Foreign. Hey so welcome back to the podcast. Uh what if I told you you're gonna unpack? Listen to get to know a friend of mine who could talk about gunfights in battle, to selling 26 2700 homes a year with 240 agents The number one team down in. San Antonio Texas Mr Levi Rogers Levi what's up man, hey how you doing Thank you so much for having me! Yeah man, thank you so much for coming down like I should say coming up because I'm in Dallas right making the trip.

So so Levi you and I did a road map tour recently and I felt bad for the person that had to speak after you because you shared the story of your journey of real estate. but you started it by sharing your story of the military. So we're going to talk a lot about real estate today, but I really would love for you to share. Tell us about your life in the military, what you know, what you went through before you got into real estate.

Okay, excellent, yeah you know. um I joined the army 17 years old and just young kid out of California lost trying to figure out what's next in life and uh uh. ended up joining army and I was a heavy equipment operator and first Duty station was Fort Drum New York and uh I didn't like it. it was cold, we were plowing snow, it wasn't uh, wasn't the most action-filled type job and so on a deployment.

uh that? I was on to Bosnia in 1996. I Noticed these guys that were walking around and you know they just looked different and uh were cool and had long hair and civilian clothes and uh, asked my squad leader at the time I said hey, who are those guys and he said they're Green Berets I was like what's that and this is pretty Google you know? So yeah. um so I went to the career counselor tent and got a little folder and it said had become a Green Beret and and here's the process and so I did it and I went out and tried out for the Army Special Forces in 1998 and then that's where I spent the rest of my my military career was in seven Special Forces Group At the time they were at Fort Bragg now they're in Eglin Air Force Base in Florida And so so how old were you when you joined the military and then how old were you when you got into Special Forces I was 17 when I joined and then I was 21 when I went over to the Special Forces So what kind of person signs up for Special Forces What kind of person makes it in Special Forces Well I think that, um, not many. you know.

We have a saying you know as an average 100 people try out and three three. we'll make it all the way through the end. So there's a pretty grueling process, but I think oftentimes people equate that to physicality of the selection process. but uh, what? I'm seeing is the the mental yeah portion of it really get a lot of folks and so it's a very, um, mentally tough uh lifestyle.

You know, uh to, you know, just live constantly on the edge and know that you're going to do dangerous stuff and you know your your family may see you this week or may not. You know, and uh, sure, it's pretty wild lifestyle. So uh uh, you've got the mental game that's going to affect it as well as the physical game. And so uh, I just say somebody is mentally tough and committed uh is going to be the type of Avatar per se it's going to make it through.

and I know I I Know that that translated into your real estate business. Absolutely right. And the people that you attract and how you run your shop and we're gonna get into all that stuff too. This is going to be like there's a lot to unpack in this podcast.

You shared a story though of your deployment in Iraq when you basically nearly died, right? So share that story. Yeah, so we were in Afghanistan and I was I was serving I was a commander of a special forces a team uh and uh. we were operating in the the Southwest portion of Afghanistan near the Iranian border and uh, it was a really cool mission that we were doing. We were working with Uh Village militia and they had to uh, secure a certain uh Highway that was coming in and out of Iran into Afghanistan and uh So we had a particular set of uh kpis per se that we had to hit enter and so while we were operating and around the area, we had a lot of um, a lot of enemy activity, a lot of conflict, several gun fights and so forth that we had to react to and so so on and so forth.

But when we were returning back to our home base uh, we encountered what's called an IED improvised explosive device and uh, unfortunately our vehicle struck about a 400 pound bomb and what happened is uh, everybody in the vehicle uh with the exception of myself was was killed and um you know I don't remember personally the the event going down now through stories of those that that do, um you know, uh I certainly you know can recollect and share the story but uh um, you know while the gunfire is sued because typically when when you hit a bomb there's the bad guys are are over watching right? it's the purpose of why they put an obstacle out there and so so the team's in a gunfight. Uh, you know it's a lot of emotions going on. You know there's lost their friends, you know it's a bad situation. Uh, one of their team members uh Pedro Solis who works at my office today? uh he was the guy that got to the vehicle and got me away from the burning vehicle and to the medic and that played a tremendous part and uh, and you know, allowing me to to live and uh, so I didn't you know? Bernadette and uh um, the team continued on the gunfight, got the area secured.

uh they called in a medical evacuation. uh Unfortunately they got, they got us out of there and um, you know immediately I went to a medical like a field hospital where they started to, you know, you know, try to save me. yeah and I had a lot of burns, a lot of Orthopedic issues, a lot of internal issues going on and so uh well, they got me stable, ended up putting me into uh, induced medical coma. uh just because the burns are a very painful thing.

