Hey: what's up everybody welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining us by the way, if you haven't subscribed, i would certainly love if you would. If you haven't made a comment, i would certainly love that you know i kind of thrive on comments. Um you're gon na love today's show, but before i get into it, i do want to say thank you.

We had a massive milestone in the month of december 2020. because of you. We got into the top 100 of all business podcasts on itunes, so just a thousand thank yous is all i got to say. I'm just super grateful.

It really means a lot to me. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you now with that said, phil gerdes long and foster.

Listen to this, whether you are a veteran rock star, whether you are a team leader, whether you are a broker manager looking to attract more talent, help more agents, move people forward, whether you're five years or less in real estate or you're. Listening to this and you're 17, and somehow you got hooked on me and you're thinking about going into real estate. This show is for you today we're going to explore with phil the ups and the downs the lessons, the ahas of starting out in the real estate business. Just now, you know a little over four years ago becoming rookie of the year first year.

Out of the gate experiencing, what some some being me would call meteoric success. Is that even the right way to say it? I have no idea like unbelievable geometric growth. When most people go hey, i sold eight homes, then the next year i sold 12.. He was like 36 72, like just monster growth, we're gon na break down all the numbers and then in year, four starting his team.

During a pandemic, my friends and growing from he and his wife and a marketing director, three people to 17 total on their sales and staff personally, closing 36 transactions with the team closing 209 transactions in his fourth year in the business. Yes, starting a team, so pg phil, i love you buddy. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. How you doing man absolutely thank you.

I uh. I love you, man and - and i appreciate you having me on and i'm doing great, enjoying um enjoying everything. Well listen. I mean so many of us in the uh, the ecosystem, we're all super proud of you and and your success, and what also makes you so great is you're.

Humble you share, like nobody's business you're, a total open, kimono um, so i'm really pumped about this show you've been on my list for a while and for the people that don't know. I literally you know text him. Last night, i'm like i have an opening tomorrow, like let's shoot a show tristan's here in dallas and he was like. Let's go he even texted me late last night and said what, if i flew in i'm like that's why i love phil gerdes, because you are a like whatever it takes guy.

So, let's, let's get into that help! People understand before we break down and we're going to break down a lot of details. So if you're listening, a lot of details will be broken down in this show. I think it's important that people understand your background, who you are because i said to tristan before the show you would have been exceptional at anything. You did.

You just happened to get into real estate, so so introduce yourself to the audience the people that haven't met. You or seen you on a summit stage or something and then tell us about your background yep. So, as tom said, phil gerdes i live in annapolis, maryland um guys i've been in sales, pretty much my entire life. When i was 17, i started my own online advertising company.

I uh went from there into auto sales from there. I went into the mortgage. Industry started my own mortgage company and then i left real estate entirely and went into direct sales for 10 years. I was at the highest level of the direct sales industry when i sold my my business and took a year off after that year.

My wife said she wanted to become a real estate agent. I said i will too, and that was it. You know we started running from there and, and today we're here man, okay, so married tell them how many kids, how long you've been married like give us a little context because you're, you know you're, not just a superstar in the business you're. You know.

The word is: you're, a pretty damn good husband, you're, a great father, so give us a scoop so married for uh, 15 years in february, um, two children, my son, is 12 and my daughter is nine and um we're we're loving life. We just bought a new house we're doing a renovation uh about a six month, long renovation, so um we're enjoying the opportunity to sort of just continue to build and grow and and develop the team, but develop our life. At the same time, yeah yeah the whole enchilada brother. So so i think it's important for the listener right now to recognize again, you know.

17 starts an advertising. Company goes into auto sales, did mortgage and then left the industry and then took 10 years and built like a direct sales business and then took a year off by the way. What was it like taking a year off, it was boring yeah. How old are you now man give him context? How do you i'll be uh, yeah, 39 i'll be 40 in june, so, okay, so 40, 40 in june, so you've done a lot in a short amount of time.

So why did you go into real estate? Like being like, you had other options, your wife was like: hey i'm going to do this. You kind of just followed her in like. Were you looking at other options like or was real estate? Just all right, you know my wife's doing it, i'm in it. It really really was my wife's doing it, i'm in it.

For me, there was no other drive to it. I knew that whatever i did, i was going to go in head first and just attack attack attack um, but it it just didn't matter what it was going to be and, and she had interest in it, i always wanted to work together. Uh. You know she graduated from college and and had a great job and then, when our son was born, she stopped working.

So she hadn't worked for 10 years and when we you know she said she wants to go. I said this is a great opportunity. Now, family, business and and start running, very, very cool, very so we'll break some of that down too. So so, let's go back and again remember you know.

