that's a team culture thing yes like that's, who we are, it doesn't always have to be in the public Eye right, but it has to be something that we're making a lot of money. We need to make sure that we are giving it back so open houses boom town which, for the people that are listening, huge shout out to greer allen and everybody boomtown.

That's facebook. Google retargeting email, like you know on and on, and i'm curious how many people in your database like if you took the whole thing prospects and everybody. Oh my gosh. I think that, like we've been with boomtown, we we've been with boomtown since we had exclusive territory.

So that's like that's like a long time ago at that time and a hundred thousand at least yeah, because we have them like in pocket sure. So i don't. I don't look at the archives so much or the trash yeah. But if you added those, then you'd be well over a hundred thousand yeah yeah.

I mean i hear that more and more and it's it's. It blows me away when talking to someone like yourself or like lindsay and dj they're like i have 160 000 people in my database you're like you're, a team ridge, and you have a 160 000 like it's almost like you, don't need any leads anymore. All the gold is in the database like we say that all the time all the gold there's no such thing as bad leads, there's bad follow-up and all the gold is in the database. Like call your database email, you can send 200 texts and emails a day like.

Why? Aren't you doing it? Do it every single day yeah! So so talk about that like culturally, where are you spending or directing the team to data mine? What are some of the campaigns that are working? Let's go a little like a little tactical like what's really working to activate listing opportunities, buyer opportunities out of our existing sphere or this hundred thousand person database. I mean the video texts work well and you can send a lot of those or you can see. You know what that means, and i know what that means, but they don't know what that means. What's a video text yeah, it just means going hey mark and then send right or hey and then just send it to 200 people.

The market today is yada, yada, yada or whatever. It is something compelling that requires them to answer you, yes, and i find that in the beginning, a lot of agents send a lot of maybe whatever yeah. I short quick to the point, ask a question: yeah. They have to respond because you asked a question and and like give us a, is that like did you hear about the recent sale at x, yeah, or did you know that company y is moving into town or, like give us an example, like you said, i Think i think it was on something i saw on one of the tom ferry sites like are you still in the market in 2021, like we did that and we got huge response from it, so those kind of things actually do work.

Yes, you know and we use that still are you still in the market like you know whatever it is just something short sweet to the point that requires a response. You know i heard the uh sharing with the coaches today, one of the interesting stats, so in the us, 138 million homes, 40 of the homes have no mortgage and at the remaining balance, 70ish, whatever million is half of them have an interest rate higher than three And a half percent - that's shocking, like that, would be a fun little video like if you have an interest rate higher than three and a half percent. We should talk yeah, and we did do that. We've talked about interest rates a lot this year and you know, get off the fence and blah blah blah blah blah right and what's important to you.

Yes, you know is, is it this or that, because i mean, obviously the interest rates will go up. Yep and the home prices will come down eventually a little bit. You know we hope at least so i mean we don't know what this i tell everyone. I don't have a crystal ball yeah.

I can just tell you what's happening today, yeah and what's happening today. Is you should buy a house? You should buy your home today before we don't know what happens. What's gon na happen tomorrow and you could argue in the data shows 50 years, hedge against inflation, the greatest asset is real estate, always been always will be um. But let's go back to this.

This point around. You know a lot of your peers in in our community that you know the upper echelon that you run with some of them are, you know, they're, making the transition to go from being the dominant listing agent and the celebrity and the you know the madonna, the David bowie, the superstar in their market, to now really graciously trying to put the team first and really transfer those skills. I mean this is something that you know your coaches, bragged about you and i have talked about. It is if a team leader's watching this right now and their ambition, is they don't want to be in houses at seven o'clock at night on a tuesday and i'm not making that a bad thing they're, just maybe they've done it like 8, 000 times and they're, Like i'm ready to transfer the skills, how did you make the choice? How did you do the j curve, the the scary, oh, my god, is it going to work, sheila isn't going to work, but then you come out of it and you're like.