yeah um again, what? just give us contacts. what percentage of her body was burned 40 and so fortunately like like my face was 100 burn but uh, you know our Medics they they did such a great job of putting uh, just like this, this gel stuff on my face I mean they did a great job of uh, keeping me, um keeping me stable and alive and uh, but uh yeah, 40 total body surface area Burns I've got skin grafts on my back and my legs and uh um, you know I've got to one of them where I have my bracelet here. You can see where my sleeves were rolled back and my gloves were on but you could see that where the burn was there and then where my watch was at. You could see the the watch outline and I thought about getting the time and date tattoo just tattooed on the end.

but um you know. so I was medically evacuated to Germany uh and uh then I was taken to Fort Sam Houston Texas and it's uh it's really neat as all this happened within 72 hours and I see I see a lot of noise out there that the the government doesn't take care of the troops or this or that. but uh I mean if you compare what happened on my journey to, let's say somebody was in Vietnam Yeah 72 hours from the point of Interest I was in a in a gunfight in a truck that exploded where four other human beings brutally killed in the 72 hours later. I'm getting the world's best medical care in San Antonio Texas Like phenomenal when I sit back and think about what what our government is willing to do to help just one person survive.

Yeah, like you know and I'll get on later in our discussion. but like you know, I get asked often you know Levi Why you know, how did you do this? You know, you know, how did you build this company and your team and et cetera et cetera. I don't have a choice I got blown up and lived. You know, four human beings died under my direction and I lived.

Not gonna let that go to waste. it's just not going to happen. and uh, just like today, I have a pretty damn stacked day and uh, figured it out. you know, fly to Dallas fly back to San Antonio get back to work and say right, Um, so for me, it's it's there's no choice but to just, um, live the most amazing life It seemingly possible, but got to San Antonio Texas uh spent about six weeks in an induced coma at the burn at the burn center.

Uh, I almost. uh, almost odd. Uh, and it was because of uh I developed a condition called Ards which is an acute respiratory disorder which is what what's happening in Coven that's what was killing everybody and um, so I was on a respirator as well during this time. uh, but uh.

finally I I came out of it and uh, they took me down to the step down unit. uh and I spent probably about another six to eight weeks in the hospital and then once I was released. uh I went on to go do my physical recovery as well as uh, you know, just all the the mental health stuff that you have to do and should do. I think a lot of our people shy away from it, but um you know it's uh.

so that was about two years that I spent there at Fort Sam Houston just going to therapy every day. uh you know, learning to walk uh et cetera Etc um what was that like though I mean going back to that time I mean for my friend that's listening right now I'm watching you and I'm seeing you tear up. Yeah right, this is you know, just I thank you for your service and that and that almost doesn't feel enough. You know what I mean but like you know I love you so it's just I'm watching and I like I want to like reach across the table and hug you how how hard was it to physically recover and what did you do to mentally recover? You lost four guys under you so that just that like how do you get over that? it's I think for me as perspective you know um you know you know at the time to I mean if you you hit a 400 pound bomb and you live I mean you're going to become very uh very in touch with uh for me for with god um it was I was extremely involved with church at this time you know and um, you know four of my friends died in the same vehicle I was in and I lived and uh um so I just um Faith was a big part of my recovery.

uh but then also perspective. uh, the center for interrupted down there in San Antonio uh it's um, one of the world's like best Rehabilitation Facilities So at the time in 2009 2010, there was a lot of wounded, ill and injured service members and their families in and around that area and I'm blessed I have both arms I have both legs I have the ability to process thought and speak I have you know and so who the hell am I to complain about how bad my knees hurt? Yeah, when I'm sitting next to the guy that has no knees, Yeah and and so it wasn't easy. There was nights where I'd go home and I'd take a couple more pain pills and I probably should have. you know there's nights where I'll go home and I'd be the the angry veteran you know.

But at the end of the day the perspective of sealing my fellow fellow comrades and fellow War Fighters there. um you know, struggling through their their injuries and which mine are certainly bad. but again, you know the example I gave. Who the hell am I to complained about how about my knees hurt when I'm sitting next to a man that has no knees and so um, all of that and being an environment uh, that the the military created right there for us to recover and knowing full well we've had a lot of support like it was my responsibility you know and um, and that's just how I've approached it.