The context is whether it's a broker owner listing right now or someone that's 17 thinking about getting the business and everybody in between break down for us like year, one right a typical day like you've gotten licensed. You learn the mls. You know you're dangerous enough with the contracts that you can write, one, how many homes did you sell in your first year, uh first year, 36., okay, so 36., so to have 36 closings, you were selling houses out of the gate or you had a monster. You know six nine month run whatever it was.

How did you get started? What lead sources did you go after kind of just go back in time and break down for us like everything you were doing back then back then it was. It was all about hustle because i didn't know enough to find this. You know great lead source and be this educated uh. You know educator within the industry, i didn't know anything really um, so i went for expires and we talked about this in the past.

I went for expireds withdrawn's cancelled um, because my mindset was those clients won. They already wanted to sell. I knew because their house had been on the market. Two they've already been educated by likely someone who's been in the business far longer than i had.

So i really just had to show them how i was going to market and sell their house. Yes, so that was that was number one that was my hustle pillar as we call it uh, and we just just every monday, through friday, from eight to ten. I'm in the office and i'm just making calls making calls making calls um and i didn't stop. It was the entire year monday, through friday non-stop and while i was doing that, you know because i'm watching all your youtubes and everything like that.

So i'm knowing that i've got to build this top of mind business so, on the back end, i'm also starting video. I'm also, you know long form copy, um tracking my day, journaling the journey all these things that would allow people on the outside. That didn't know me as well or didn't know me in this space of real estate to see that i'm here i'm doing it and um and i'm doing it at a high level, because i was celebrating every win didn't matter, i'm celebrating so yeah, so so yeah. I love, i love the fact you called it like a hustle pillar.

What were the other? I mean you said you know video, which was early, i mean think about it, you're so blessed to come into this industry. You know just you know four plus years ago, when you know instagram was already crushing people really weren't going after linkedin the way they are now facebook was just you know at the top and has had so many adjustments since youtube. Now i see you tick tock. You know i mean you're ev you're everywhere right.

What were those other hustle pillars if expire was one in video and creating content? You know showing people that day in the life of a real estate agent, you were creating your own million dollar listing. If you will television show what were the other hustle pillars, the other i had two other ones uh the first one was geo farming and i didn't know much about it. I basically, you know learned from you um and and then i i remember you outlining a test period, so we actually did an eight month test period in one market and we were aiming for two to four touches per month, and so so that was the other Hustle pillar and then it was open houses. I was doing two to four open houses every single weekend and it was.

It was amazing because that entire year i did two open houses where i did not get either a signed buyer client or a listing appointment wow. It was, it was incredible so and you know tom for me my mindset, i had two focuses when i was doing open house. The first thing was i'm in a house. I want to sell this house.

The second thing was: i need to get another client, because when i sell this house i won't have another house yeah yeah, you know what's interesting, like i think, you've met andy c who's been on my podcast as a client of mine for 18 years. He's like that, i mean i don't know if you r d, that from him, because that's exactly he's like i'm at an open house, my job is to sell this house and my job is to find another client and, and he built you know he built this Monster business, as you have, and attention we'll get into, certainly today guys open houses aren't a factor so remember we're in year. One right now like this was the very beginning phil. What do you say to the person, though? That's like clearly, you had a budget right like you had saved money, you had sold your practice.

Is there anything? You would have done differently if you were scrappy phil back at you, know 17 starting an advertising company or going into auto sales, or even you know going into the mortgage business. Like what advice would you say to somebody in year one they can do the expireds, but it's it's right as we're recording this january 2021. There may be four expireds in the country. What advice would you have for them today? Um a couple things.

The first thing is: there's nothing, that's going to beat a hustle pillar, the beauty of a hustle pillar, whatever you define it, as is that the only person that beats you is you, you define how much success you're going to have with it. If you know you got a lot of people that are doing a ton of video, a ton of social and things and they're forgetting about door knocking and it depends on your market, obviously with our current situation but they're, forgetting about um, dropping off mailers. You know one of our agents on the team every fourth of july. He walks his entire neighborhood and puts many flags in the front yard those little things that connect you with the community.

I don't think there's a better time than now to just get connected with the community um, and then you know the other thing. It's just you have these hustle pillars, but you you have to ask yourself how much you want to go in and how much you want to put the work in and the effort in because i would have went in head first. It took me eight months to watch you online before i went to a summit and joined coaching yeah and tom, probably month number one in coaching. I said: what did you do? Why did you wait eight months to do this? You should have just dove in right.

At the beginning, because i'm thinking how much more would we have done because for me i was really just running like a chicken with my head cut off for the first year, you know without real direction. Listen man give yourself a lot of credit cause. You did really well now for backstory for the people that are watching and a lot of people that were out that summit um phil and i had this instant connection right. We were talking.