Why didn't? I do that five years sooner, what advice do you have for that person to make the transition and then transfer the skills? My mine was kind of a necessity like i i couldn't help them be better because i was too busy in the weeds doing it myself. So, anytime, that i would like decide. Oh, i'm gon na help them they're my friend yeah, and then it would just get you i'd be on the phone with all the the things that you have to do to be a successful real estate agent right when you're talking to all the lenders and the Attorneys and all those kind of things, and what i was supposed to be doing, was working on how to make the business more profitable and how to help them reach their goals. Yes, i will reach my goal if they reach their goal and and again that's what we had to decide like what's important to.

You is what's important to me because if i want you to sell 75, but you only want to sell 50 you're never going to sell 75 and we're both going to be miserable right, so tell me what you want to do and let's get there. I can't do that if i'm out out there selling and listing homes, i can't do it and and i'm not doing my clients any favor, because now i'm torn because i've got my agents that need something and i've got my family. That wants me and thank god i have all that. But how am i going to be really good at anything if i'm being torn in all those different directions? So i had to decide i really like working with buyers and sellers like it's so much fun, but it's also fun to watch people meet their goals and celebrate with them.

Yeah and watch like i can affect so many more people as a team leader. If i'm helping them hit their goals and they're helping our clients and the happy ball just rolls down the hill, like that's just way more important to me than than me going out there and it being about me, i mean i see all of that. If someone's listening right now on the podcast, you got to go back to youtube and watch this because, like you can see that, like that's, very genuine, it's super important to me. Okay, tactically, you were at the event.

I remember we were in this discussion. It was team three, i think, steve murray was there and we were talking about transferring skills and it was really interesting. The room seemed to be bifurcated between like people that were adamant. Like i have my listing process, i have my buyer consultation and others were like.

I'm not exactly certain how like, if anybody could list a house on my team as well as me like they just they couldn't make that connection. You clearly got that so so i want to transfer all the skills. What do i do give me the give me the one month, one year, one week like how do i do it? Well, it's not just me a right because i'm not the best trainer, i'm not y'all, i'm not the best that one's authentic right, i'm not the best trainer, because i get easily distracted by everything and everybody. You know, there's always something to do right exactly so.

What i have done, tactically, is had my lead: isa, trains, everybody on boomtown and teaches them how to do all of that and they go through boomtown university and blah blah blah. My transaction coordinators teach you sisu and they teach you sky slope and that's what they do. I had a lead, buyer's agent or a lead agent who um she was a lead buyer's agent now she's the lead agent, who i pay to mentor people through yeah and they're not allowed. We don't practice on the public, they're not allowed to go out again.

They do not practice on the public. We do not do that so before, because i hire a lot of brand new agents, so you have to go through your the script school and you have to do all these things it takes about a month before you ever. Can do anything all this in like a learning management system, we do what which do you have a recommendation? I mean there's eight million of them, but like what's your, i think we're using tranial now yeah yeah yeah, so everything is in these modules. Is it taught in individual classes? Am i going home and watching it on my own? Are there i know like a training, you could set up tests like yeah kind of yeah like did you actually learn it or just kind of getting through it right vacuum? The house and play if you're, really smart, you get through any of it and yeah yeah, but we um.

We have a a system where everybody has to do everything and that those different people sign off on it and um. Then you go out and you go with agents and you ride with them. You're just a fly on the wall, listening to what they do, yeah as a buyer's agent and then once you've done that successfully, then you can move into listing. It doesn't mean, and - and i hear this a lot it doesn't mean you can't have a listing a week after joining the team yeah, it just means you're not doing it by yourself we're gon na help, you yeah, it doesn't mean you're, not gon na paid you're Gon na get paid, but we're gon na help you yeah, yeah and - and i think that that is a big component of our team - is that everybody's willing to help each other, and we all truly want everybody on the team to be successful.

So this is like perfect because that's like the tea up from my last question, which is one of the many things that i've admired about you and then i get you know your coach and i've known each other for a long time. So she'll, oh my god. Oh, my god, let me tell you, oh my god, right um, it's your culture, like everyone talks about higher tier two and fire to it. Yada yada, yada and those cliches are real, and i assume you do that.

How do you define culture and then how do you keep it so like live, i mean like you've, you have like the highest per person, productivity and a stellar culture. Those two, like you know normally it's like the culture is good and we sell a lot yeah right, but when you like, sell as many as your agents are doing on average and have that kind of culture like there's, some goodness in there that we need to Unpack for people so like, how do you define it? How did you do it? Give us some insight? Okay, so we tell we give everybody the skinny when they first come in, like this is we're not for everybody yeah. We know that we are different than any other team in the area. We are not for everybody.