You know another big part of it is benevolence. You know? Um, I've got a great life now, but you know I would not have this opportunity that I've been given without the kindness and generosity of so many people and oftentimes strangers like people. I didn't even know the Raya family out of New Jersey this family. you know they gave my family and I an apartment to live in when I had no money and it just couldn't afford it.

uh give us an apartment to live in and um, for my whole recovery two years I stayed in that apartment, never did they were like hey, are you almost done You know none of that. it's just uh, however much support you need and it just it Taught me so much and it all points back to I just had no choice I have to do it. This is my this is my new mission in life is to to get better and show the world that my people can do it too and and not let the opportunity of Life become a wasted one. You know we could end this podcast right now and it's enough.

But we got to talk about the transition. So how did you? How did you go from there into real estate? What in the world were you thinking? So so transition's tough and um, you know whether you're transitioning from military service or transitioning out of a divorce into what it's going to be like or from college to the workforce, Transition's tough and so, uh for me I had a lot of a lot of challenges, uh, economic ones, you know, just looking for work I had no idea what I was going to do I don't have a college degree, you know I entered the Army at 17. you know I didn't stop to go to college and so my skill sets that I had militarily I couldn't physically do nor was I emotionally in a place to where I can go overseas and be a contractor and you know, do those things. it just you know.

So now this extremely capable human being that can jump out of an airplane in the middle of the night at 25 000 feet and land in a spot you know and uh, um, and now I'm in this foreign land called San Antonio Texas and I have to be a civilian and do something that I don't know is extremely tough and you know to be quite honest, it was the portion of my journey that was the most difficult. and so um, you know a buddy of mine. He's like hey, Levi why don't you uh once you sell that house you have out in North Carolina I don't know, let me, let me call the realtor, let me see why you know and he's like, well you know, buddy of mine sold his house and uh, he made some money like we're completely oblivious like you know and right, no idea. 2010 11 2010 yeah absolutely 2010.

yeah and so so um you know my buddy George he gave me that advice and so I called the old real estate agent his name was Gary Langdon I'll never forget this guy as long as I live I'm in like so I called Gary and I'm like hey Gary it's Levi Rogers and uh how are and he cut me off I'm like what's up he's like Levi how are you doing like the guy remembered me yeah at least in my mind I mean he probably had my name saved or whatever but uh but he remembered me and uh it just emotionally. it felt really cool that he remembered me uh and he said hey, did you did you do everything that I asked you to do to the house and I'm like what do you mean and uh like you know all the stuff that I told you about and I'm like well actually yeah Gary I did I did more I even got vinyl siding you know I mean I started to get into it and uh um and uh um I was like well hey Gary I'm I'm thinking about selling a house. you think I could make some money on it. he's like it's probably worth about 150 000 more than what you paid for how much you owe and I'm like oh I don't know and so he just went through the whole process and uh well anyways uh we sold the house uh and um ended up doing doing pretty good on yeah and uh walked out with a little over a hundred thousand bucks and uh, which is more money than I ever thought I would ever run into right? So paid down all my debt and um, you know I've got a little bit of money left over and and uh, I'm sitting there I still don't have a job, you know and I still I'm getting out of the army you know and I don't really know what to do next.

and so I said this. this real estate agent this this complete stranger, this this guy Gary he gave me some advice in the front yard of a of a house you know 12 years ago I got on my friend Google and just how to become a real estate agent and went to the local board, went to their school and uh, about two months later I had my real estate license and uh, just haven't stopped yet you know and it's uh, just just putting people and Families First and doing what Gary did for me to people and families and helping them win. It's just really been the secret size. so it's 2010-2011 The you know the real estate economy nationally is improving.

You know we still have short sales that we're closing across the country. The San Antonio Market the Texas Market certainly wasn't what it is and what has been like the last seven or eight years? What were the first couple years like? because I want to get to the point but I want to take our time I want to get to the point where suddenly it's in the middle of the pandemic and you go from having 30 people to 200 people right? So, But we'll we'll save that. Okay, what were the first couple years like? Was it easy? Was it hard? Was it like, what did you do? How many homes did you sell? So I was fortunate. the the real estate broker uh that um you know took took me in, uh she had, uh you know brought brought me and took care of me and gave me some good education and opportunities and uh um I jumped on that ecosystem.

I was showing Runners rentals for people in the neighbor in the neighborhood, in the in the the office there. um and um you know shortly after I landed, uh my parachute in real estate per se you know I got I got a random cold call from a Zillow rep and uh the guy uh I thought I heard this what's that I thought I heard this story. So yeah, okay yeah and so so I got a call from this guy his name was Kurt and uh, we're still buddies today actually lives in Austin he's not, uh, not a zoo no more but uh, he called me and he's like hey, you know I work with Zillow and uh just um, you know I think maybe we can help you out and I'm like oh what's that I didn't know what a lead was, nothing completely oblivious, everything and uh, he signed me up for like a 300 a month spend and uh I was I was sweating it and um, you know. what's interesting now is that you can't even get like a connection for 500 bucks.