You asked a ques. I just noticed, like everyone watching or listening right now, like i have this weird and i've always had it. I can spot talent like nobody's business like if i wasn't tom, ferry real estate coach doing all this stuff. I would be in the talent agency business because i'm like that guy's got it.

You remember what i called you. I was like dude you're militant like every everything about him just had this, and i meant that in a very positive way like you could tell he was disciplined, he was focused. He wanted it. He was listening at a level of intention that i just knew this guy's going to be a an absolute rock star um.

So so, let's go back to, though, that first year you have all this success. Phil you're on your first listing appointment and they say well how many homes have you sold like you're calling expires and you're like. Let me explain how i can do it differently and you haven't sold the house yet like that, takes a lot of courage and a lot of skill or or or what was it. What did you do tell us about like what did you actually do to win? The business it was you actually um.

You know, because i remember you saying lean on your past or lean on your office, so i did have a past sales record. So all i could lean on my office and then i len i i leaned on my past sales experience right. I didn't have a real estate sales record, so i focused on this is the type of success that our office is doing. This is the type of sales we're doing and then i went to, but this is how i market differently - and this is you know these - are the pricing strategies you choose and, and things like that, i i took confidence in knowing look.

I've been i've done this before in other industries, um and my office is doing it well, but even if i didn't have that, i planned i educated myself. I i did everything i could to be ready at that point in time, so that i could say to them. Look, you can trust me to do this and here's all the reasons why, yes, it doesn't have anything to do with my past sales, but it has everything to do with my commitment that i'll make to you and not just saying, hey, i'm committed, but here's how I'm going to be committed yeah. I think that the message here for everybody is preparation step by step.

I mean i i'm super proud to hear that, because i've heard that, from you know, thousands of new agents that were like. Thank you man. I didn't know how to go in with any confidence, but if i can lean on my company, i mean you're you're with long and foster one of the biggest real estate companies. You know in the country right and dominant in your marketplace, so that was smart.

Did you ever lose and if so, why uh yeah? I i lost um. You know my my first year, every eight every 10 appointments i went on. I actually signed. Okay, that's insane in your first year.

That's insane in any year. It was great um, but the ones i lost it was usually because they were working. You know they were meeting with other agents and those other agents just had it at a higher scale. More experience they connected more or i made a slip up.

You know you're not gon na be ready for everything, and there were things that i just got hit with that. I didn't know how to answer. I didn't know the right answer and things of that nature and the biggest thing for me was those ones that i lost tom i was. I was in the mirror, practicing my listing appointment.

You know where this is in my notes. I'm so keep going pl. Please explain this because most people will not get this and those that get it are going to kill it role playing. Is it? Is it's not key? It's a must like if you're, not if you are practicing on your clients, you're, basically giving business away.

So, for me, role playing was an absolute must and i didn't have anyone to do it with so i did it with mirror. You know i literally looked in the mirror in my office, and i went through my listing appointment and i learned that listing got. I created a listing guide and i learned that backwards, and that was it. That's when i knew i could do this, i i could do it forward and i could do it backward every step of the way uh and that's that commitment that hustle right.

That's that commitment that you have to be willing to put in for me it's it's easy to see how to win, because all you got to do is look at everyone, winning the people that are really winning they're, all doing the same thing to match their industry. Yes, across any industry, you're exactly right, so do you you know now you have all these new sales people on your team and and we're going to get into all that stuff i want to stay in. I want to stay in in year, one um. What was the feedback you were getting around the office and how did you you know because you you've heard the tom ferry seminar joke before uh? What are you all motivated? You went to a tom ferry seminar.

Like you know, you were, you were in it and you were crushing and you are, you know, you're a lovable and intense individual right, and i and i say that you know with massive love and respect right. You had to have ruffled some feathers. I did from day one um, but i will tell you what and really i think this is great i've, given this advice to newer agents um there there is be humble right. You want to be humble, but don't discount yourself, because someone else has an opinion of what you should be uh, and i did that for a long time.

You know i. I was 10 years in an industry where you almost had to sit back so that other people could be in the forefront, and you know you didn't always get the the credit for the work you were doing, and i remember having a conversation with victoria and um Saying look, i'm not doing that this is this. Is me there you, you said you have a tribe, so i i believed you and - and i said i have a tribe they will. They will love me they will.

They will like me, they'll support us or they won't and that's okay, but i am not going to change who i am to fit in a mold anymore, ever again and in the office you know some people didn't like that and some people loved it because, while I would i was unapologetically me, i also said look i know about this, so i'm happy to help or - and it could have been a tech question i'll stop what i'm doing i'm happy to help whatever i can do so some people. It was great a lot of people it. I was a hard um. It took some time to rub off on them, we'll say yeah yeah.