Here's what's expected of you, because conflict arises when expectations differ, say that again, conflict arises when expectations differ, not an original quote yeah. Just one has been done, but it's like that's like. I could hear that like in a recruiting presentation. Let me explain: yeah so anytime, we've ever had conflict just because somebody thought they didn't.

They didn't understand an unmet expectation, so we everything is visual in my office and it's almost like being in kindergarten, because we always have a theme and there's everything revolves around the theme, but it's very visual. So the accountability rules are on a big, huge foam board. They're in the hallway tells you everything you've got to do to keep your leads on. You know people they're like how do you get people to come to your meeting? Well, if they don't come to the meeting, they don't get.

My leads yeah or the team's leads. They're, not mine, but so everything has a cons consequence. You know it's how much by when and if it doesn't happen now you know now what yeah, what's the consequence yeah, so we talk about that in the very beginning, it's drilled into you and i make everybody interview with like three different people, even if they're just Talking to them on the phone, like don't take my word for it, i i will tell you all day long. This is the most amazing team on the planet.

Go talk to two or three other people on the team and see what they say: yeah, because their view may be totally different yeah and they always say something different that you may hear differently: yeah, but um. We do a lot of training with the agents like the age, we train them and then, as we go along, they train each other in our monday morning, meeting there's always an agent that is assigned to do a training and they train their peers and what happens If they show up and they just bomb it and what happens if they just like, lay an egg, you can vomit if you were prepared and you vomit, but i mean bomb it like a good way like you killed it. Oh, oh well, typically, it happens is that they do a really good job yeah and then the others learn from them. Yeah, and but does it like, set a standard like i'm intimidated because, oh, my goodness, like courtney, just did a meeting kathy just did a meeting like.

Oh, i got ta follow that like. Is there something? Yes, we do have that. That's a cultural thing. We do have that and that's okay, like we have some people who are very techy and then they've got the tv and they've got the powerpoint and they've got this and they've got that and then we've got people who show up with the yellow piece of paper.

In their hand and they're like uh uh yeah well, i i found this really cool app and you know - and it's like sure just just tell us yeah you know, but in the beginning, every january we do our vision, boards and or they're they're supposed to be Done but we pres, i have them present them to the group, because if you understand what's important to jack, then you understand why jack acts away, jackax, sometimes right so it's like we want to. We want to know you and love you and understand what makes you tick yeah. So if you stand up here - and you say i want to go to bora bora with my husband - we're going to be married for 30 years - yeah - that's my that's one of my goals for next year, then we're all any time you're slacking off or going. Are you going to bourbon yeah? You know, i mean it's just how's your husband feel about not going to borrow yeah exactly.

We had a girl that one year she's not on the team anymore, but she was terrified yeah of goats, terrified yeah. So i found a goat yoga class in savannah and i and i would tell her and say, go yoga like you want go yoga like i go to make my calls, because otherwise you and i are going to do goat yoga right now. Oh, my goodness, but we're going yeah so um you just have to figure out what makes everybody tick right and then, if you share those vision boards with the whole team, it helps everybody understand each other better right and and understand the stickiness of that too. Like everybody knows, like you know you, you have created this environment where it's about us achieving the things that we want right and then you know when you have somebody leave, because it happens, they go to some other place and they're like no.

No one here does all this stuff like there's: no accountability, it's not up in visual like and typically that's why they'll leave right, i'm tired of all this accountability yeah! I don't want to call to come to call night and you turned off my leads because i didn't come to call night it's on the board right, like that's the reason. That's y'all's rules right. You made the rules, i didn't make the rules yeah. We sat down in a room and you all made the rules yeah, i'm just kind of enforcing them, yeah my job to facilitate, and really i didn't turn your leads off.

She did, but i'm not going to say that you know yeah don't hit me anyway. We we work a lot on that because i am not huggy kissy good job like i'm, not even like those. My kids, that's just not my normal persona. I'm like go! Get them right right.