Exactly how times have changed I had like a whole zip code for like 300 bucks and uh um and I didn't know what I was really doing I was answering the phone trying to help people but he coached me, taught me, he helped Mentor me and uh, how to answer phones and how to help uh, help folks and the time out of Prospect and he put a lot of time into helping me and so you know my real estate. Journey Just like my transition Journey um, out of, uh, military service to civilian life, it involves so many others whether it's an interaction at the copy machine at the office within random agent or the broker or or this guy. Kurt So I just started absorbing as much as I could from everybody and then taking action on it. and I think that I look back now that's a huge differentiator is that I wasn't fearful to just go try new things and make try to make things happen.

I had my military retirement so I knew I was going to be okay at the end of the day. Yeah and so I just took action and tried new things and eventually about a year and a half two years into it I started to need help and that's where this whole idea of a team came about and I went and visited one of the big teams in Remax at the time Ronnie Matthews he spent uh spent a whole day with me. yeah and Ronnie just gave me some vision and uh I just just did it it. you make it sound so simple and you and I both know like it is simple but it's incredibly hard so give us the Journey of it's got to be 2012 2013 and and you know.

Big shout out to Ronnie Matthews right? like yeah. Ronnie thank you thank you for your time right? because he because think about he just said open kimono. This is what it looks like. This is how I did it.

This is where these leads are. This is how I hire sales people. This is how I train them right and and just like what a blessing it is to have whether it's a mentor or a friend. it's the word that my dad always said to me over and over again.

Whoever gets the most exposure to success and then executes it's exposure and execution right. The path is in front of everybody. That's why the person listening right now is like okay, Levi what'd you do next? how'd you do it? So you you got too busy, you ran out of time. Who did you bring on board first? So um, what's interesting is that, uh, while all this is going through my mind, uh, there was a lady at our office her name was Michelle Michelle Gamma.

It's our very first team member and she's still with us today, which is cool. um and uh, she's You know, hey, let's let's start a team and um, what's that You know and uh, how do we do it and uh, and concurrently what happened right around the same time? that guy Kurt that I had mentioned earlier, he called me up and he's like hey, Levi There's an opportunity There's a pilot that Zillow is running, What's a pilot? um and uh, and he's like it's the Foreclosure program and um, I'm like, what's that? yeah he's like, well, it's gonna cost like three thousand dollars a month and uh, but you'll get the whole city of San Antonio I Don't mind man, and he's like Levi Do this. Do this, Handsome right? The very next morning my phone just like boom boom like like artillery rounds coming in with connections. uh or you know leads and um, so um, this whole idea of the team was happening then and I just I had to start it I I couldn't I couldn't I couldn't maintain.

Yeah, it's the there was this wonderful old skit from the I Love Lucy show of Lucy and Ethel and the Chocolate Factory and I. Don't know if you've ever seen this but it's the the manager says when the chocolates come down, put them in the package, set them in the box and like okay, we can do this kind of easy, you know one call one lead mega sale and then manager walks in and says okay, you guys got it Okay, speed it up and all of a sudden, right. an unlimited number of chocolates they were. You know they're eating the leaves, they're throwing them in their bra, right? It's just it's this funny example of exactly what you went through.

You don't turn the machine off, you add people right. You serve more customers. Absolutely. What was your what was your profile back in the day for hiring people of of what for hiring sales people? Oh yeah, did you have one or was it like please join me Well I think that I think that what was happening is a lot of people at the time you know Zillow was nowhere near as big as they were um or are now and so everybody knew I was partnered with Zillow at the time, and so yeah, have a lot of curiosity and so I attracted a lot of people that were like me and so we had a lot of military folks that were attracted to join our um as the team at the time.

and Resident Oregon really what it is today? but uh, um, and that's evolved now? Um, but um, you know. Yeah, so there's a lot of military veterans uh that were joining us initially. but not only I mean Michelle very first teammate. it's not a not a military veteran.

uh, but uh, she does a damn good job helping him. but uh, yeah, you know. So yeah. I think that I think something is also going to my mind too at the time Is that an army? They're very, very strict with that.

a couple of things and one of them in terms of management is a span of control. Yeah, Hispanic controls shouldn't exceed three to five people, at least militarily. Maybe in a business world. It's a little different, but you know, when you're in a gunfight it's hard to control.