So so what advice do i mean? First of all, i love the you know. Maybe unapologetically unapologetically me like. Just just being you at level 10 man like you, you personified that let's take a step back, there's someone listening right now. She didn't have the confidence he doesn't have the confidence and and they're listening they're like yeah.

I want that man, but like like a lot of people, think they need a win in order to get confidence like that they can't just generate it. What are your thoughts on that uh? My my advice would be: don't even look for it if you feel today, like i, don't have the confidence, so i'm i can't do the thing, as you say, just stop. Looking for confidence just go. Do the thing, because what i found about confidence is that's going to creep up on you and you're going to say whoa.

What was that? Like? Did you you're almost going to talk to yourself after that appointment or whatever it is, or that video you do and you're gon na say? Did you like you killed that you know and that's when the confidence starts building? So if you keep saying, i need to find the confidence to do the thing you're never going to do the thing because doing the thing earns you, the confidence. Confidence is earned. Yeah well said man mistakes to avoid in year, one um. Second, guessing don't don't! Second guess, if you have an idea attack the idea test, the idea over time, one time doing something is not a test.

A test yeah set that benchmark of your test period and attack the idea um get involved with coaching. I mean i know it's not like. I keep talking about coaching, but it's just it's made such a difference in my business. Just get involved with coaching.

My logic to coaching was every professional athlete has a coach everyone. If i want to play at that level, i better have a coach so have someone that that's done it before knows more, to teach you and coach you and help you and guide you along the way, um and don't listen to people. That's that's such a big! That's a hard one yeah it is, i mean people, they will love you into being mediocre, they they will just hey. I i really love you, but you know, watch out, don't don't go, don't set such a high goal because you might not hit it and i'm the total opposite.

I love you. You need to set a higher goal and i'll help you hit it. That's right! That's the mindset you, those are the people you focus on yeah, so so how did you lean in and again we'll kind of put a bow on this year? One talk about. How did you lean in to your manager to the office, and then you know your coach and the ecosystem, but i want to focus you know for someone listening right now.

Maybe it's just it's that? How do i lean into my manager? How do i lean into that top agent in my company like how do i lean in with them and really glean from them? What i need well, uh have an open conversation. You know, set your goals and have an open conversation, but more than hey here's. My goal: will you help me, do it for me, it's here's, my goal. Will you help me, do it? Yes? Okay, so can we put a plan together, let's meet every single week, i'd like you to review things.

Tell me when i miss or or make a mistake and and then show me how to do it right, really look at that manager or coach or or team lead as someone that has a vested interest in your success, i think that a lot of people say Well, i just got to figure it out now we're in a beautiful space. You really don't have to just figure it out anymore. I mean you. Can there are people that want to see you win so yeah be open and ask for help.

I think that's the key and there's you know we have this interesting culture divide of people that are willing to ask and most that are just in their head, and i just hope for the person listening right now that you really get like i'm here, phil's here And there's thousands and thousands and thousands of people around the world that are like starving to help you that want to answer questions that want to whether it's on youtube or facebook or in your office and maybe maybe hey. Maybe it's not your manager. Maybe it's the assistant manager, maybe it's the transaction coordinator inside the office. Maybe it's the marketing director inside the office.

Maybe it's that not the number one agent, but the number 10 agent who is still leapfrogs ahead of you, that you know you just connect with and say i just love to like help me understand how you did it right like there's just david meltzer, when i Interviewed him on my podcast, this whole thing is like just ask: ask every: how did you do it like tony robbins built his entire career on model excellence? That's what we're talking about right exactly i remember there was an agent there was a clause and an inspection addendum i'd, never read it before i'd, never known what it was, and there was just this agent in the office, and i asked the question and he didn't Just tell me he broke down. This is what it is. This is what it means this is when to use it. This is when not to he didn't owe me anything, but he he spent about an hour with me.

Helping me through this one clause and the amazing thing was his breakdown taught it to me in such detail. I was able to teach other people and they were able to teach other people and i never would have got it that way. If i didn't just ask that's beautiful, that's that's what we're talking about my friends like there's, just there's so much to learn and so much to make you wise and business mature. You got ta ask so i wan na go back to year.

One expireds right! That was a hustle pillar, geofarm, open houses and video right. So those were sounds like those were the four things and i'm sure there was a bunch of tactics tested along the way you finished at 36 transactions. Talk us talk to us about like year two and i'm just i'm actually just going to throw it at you and say, tell us about year. Two so year two was um, don't be a one-hit wonder year.