You know, kill right, yeah, yeah, exactly you don't kill! You don't eat right right, right, um. I understand that there are people who need the other things. Yes, so knowing their personality um and who they really are and knowing what's important to them, helps me manage them better and get the the the best out of them. Yeah and they're happy yeah and of course, i'm happy when they're happy so yeah there was so much uh inside in there.

That's going to be one of those like go back on youtube and listen again, like just rewind on the podcast, because you unpack so many elements that make up the culture, because it's never just one thing: it's starting from the top. The way you show up it's having everybody's goals up in visual, it's having all the rules up. I love the monthly theme right everybody's accountable. I was hoping you were gon na, say accountability, because the one thing i know about you is like accountability like runs throughout the entire organization and yeah.

You start in the very very beginning. Please correct me if i'm wrong you're like yeah, we're not for everybody right, because we're not around here like we, that's how we do it around here, but that's but then you look at say: 47 transactions per agent, like how else i mean you don't get there By, like you, don't fake yourself, there, you design and grind and work towards and accomplish something of that stature and we we're very transparent. Like i will say in a meeting, you know well, that's why we spend 60 000 a month on zillow right or that's. Why we do this or that's why we do that? Do you know how much the staff costs yeah? We we don't we're very transparent about what the team spends, because the 50 percent that they give to the team is team money.

So you should have a say so on how we spend it. Yes, you don't think that's working, then, let's figure out how to take that money and allocate it somewhere else. That's great! I'm down with that, let's figure it out yeah! You know because i'm looking for the roi too yeah, i don't want to waste money. So we we talk a lot about those things and i bring people in, like my personal business advisor has been in the in the room on a monday morning meeting and talks to them.

I tell them about once a year we go through. You need to have four token accounts. You need to have this yeah, you know we'd, say yeah, yeah yeah exactly so. We you've got to have all this and you got to separate your money and you got to make sure that you can pay uncle sam and you got you know you got to track things and and we're helping you.

We've got sisu like we're, helping you yeah like we're, helping you get there, so um we're trying to help them understand that it's a business yeah and you need to run it like a business as well. You're, a business within this business, we're a business within that business and we're all in the real estate business yeah. So i think that they appreciate that and a lot of them when they do leave there. They'll call and say i didn't know how to do a commission sheet.

I'm like that's, not a money-making activity, i never shot. I never taught you how to do that. I'm so sorry right. Maybe your new broker can't yeah.

You know, but it's just like i. I want the agents to stay focused on what they do well, building relationships, selling homes making money. I want the staff to do what they do well, because they're totally two different things right. You stand here.

I say it all. The time stay in your lane stay in your lane, like i have to tell myself that too yeah, because i'll get out there and get in the weeds too, and i'm like go back to your office and get in your lane yeah, because this is not your Lane yeah and you'll just mess it up. Go back to your i, yes, i hear you just come here to your room, so um we've worked hard on and it's a it has been an evolution of course like because there were times in the beginning. I'm not proud that i would say just do what i said you know or whatever and that's they want to know why it's like kids.

They want to know why. Why should i do it that way or what see dif you know feel felt found yeah like when i started doing that. They're like what that's the hokiest thing, i've ever heard in my life you're like yeah. Let me show you you can use it one time.

Yeah just try it one time. I promise you to work, use it on your family yeah. It's like the video just, do it once just do it once yeah. I promise you'll see the value.

I think that's it. It's value like what is the value of being on the team yeah. What is the value of having a relationship with me or with him or with her or whoever, and we have like many accountability partnerships where they they kind of like tease each other and everything being visual? You know we have people, who'll come up and say what'd you do this weekend. Like you, you got three more contracts, yeah like you're, ahead of me now: yeah, oh yeah and they're like competitive, yeah and they're like well.

You won't be by tomorrow. You know, and i love to hear that out there, because all sometimes i get on you know i'm like oh yeah, there you go yeah. Somebody wants to go to bora bora, yeah, she's, beating you behind you better, come on you're, not gon na. Let a girl win, are you you know or whatever you know what's so great about? This is just sitting here thinking from 2005 to what you've done, like, i think, you've heard me say before i give my stepmom a lot of credit like she says it takes a decade.