You know, more than five people. You know it's loud, it's chaotic, and so so when the when the Chocolate Factory started dropping chocolate right bars on me I had to get more people and it just kind of happened naturally. and so then I learned really quickly. A great way to get people on in real estate is to you know hey I've got I've got leads Yeah I got I got people that want to buy houses right? Let's go.

So what was the growth like? So look you take on the three thousand dollar a month which you know today would be 30 or 40 000 a month if you could even have access to it right? But back then 3000 was a lot of money. Yep what was the growth like where were you transactions you know pre that and then what happened in the next couple years how much did you guys grow I think the most I did individually was about 100 transactions by myself and I was you know, me and an assistant and um so what happened. As we started to grow the team, we realized that um you know and at this time two teams weren't uh I wouldn't say like a new thing but it was starting to gain Gain Surgeons again and so um so brokerages were having a hard time figuring out hey, how do we manage all these these teams And so so naturally what happened is the economics that I had to create to make my team profitable didn't align with what was going on with the brokerage. and so um, and I ended up buying a Re Max franchise and I didn't have a broker's license.

Just you know. hey I'm gonna buy a Re Max franchise. No one told you you needed one of those. Well Well no, no, you just hired hired a broker.

but um you know we. um yeah you started the Re Max franchise Re Max Military city was the name and um went through that and it was just my team. uh and um you know we we moved there, got a little lease space and uh I think at the the height of it all right before you know we we left. Remax uh we're at the group like 20 to 25 agents on the team.

um and um you know. So yeah, that's that was our journey to that point. So when did you go independent? when did you start? LRG So we we went independent. um you know, right around 2020.

Um and um the the reason for that was uh and this isn't a gig on on any other companies out there. but um you know we had to move at the pace with our with our strongest partner at the time and still listen say Zillow um and um you know they're moving fast. This was right before Zillow offers and I knew that was coming and they had a lot of things that they were trying to do and wanted to do. It may not have aligned well with the big Brands business and and so for us it was the right decision to to to leave the economics on the on the Zillow offer side for Real Estate teams and Brokers was this big It gave you a tremendous amount of transactions and and volume.

and but but you know I know the numbers right? So being inside that traditional model and I don't know not because you know Nick if you're watching I Love You CEO of Re Max it just didn't make sense. So we saw just like we saw during the Flight of the REO days which you you weren't a part of in the 7, 8, 9, 10.. if you were a Hispanic woman and you started your own brokerage and you could take over this ZIP code they would give you every REO you wanted. Wow! You know what I mean like There was just it was.

It was beautiful, what was happening, giving so many people opportunities right to go build up these monster businesses right Like it was, it was. It was awesome. But it was. It was hard.

It was hard for Brokers it was hard for new team leaders. Transition thing kind of transitioning seems to be the word of the day. Well I think real estate like it's constant state of transition right? and I think one of the things that's helped us out a lot is is trying to stay ahead of of change and you know when uh um you know people will adopt and change you know and I don't want to get changed you know I want to I want to be a controller to change and so um trying to stay ahead of of that has also been a good uh thing for us. So so you get that account? 2020 2020 was a transition year right? right? Had a little thing called Covid? yep and and in the middle of all that what was the growth like? So it was crazy.

so covet smacked Earth and um you know we're still probably you know, 30-ish type people. um it was chaos. nobody knew we were gonna do and um and so uh we decided we're gonna well, we're gonna do what everybody's not doing. We're not gonna run for the shore, we're going to go out of the ocean and we're gonna.

we're gonna grow. Uh so um, we just started uh you know, letting the world know that hey our our teams our team wants you type thing. kind of like the Uncle Sam like yeah and uh um and uh we short up our onboarding process our our training process uh looked at restructuring the organization. we added mentors because that span of control things always in my mind and so um we added mentors that are there to uh you know, basically trained advisor assists the agents and their Journey because I was I was tapped out on time.

I'm maintaining the Zillow account and you know doing all kinds of things to grow the business. and so we got the mentors going, We got our onboarding process going and then we started letting the world know hey, we want you and we'll train you and we'll give you business and uh, once we started doing that, uh our value propositions that we had at our our brokerage. Uh it worked well and we went from 30 to over 200 and inside two years and you I mean that was back. You went from like 500 transactions to a couple thousand transactions and now you know last year.

As as everybody knows, last year the second half of the Year wasn't as great as the first half and still to finish at you know, 2600 2700 transactions. it's a big business unpack for The Listener What's a team leader and what do they do? What's the what? What's your team leader? and what do they do? My team leader? Yeah, What do they do? Um, no, no, you're all your eight team leaders. No, so um, they're responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen of those that they're under charge and so um, it's a very simple job description. you know, train coach, teach, Mentor answer questions.