Two was, you know, prove yourself, you did it once you have now the principle of favorability or as it's called beginner's luck. Uh is gone now you have to show the world that you can do this again and you can do it at an even higher level. Um and more importantly, you need to show yourself, because it's not going to get easier along the way, and especially for me my my i mean you said, set your goals in advance and that's what i did so. I knew as soon as i could be a team.

I was starting a team, so who would i be when i start this team? I was building that person year. Two was you know the really the first year one was learn everything you can in your first year year, two is apply at the highest level and start becoming this person. So every year for me, is a relaunch. You know year two is starting over, i'm i'm.

Let's relaunch and um, and i i ran with those same pillars. I got a lot more aggressive with video a lot more aggressive with with video, as i was figuring it out, because it took it, took about three three years to really even figure out what my keys to video were gon na be so i just started putting Everything out and seeing what hit and what didn't so um i to unpack your wife, victoria and her impact on the business, and you had a marketing director, helping you as well, so so also just inside of that. If you're listening right now, my friends, you recognize, like maybe victoria his wife, wasn't taking a salary right. I i don't know right.

Maybe we can explore that, but i'm sure the marketing director was right. So so he instantly put himself in a situation that he had to perform. He had to do well, i mean you know the story. We phil and i played golf together and you know: we've had you know, we've become friends and it's you know when i started my company like i came home one day and i said honey.

I leased like 3 000 square feet and we have 15 employees and it cost us. You know 50 000, a month to start and she's like what right, but it creates motivation. I'll just say that um, clearly proving it showing the world who would i be, is a big conversation, but talk to us about the impact of having your, your wife there by your side and your marketing director what that person's role was and how they helped. You elevate so quickly uh.

So having my wife, there is great because her mind works completely different than mine. I am risk it all dive in head. First, we'll see what happens and she's like hey. You forgot to even put a bathing suit on like slow down.

So um love it that really works um and then she also she's our operations manager and she handles all the money. So it's for me to one. I don't have that stress of what dollar is going, where i can focus on what i'm good at um and then it's nice for me to have her handle the back end and over the years. She's learned so much more about the back end and it's taken it was.

I was doing it. She was learning um. She was doing it. We were doing it together, she's doing it, i'm double checking our broker's double checking now she's doing it.

I have nothing to do with it at all, so that's that's been a load off. I don't think that i could produce um from from coaching my team to producing you know, volume and transactions. The way i do, if i had to do all that back-end stuff myself, yeah key distinction for people listening right now - i mean it's so we'll dive into that in a minute. But i want to break down for me if you would um software systems, accounting that you know this.

I'm assuming you'll know some of the names and some of these things that you know your wife has as mastered right because you're, you know you are that kind of meticulous guy break down some of the systems inside the business that someone should be thinking about after Year, one um first thing is your crm. I mean you talk about it all the time you got, ta have a crm, and - and it was a hard thing for me to grip to get a grip of because um i i was looking at every crm and i would go on the chats and see Everyone talking about - and i remember you saying - um use the crm - that your broker gives you it's free um, so i started doing that and and it and it was working and then i started i stopped looking for crms like, oh, my goodness. I have to have a crm because i was using one and i turned it into what crms working best for me. So we ship and we're using lion desk and we used a bunch.

We went to um, i i don't even remember the names of them. We used a bunch of them, but then we went to line desk and it started working for us, it clicked um, and now we we do that. The other thing is okay, hold on really hold it really fast. I love the guys at lion's desk and they have an amazing software program, but i want to reiterate for the person listening right now.

He said he tried a bunch. People say to me an outfield like what crm do you recommend i'm like? I don't know what kind of car do you drive like there's there's like a thousand skus of cars. You find the one that's right for you, there's a thousand skus of crms. You find the one that's right for you and my would.

You agree. You're, spot on and and i'll tell you when i first looked at, you know: what's the arm what i i get, i wanted to use the ones that all the big guys were using. So i started, but that really wasn't the way for me to go. It's it's what you the one, that's right for me bingo, so so the right crm.

What else uh i like to work with a spreadsheet i like to be able to track certain things with a spreadsheet, and if that's you, i say, build out a great spreadsheet. It's turned into something that my entire operation side can use into marketing and - and we all have sheets and things like that, where we track different things from these spreadsheets from production to um. You know what marketing pieces are going out. Everything um some people would say: hey.

You know you can use your crm for that, but it's using what works for you and it's working for us, so tracking production, let's break it down, though, like like so give me this example in tracking production. Are you? Are you tracking lead source calls? Contacts leads appointments. Yeses knows listings sold. Buyer profitability.

Did i miss anything like you know like what else average price point per agent uh, the you know, amount of transactions, how many transactions are needed to reach the goal that they set in the beginning of the year? How many, how much more volumes needed total team transactions total team volume? How much more we need to reach the goal? Um team average price points uh every average commission average commission from the buyer side average commission for the seller side, everything every! Why are you trying why? Why are you tracking all that stuff man come on we're in real estate? We just love selling houses. It's we love people. It's fun. I heard a story about warren buffett.