It takes a decade after your first decade, like you figured out you, you figured out your leadership style. You figured out your culture like you know what you're about and then the next day decade is like how much you can build yeah so like to me, like you're, just getting started and you're at 814 transactions. 47 transactions per agent. Like i mean it's pretty remarkable like the next decade and a half could just be extraordinary yeah, it's about standing, standing, abreast of what's happening and figuring out, what's next yeah and and relevant yep, i'm pretty good at that, because i have all y'all.

For one thing you know, and i'm always reading them, i was trying to research trying to figure out. What's next what's next, we can't be this way tomorrow. No because there's always something changing, i mean facebook's, always changing their algorithm right. You know everybody everything and they all want more from us.

You know everybody. Every vendor we work for, wants us to do something different yeah. So it's just like you just got to figure out. What's the best use to your time or the money, whichever and and go there, and i don't always do everything perfect, obviously, and and if i make a mistake, i apologize and we're like.

I said i'm just very transparent if i feel like somebody's having a problem i'll just go to them and say what is the problem yeah? What what are you unhappy about? Yeah, you know and you sometimes they do it like that. Passive-Aggressive thing on facebook: oh yeah you're like i've, been watching your facebook. What's going on with you, you know, or whatever yeah, and just the fact that you asked them. Yeah is enough that you cared enough to ask, but that's that whole go.

The extra mile show that you care, like it's easy to, say i care but like when you actually are stalking people on their facebook page because you're curious, like you know, we get this intuition as leaders like something's, going on over there yeah and i'll make a Look and see you know what what's happening in there. What was going on 90 days ago, 60 days ago? Oh there it is yeah, let's go, have a conversation and we we say things like like that. Like don't come to me crying yeah next month, if you don't have anything under contract, because you have done nothing but play the entire month of december right or whatever and december is always like my challenge month. Yeah, because i'm like like stay focused stay.

Oh, i feel like i'm a cheerleader. The whole time stay focused it's a holiday, not a hollow month. Let's go, you know it's like stay focused. That is a great line.

This is all a day, not a haul of money. Yeah i was like i've made the most money as a as a single agent right in the in november and december yeah and, of course around easter, because i'd never stopped working right. I never. It was just a.

It was a day i took the day off. I spent with my family or whatever, but the next day i worked and the day before i worked yep you know it wasn't. It wasn't like i was taking the whole month off yeah, and i think that um that harping on some of that stuff does instilling that discipline and work. Okay instilling yeah, it works.

It works it's wrapped up on my kids too. I'm not gon na lie. My kids are, i got ta, give them kudos, they're, huge savers, yeah and they've done really well and i'm very proud of them. But i know i wasn't the easiest mom back in the day, because i was i was running.

My home life like i was running. My team and now i run my whole life like i run my team yeah. It's way about hard, like my grandkids call and say: hey gigi, it's like whoop mike dropped by y'all. You know yeah.

I think that the most important thing you can do for your team is to let them do it yeah give them the skills. Let them do it. That's a mic drop moment that was good, hey, listen! This was really fun. I i'm feeling like we could have gone for like seven or eight more hours um.

We may have to do another one of these. Well, i'm gon na go to dinner. I know you do. I know i know, and i got ta do some more filming teresa.

Thank you for being on the show. Thank you for being you, the the contribution you make to so many. You know directly or indirectly, whether it's on a facebook page or in a private meeting or just in a dinner like you go to tonight. Like you know, you are one of those special people that light up a room and you light up a room not just because of your like your big personality.

But it's because you got the chops like you're doing the work, so you can get granule with people like really show them how you're doing it. For that i am grateful for you. Thank you and i don't mind i'll share. I know i know: well, there you go make sure you follow, run instagram, facebook, tick, tock, you're on tick, tock right, i am hunting.

Yes, follow around tick. Tock get her in a video. Get her dancing get some pointing fingers. I understood the assignment.

Yes, yes, exactly all right, we'll see you guys on the next show. Thank you so much and thank you. Thank you. Between now and 2025, all the great economists are saying the housing industry is going to continue to boom.

So the question is: what are you building? This is the essence of my blueprint event where i ask you to take a few days away from your business and dream about the type of business you ultimately want to build. So to make your reservation go to tomferry.com forward, slash blueprint. I look forward to seeing you at the event, so you.