Uh, of course we help out. um but um, they're all involved in the onboarding process so each of them have a let's say you know we'll just say Joe Joe has uh, this, two classes that he's excelled in and Jane has these two classes that she's excelled in. And so they um, uh, they task organize it uh, you know, amongst themselves and so it's a five-day onboarding process that happens. and so uh, the mentors.

They handle onboarding. Yeah, they handle just all the questions and so forth. And one thing that's been a unique uh aspect to the success of our organization is that we have this uh, raise your hand code culture. we it's okay to ask questions, it's okay.

does it have a problem type thing and so that helps as well to stay ahead of problems? But uh yeah, they're responsible for everything that happens or fails that happen with those agents and uh, um, it's um, it's pretty. uh Cutthroat to be to be quite honest with you. So someone might be listening to this and thinking that sounds like a like a sales manager or you know, an office manager. You know, Are you guys multiple offices? a single office? Like are they all inside one location? How does that work? So um, you know there's no like, uh, individual office at the office for these folks.

Um, you know they. So it's basically a open Cafe type, grab your laptop and you know, put it on a dust type thing. But there's certainly private meeting rooms here where they can go coach their the agents and stuff on a team. But uh, um, we have one physical location that's in San Antonio Texas So we have a small team of 10 folks in Austin uh and then we have a small team of five folks in Colleen Texas Uh, there's no um, physical location at those places.

There may be in the future. Yeah, and uh, we just need to make sure we have the personnel and the business. It where it makes sense. but uh, the headquarters in San Antonio That's where all the mentors are at currently, Um and um, you know every day you'll see you'll see one or two of them in there meeting with with agents.

Maybe they're teaching a class or something of that nature, but uh, again, they you know they're responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen, right? they are at that. Uh, we have a meeting every every Thursday we have with all the mentors and we go over all the appointments. The leads, Etc agent by agent, appointment by appointment every week and you know it's kind of. You get it.

We just talked about this on our Mastermind right? So we for the person listening, we just literally got off a mastermind with about 20 other people like Levi that are just these world-class operators and we're talking about the Leaky bucket, right? The Leaky funnel where maybe you can relate to this as you're listening that We looked at this cohort of 90 days of leads and a very exceptional team, right? not yours. Another exceptional team essentially converted 91 transactions out of 4416 leads in a one-year period of that 4 400 leads, another 418 people bought a house from someone else and this caused the team leader to say I need I need to now have a monthly she said monthly and you went weekly. The monthly meeting where we review every salesperson every lead, every opportunity because if you're hearing me, they're getting one sale but they're losing four. Yeah, I don't you know we should do the same sort of Amazon Turk thing through Greg and all those guys on your database just just to see Because so so unpack for us.

If there's a team leader listening right now, or a broker leading or or listen, a single agent who does open houses and gets referrals and maybe gets some online leads, we all know the deal. We get one good one. We're like, okay, this is the one Yeah, this one's going to get all my attention and all these other opportunities start falling apart. So so walk us through the process.

You got 245 agents, You got eight mentors, You're going through a lot of leads and a lot of appointments in two and a half hours, right? What does that look like So well, you know. And it's fairness too. It's not not all the 245 people are taking leads or connections that week or that month and so we manage off the percentages and so, uh, there may be somebody that you know on vacation or something and so it's a really neat setup. Uh, but that meeting, per se, what's happening is we're going off the connections that were delivered in the last seven days.

Um, Additionally, we're going off of 30 days and then we're looking at 90 and 180. we make the decisions, decisions on on the team, off the team, you know et cetera, et cetera based off the 180 day conversion and fairness to the agents. because you know they there may be, uh, you know, just get them. Yeah, bad circumstance, right, out of their control and so we make.

we make hard decisions. Uh, on the six-month metric. Uh, but um, you know we try to. We mean hard decision like uh, you're not gonna be part of this, uh lead program.

Are you doing well in Zillow Flex But you're not doing well in uh, let's say OB City or you know, or whatever it is and so, uh, maybe it's best to pull you out of this program and put you in another. Or or maybe you owe the company to two deals from this and then we'll turn you back on. you know. Um, and so it just depends.

And it's involved with the mentor uh, and myself and then the Director of Buyer Engine Operations. We all kind of figure out what the best uh direction is because uh, you know every agent in every situation is completely different. Yeah, so um, and so we just take that approach. But uh, you know we're we're getting granular.