Um buying a company because the owner of the company counted the the sheets of toilet paper, not the rolls the sheets, and i said well, if warren buffett tracks down to the sheet of toilet paper, i think i could take the time to track my own numbers. You know it's just you got to know it or you're you're doing what i did for the first eight months which it worked. You know i was running around like chicken with my head cut off doing everything and at some point your hustle has to get matched with systems coaching everything else. If you really want to elevate my opinion, yeah yeah, so crm, spreadsheets transaction management, anything anything you guys like that, you recommend or just use the brokers.

What what's your? What's your take? We use our crm and our spreadsheets for transaction management, so it couples with it. I love it so you know glenda baker, big shout out to glenda down in atlanta georgia, who she's like darling she's, like i don't even use the crm i choose excel she's like i just keep it super simple, which that's what i love for the person listening, Like we have people that have like 48 pieces of software to run their business because they're software junkies and then we have people that just use the basics because they get what they need. The key is know thyself, so victoria's managing all this right. What do you say to the person that it's year two they came out of the gate, they did really well, but they don't have victoria.

So it's on them. What would you have done differently in year? Two or what advice do you have time block like crazy uh, understand the value in time blocking and for me time blocking is not just about seeing between these hours and these hours. I'm doing this. It's getting rid of the feeling that you didn't accomplish something entirely and now you have to push everything else back.

It's okay! You! You set these windows of time to work on what's important in those windows and it is okay to do exactly that, and it's also okay to time block your family. You know my even though my kids, they were four years younger when we started this. We sat down and had a talk about what the next five years would be like, and everyone bought in. So we time block everything we actually have a family schedule and my kids have access to our work calendar so that they can see what's going on if they want to do something they can put it on the schedule, but some people listen to that and they Think, well, man, that's that's! That's tough! That's harsh! It works for us.

It worked. That's the key! It really really works for us that everyone has their time, because the kicker is this. If my son puts time on the calendar to do this, what happens? Next is pg unavailable on our business calendar because he the importance level, doesn't change because, oh he's 12, no, the for me the importance level is actually higher because he's 12 right, you know so that time is is his and - and this is great but and it's Hard for me to even say, but you got to put it down when it's not in the block. You know when it's when it's deep in time or emma time, it's not cell phone time that that text wait for an hour.

You know yeah, that's a that's! A like i'm just looking at tristan right now, like i'm doing that because i got a totally you know. Mine is like 19 and 21.. You know like they're, you know they're, i got. I got these two young bulls that you know don't live with me anymore, but you know that hey dad can we get together, let's get in and i'm like asking for their time like, i think i'm gon na ask for a copy of their calendar.

I love that that's a great distinction um, so you say time blocking really is. It is the solution and i would argue it's the combination of time blocking, as well as leaning into your brokerage. You know whatever crm, whatever transaction management use all the resources of your company um. You know like they're there for a reason right, like you're, on your split for a reason, use the resources available that cost you.

You know essentially nothing right so going back to uh your marketing director talk to us about your marketing director and the impact that person had. Who is it? Is it the same person still on the team? Did you have turnover like and and what are they doing, that allowed you to have such mediocre success? Oh so our marketing manager's name is arabella she's. Actually, here sitting right there, uh, hey she's, like hey, no turnover here tom, come on no turn over um. So her it her job really has developed as we've grown, her position has grown and all the things that she takes on has grown.

It really started on content creation, um and now it's turned into managing all marketing for listings content creation, um working with our videographer. Our photographer down to i mean from from things like ordering signs for listings to storyboarding entire videos, and and what are we doing here, and so it's everything marketing is her baby and and her world and uh. I want to do as little as i can in the places that i don't think i should be pouring all of myself in. I am like i have my strengths.

She has her strengths. Victoria has our strengths, our our op assistant kelk has her strengths. So, let's let everyone live in their strengths and and that can be hard uh if well for me, because i also want to be everywhere. So i have this one side telling me: let people do what they do and i have this other side saying.

Well. Just look over and make sure so the hard part is not looking over and making sure all the time so you're you're leaning right into the part. I wanted to ask you about in year two you said you know year. Two for me was like i had to prove it.

I wasn't a one hit wonder i wanted to show the world that, like hey, this is real like i'm here, i'm here and i'm i'm just getting started, but then you said. I knew then that i wanted to start my team now. What you guys don't know is that long and foster. Please correct me: if i'm wrong, you can't have a team until you've been in the business for three years.

Is there a transaction association to that as well or no in in maryland as a whole three years maryland? Thank you. So you got ta be an agent for three years before you can start team and then it doesn't matter how many transactions or anything like that. Just thank you for climbing up because for some reason i thought it was just long in foster, and i was actually gon na ask gino about her one of the guys like just to figure that out. So that's good.

So but you said i knew i wanted to have a team, so i was already asking myself who do? I need to be unpack that for us a little bit you just i mean if you wan na every coach of a professional football team has not played football, but they've surrounded their life with football. If i want to say to some and that's the proof, it's this listen, i've surrounded my life with this. I've helped other people do this. This is why you should listen to me.

Well, for me, it was i'm making this my life right. An important factor of my life, but here's all the reasons why you should come over to the team and and join me and those reasons have to be production, uh, continued production, more production and a slew of systems, a slew of marketing techniques, a slew of all The things that people need uh to actually help them win in their business, because someone joins your team they're joining your team, but they just because they're on your team, they didn't forget all the goals that they set. You know they still want to accomplish. All these things so for me, i had to become this person um.

That could do it and then teach it and then do it again at a higher level and then continue to teach and stair step and grow right right. I love it. It's learn it do it scale it right, learn it do it scale it which means pass it on, get everybody else better, make them better or allow them to be better than you that's. You know again phil because of your background that there's someone listening right now.

It's like well man, maybe okay, so maybe i should start over at 17 and i should start an advertising company online. Then i should you know, go into auto sales. Then i should go into mortgage. What do you say to the person? That's like yeah man, but i don't know like like it's obvious right for people listening.

It's obvious that that phil is a battle-tested executive. He is an entrepreneur he's been in this for a long time. So when he came into real estate, i knew it i'm like. I want to invest in that guy like if i could, if i could have bought like 25 of your company that day.

Oh, that would have been a really good investment right. How? How does somebody at this point if they're listening and they they don't? Have that background, like i didn't, have that background, when i you know, joined my dad's business, it was just scrappy and learn and try and figure it out what advice do you have for them to evolve as a leader as a business person as an entrepreneur like? What's your advice, you know um. The first thing is stop looking at time. The same way, you know if you keep looking at other people and the things that they've done over the past x amount of years, and then you say well, they have that head start.

Just understand that head start started somewhere five years from now, you're gon na say the same exact thing you could have said it today and made the start so stop looking at this person has the upper hand more say to yourself at some point. I want to get to that point at some point. I want to have all these things i want. I have to start so launch you know, launch and launching a rocket requires the most effort right for for an extended period of time.

It that's where everything goes in. That's why i launch at every year again um. So that's first! Second, i'm not you you're, not me! Your goals are not mine and my goals are not yours and our successes will not be exactly the same and be okay with that figure out what you want and then understand. You're here, uh uh gary vaynerchuk talks about your your chances of being a human are 400 trillion to one.

That stuff is important like i take that and i i wake up in the morning, and i i do my social media light time. I do my my video learning and i think about that. Like look, somebody said to me once you know how's your day going, i said it's great, you know option two sucks option. Two would be that i didn't wake up right.

I woke up so i'm already winning i'm already winning i'm already winning yeah keep going. I i think that people, you know if you're looking at it and you're saying well, this person or not even just me, anybody has all this experience one day, you're going to be the person with all that experience. If you put in the work now everything i heard someone say, i don't remember who it was um. Someone said everything that you have achieved, everything that you have today used to be the things you were hoping for in the past.

So when people look at the future and they say to themselves well, you know i i don't know if i can do it just understand, you didn't know. If you could do what you are now, you didn't know if you could become who you are now you were working to that that you got to appreciate that give yourself a round of applause, a pat on the back and now go get better. You know really really go, get better. Absolutely remember, can i read, can i learn to drive a car? Can i learn how to ask him out ask her out? Can i learn to be in a relation like everything is a learning process and i think what what i'm really hearing is like: hey tick, tock, tick, tock you're, already special nobody's got a lot of time.

Get out there and just try stuff like if we, if can you imagine like phil, imagine if we can like wave a magic wand and just get people back into a growth mindset, because there's a lot of people in our country and around the world that are Really fixed right now right now i want to get into politics and also, but just like you know what i'm saying like there's a lot of people that are very positional about what it takes to be successful and what not and you know and all the other Nonsense right, so what do you say to that person? That's like man, but you like pg, it's so easy for you, like you, don't understand my background, my story, my situation, my my my my let's, let's put a bow on this like what do you say to that person? Everyone has a my. I have a my. I i don't have a dad. I moved out when i was 17..