We're looking at appointment rate met with rate showing rate offer rates and conversion rates and the reason for the weekly meeting is to stay ahead so we can identify problems ahead of waiting that 180 days for. Oh wow you know Sally's conversion rate after we just gave Sally 40 connections is is below where it needs to be and so we are. We work closely with our partners to help you know deliver some of these connections to us and identifying you know what? uh um, you know where the agents at along along their Journey you know and what their appointment rate is. You know how much are they answering the phone, how often are they calling out you know our CRM lets us know how many texts they're making, how many calls they're making.

Etc So all of that goes down in this meeting and um you know we look at also to you know just for opportunities for individual training and collective training. Yes yes. Every single week, every week, every week, every week, eight mentors and you and the head of sort of buyer you know, buyer agency. Absolutely going through appointment by appointment, sales person by sales person.

Absolutely. There's not many people in the country I can think of that are that rigorous that are that way that are that rigorous that are just. you know what I mean like maniacal like is that is that I just want to make a fortune Is that I want to serve the customer? Is it just because of what happened to you? You just you know, because of your military training. How does somebody get that? Well I think too though is that you know the the eight mentors in my leadership team.

they're they. They fit that culture. They're on board with that. Yeah, and so it's not.

It's not just me I mean these folks are doing a phenomenal job in taking uh, what may be a hard conversation and translating that into an easier conversation with the agent and getting a result out of it. and so um, you know so I just wanna I mean it's a lot them as well but uh I think that uh for me uh obviously the customer uh 100 says our North Star uh however I'm not letting down those agents uh that have, um, you know an agent comes to me and says hey, Levi I wanna I wanna sell houses for a living and I want to make a lot of money and and do this and you know, go buy fancy cars or whatever their goals are, you know I'm also going to look in the mirror and say hey, okay well how how can I help you do that and if they're committed and they're showing up to work and they're putting in the work, well, I'm also going to take ownership of that as well. and so I really identifying how to help that agent get where it is that they want to go. And for some people you know they just they're happy selling one house a quarter? That's that's that's good for them and then, but others you know they need to sell three houses a month, you know.

and so um so we look at all that uh and um shoot I forgot the Russian no, that's it. No I mean you answered it. So I'm asking like you know why, you know why and it sounds like it's the customer and it's also your dedication to helping your agent right. If they're on your team, it's like it's leadership right? We there's we have an obligation to help them get what they want.

Well I Think the other thing too is that you know along with that you mentioned the word obligation is that um, you know I can't let you know one person or let's say a group of people and either their uh performance. whether it be to do the training or Choice depending on whatever is driving that performance uh to ruin a relationship with let's say we'll just say Zillow like I'm not going to let that get compromised I'm not going to let the entire team suffer because of one or two people or five people or ten. It's just not gonna happen and that's my responsibility as a the leader of this organization is to make sure that uh I keep our our business partners happy as well. And so hey, so let's uh, let's tease the audience.

you're writing a book I am and talk about that. Well I don't know. like the whole the whole book thing uh it wasn't uh, something that uh I set out to do but then so many people are saying hey, Levi should write a book and so I was like, all right, how did I got on Google how do you write a book and uh, so it got linked up with a pretty cool company to help me write the book and uh, have a book coming out so it'll probably be uh, another six months or so because uh, the book. We gotta add another chapter because I'm having a baby I know and uh and so you may have heard it here.

First ladies and gentlemen coming up. um so uh, that's that's what's holding the book up is I need to I need to add a chapter because I just can't have my daughter um you know, not included in a book and so uh nonetheless. um you know the book's titled 30 seconds and uh, the reason why we went with that uh title is because it my life and uh, you guys just got a you know, an hour of it today but just continued like short opportunities, short interactions and I mean and how we met right? I mean very short interaction and and it happened and it took action. And so the book is titled 30 Seconds to demonstrate.

Uh, just you know all these short interactions that have had not only positive, profound impact in my life, but also some things that happened that probably could have gone a different way. you know? and so, um, but yeah, it's uh, really exciting. Uh, it's got a lot of deep stories in there and uh yeah, we're excited to get it up man. I Can't wait we have to come back and do another podcast once that book is out.

Maybe we'll do like a little event or something, not a little event. We'll do a big event. All right. All right, Well, let's transition to the last question.

You told me a story recently about uh, where you live today and where you live today. Oh yeah, and how you look down the valley to a certain apartment building so it you know what's interesting is, um, very blessed. life's true to me. way better than I I thought it ever, would you know? So I've got a pretty pretty juicy house and um, you know I want to take it back I Was sitting in a hunting stand with my son.

Oh and uh, he showed me this house on Zillow he was looking and so kids kids are involved in house choices. don't know? Yeah, don't underestimate that. So uh, way out of the price point that I was considering I was not considering what I bought and he's like hey Dad hey this is five acres in the city of San Antonio and I'm like nah it Maps the mapping's off I know I know the mapping is wrong and I started looking at it I'm like holy smokes so immediately like we're all nasty we we drive down. you're right, you're out hunting.

Yeah yeah, we're hunting. Yeah and so because this is like a unicorn house that doesn't exist and uh um so we schedule an appointment to go see it and uh we get back and uh as I'm driving up the hill um I looked over and uh the apartment. uh I mentioned a Raya family earlier and um like before I got to that house I knew I was gonna buy it because hopefully the old seller's not listening to this because but um but the the opportunity that I have every day to drive by the apartment, the home that was given to me to live in when I couldn't afford one driving up the hill to live in my you know ridiculous house that I have on top of this this mountain um it just has a profound effect on me. and I I get to do it twice a day every single day on the way to the airport when I came here this morning.

I just now I just look over and I look at it and uh for me it helps keep me not only grounded, but it also just keeps me motivated and keeps me going and uh, you know we're extremely benevolent. uh as an organization as well. uh and um, you know I just know that uh um, my journey wouldn't be it. it wouldn't wouldn't it wouldn't have happened the way it did without the kindness and generosity of others.

and so I just felt that God um you know, just keeps showing up in my life and um and so yeah I just I knew I knew right when I went over there it just I knew that I was buying a house and so um I bought it. yeah that's I I thank you for sharing that story I love when you when you told me the first time I was like I want that on the podcast Um so if somebody wanted to reach out to you, somebody wanted to email you and ask you a question or just say thank you what's the best way for them? We can put the info uh here in the in the podcast. I got a complicated email address but uh I'm on uh I'm on Facebook and yeah Tick Tock and Instagram I think our handles like at Levi Rogers LRG yeah um but uh, my name is Levi so it's not too hard to find. Yeah, just uh.

get on Google and hit us up on our website or what have you Rogers with a D R O D G E R S right? Absolutely So I know you I know you'll answer those questions and I have a feeling you're gonna get flooded with a bunch of people just saying thank you, thank you for your service and also just thank you for sharing your story. So as we wrap today, if there was just something you could say to every real estate agent around the world, right for the the person listening right now, what's your closing thoughts for them? As we look to the future of real estate, we look to the future of their business. What would you say to him? Well I think that I think your your Destiny's in your hands. It's the actions you you take or don't take that will drive your future I don't have a master's degree in real estate I don't have uh, you know, like this crazy background where you know I was exposed to real estate my entire life.

but uh, you know the systems, the processes, steps you have to take are out there and there's so many different examples of different types of people that are doing it their way. And don't be afraid of failing and just take action. and uh, you know, just recently just yesterday I haven't shared this with you. Um and so uh.

one of our agents was out showing a house and they were teaching one of their their mentees uh how to do a final walk-through at a new home? Yeah and uh, while they're doing it, they're recording it and I'll show you the video after we're done, they're recording it. You know how to do a final walkthrough and all of a sudden they hear a noise. They hear somebody screaming for help and it's like uh, help help you know? whatever. and uh so the guy of the mentor Jason at the time they start running over there to see how they can help and it turns out one of the workers in the in the neighborhood uh like cut with a circular saw damn near his whole leg off and is really bad and he's bleeding out and uh, my agent uh Jason happens to be a 20-year military veteran Army Nurse so just jumps in there, it's getting bloody, sticking his thumb on arteries and just doing all the thing.

and um so I called a friend of mine that uh you know is a news anchor in San Antonio and I said you know One of the things that uh I think that our society needs to hear more of is about people that don't live in fear they take action. they're not worried about the outcome. and I've got this guy Jason that that heard of screaming noise ran over there and just immediately went to work. and so I think that you know every time you have an opportunity to put some work in, do it.

Stop being afraid, Just just do it. and you got one shot at life and just take action. And so I think that that would be my message. Uh the the scripts, the dialogues, the processes, the systems, all that's out there.

It's like like the the folks that uh um you know the they go to the gym. you know you know the hardest part is going to the gym. It's not when you're at the gym, it's uh, it's just getting from your bed to the gym. No actually I don't know just taking action.

Yeah I Love it man. Yeah I appreciate you so much man. Thank you I appreciate you as well. This is super cool.

So hey, for my friend listening, you probably have three people you should share this with I would send it to him today and maybe let them know how much you appreciate them and then listening to this could really help them as well. So thank you man thank you again for everything you do. Thank you appreciate it all right Thank you guys we're out. Thank you.