I almost died twice like i planned for eight and a half months, my funeral, you know i kissed my kids to bed and said good night to them really saying i might never see you again because i truly may not wake up in the morning. Everyone has a my your decision is, will i be better tomorrow and your decision is actually different? It's will i be better in a second from now like will. I will the decision i make in this very second make me better in the next second and when you really break it down like that and understand that those seconds are going to run out like how do you want to finish this thing and nothing's holding you Back except for you, people hear these things. They think they're, just some some cliches they're, not they're real.

You can do anything. You set your mind to someone's going to say. Well, phil, i can't become a ballerina, but you don't want to be a ballerina. So why are you even bringing that up? You know right exactly.

I want to be the center for the lakers, but probably not going to happen. I'm 50 and i'm six feet tall, probably not going to happen. You you ask yourself: what do you really want right now in your life? What you want for yourself, your family, your future and then put your head down and run dive in run as hard as you possibly can ask for help surround yourself with great people that want to see you win and that want to win with you. I think that's really important people that want to actually win with you not just support you but run alongside.

I think it's so important, but in the end remember everybody has a my everyone down. Yeah yeah well well said man. I would just say to everybody too, like i remember being i don't know, i think i was like 17 or 18 years old. I wasn't.

I wasn't yeah. I was living in costa mesa on center street. My little honda 125 cc motorcycle my brother and his then girlfriend who became a wife. My dad uh pulls up phil and he's driving a freaking rolls royce that he probably couldn't afford.

You know he was. He was that guy. That would just stretch himself to force himself to go out and make more money and live on that edge. Like you know, unfortunately, i didn't learn that lesson or i learned the opposite, but he said to me.

I remember asking him like you know: it's just hard. You know like it's hard being in my situation, it's hard and it wasn't like. Oh dad, you're successful and i've got those issues. I had none of that because he wasn't really successful back then, but but he said something to me.

It was one of the hardest assignments i actually wrote about in my second book. He said, write down positive, neutral and negative, and he said and make up list of all the people you spend your time with, and it was hard man because i realized, like i had two people in my life that were positive. I had a ton of people in my life that were like neutral and neutral means like they were like they didn't really care. If i did good or bad, you know what i mean like, they just didn't really care, and then i had people that absolutely wanted me to fail and it was just on a tuesday.

I got rid of all the negative people and then i had to call some of the people that were in the neutral category and like one was like my mom, hey, mom, you're neutral for me, she's like what the hell are you talking about right? That was a story in my head. We got we got through it, but then i i really took to heart. I only had two people and those two people i spent all my time with them and then two became three three became four today. It's tens of thousands, you agree, and that's is that is that a little too harsh for people, because there's some people out there, man that they're stuck in the muck because they hang out with the muck.

You know it's it's comfortable and it's love, and you know we we build these attachments to people that sometimes they're, not the ones we should be so attached to it doesn't mean you can have nothing to do with them. It just means that, if you're spending 80 percent of your time with someone - that's not looking for you to win, then you're likely not going to win it's just the way things work so there and and what i think the best thing you can do for those People that you love, but that are neutral and that are negative, is go win because in the end you will inspire them and and then you'll find those same neutrals they end up. Jumping into that upper, you know they they they're helping they're they're they're, that top tier now with you. But it's because maybe you didn't coach them through it, but they saw you do it, so they knew it was possible.

They saw someone close do it and they knew it was possible yeah. I was thinking about my buddy joe paulus. You said uh like afraid what the first metaphor was, but the second one was like hang out with more elfs elf e-l-f. It was like an acronym for easy, lucrative and fun, and i was like yeah now lucrative, isn't just money guys like i have a very lucrative, loving relationship with my wife.

I have a very lucrative, loving and power relationship with tristan right over here. Like you know, it's it's not lucrative. We make money together, it's lucrative like we get lots of benefit from each other. So i just love that, like just just popped in my head, okay, i'm gon na switch gears with you.

I just joined your team. I'm a brand new agent talk to me about what i have to do every day for the first month or two, i'm i'm looking for like phil's 10 things a brand new agent that just joined your team has to do to win. Get real tactical with me. First thing is: learn: learn the systems you're going to go through an onboarding process to be introduced to all the systems from crm to when our meetings are to what meetings are what and why to how you should be participating to who you should talk to and Really lean into on the team, you need to learn the basics of how this machine works um.

The second thing is: take the time to actually now learn those things i said, learn them, but i mean learn about them. Now you need to learn them. You have to practice. You have to go and write a contract.

What house, the house you live in just write. A buyer contract write a listing agreement for the house. You live in um, go to another agent and present the listing appointment with them to an agent for the house. You live in or the house they live in, but you've got to get your feet wet and we're not going to practice on our clients.

So you're going to get your feet wet in inside the office uh. The next thing you're gon na do is identify your hustle pillars because they're not mine to to tell you they're yours to to be intrigued with or interested in uh.