Latest / Massive Agent Podcast / Do You Have an Exit Strategy for Your Real Estate Business? w/ Jason Duncan

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Do You Have an Exit Strategy for Your Real Estate Business? w/ Jason Duncan · Massive Agent Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: On this episode, we are talking exit strategies.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: Do you have one?
0:04
SPEAKER_01: If you're an agent, have you thought about the end?
0:07
SPEAKER_01: Have you thought about how you're gonna actually wind up your career?
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Or are you just gonna show homes and write offers till you die?
0:13
SPEAKER_01: See, most of you haven't thought about this.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: Our guest on the show today, the real Jason Duncan, is a master.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: He's an expert at helping business owners to exit their business without actually selling it.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: He calls it exit without exiting.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: This is about beginning with the end in mind, making ster certain strategic choices right now to structure your real estate business as an actual business, putting people and systems in place to where you can remove yourself from the equation while continuing to earn the income.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible, incredible episode.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: So many actionable tips.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna want to take notes on this one.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's get into it.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: The Massive Agent Podcast.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: We lead generation tips and strategies to give you more leads and sell more homes.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: I love to buy houses.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: I like to sell houses.
0:58
SPEAKER_02: It takes brass balls to sell it.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: Wait a minute.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: Leads are weak.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: You're a week.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: I've had better better.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: Oh, have I got your attention now?
1:10
SPEAKER_02: Here's your host, Dustin Brome.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: What is up, guys?
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to episode 277 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: We have one hell of a show for you today.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: For any entrepreneur listening who happens to have a real estate license, this show is for you.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: And if you are a realtor and you don't realize, oh my God, you're an entrepreneur, this show is gonna be for you as well.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: This is an eye-opening show that's not only gonna open your eyes, it's gonna make you think and it's gonna have you making different decisions moving forward.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: This episode can literally change your entire life, can change your future, can change your family's future as long as you take action on the stuff that you're about to learn.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: We have an expert on the show today, the real Jason Duncan.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: He's someone that I've met through a mastermind, and he has built and sold, sorry, not sold, built and exited businesses without actually selling those businesses.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: So he's now created, he's started a few businesses, removes himself from the equation, puts people and systems in place, and he continues to earn the income without actually selling the business.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: This is exactly the type of stuff that agents need to be thinking about.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you're a brand new agent or maybe you haven't even gotten your license yet.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: This is the perfect show for you.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: If you've been in the industry for 20, 30 years and you've just always run your own job, perfect episode for you.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: You're going to find something life-changing in this episode today.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: Really excited.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, I am uh honestly, over the last five or six days, I've completely checked out from social.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: I was still on it, I was still consuming some stuff, responding to a few messages.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I spent the last uh five or six days in southern Utah.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: In St.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: George, it was my son's spring break, and we had to we had to flee this the snow in Salt Lake.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: It's been the longest frickin' winter of my life that I can remember.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: And seriously, the stats show that it's like Utah's biggest winter as far as snowfall and snowpack.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: And uh the day we left for St.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: George, there was eight inches of snow on the ground.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: We get down there, it's 70 degrees, it's sunny, just absolutely incredible weekend, and I just enjoyed.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: I unplugged.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: But I'll tell you what, when you I I was I wasn't burned out, but I was getting to a point where I was I wasn't as focused and clear as I know that I could have been, and so I wasn't being as productive as I could have been.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: And unplugging has really helped me to focus on the most important things and just let me let go of some of the bullshit.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: It let me let go of some of the stuff that just wasn't serving me in my business, stuff that I don't even need to do, stuff that isn't important that was kind of bogging me down.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: And unplugging can be a huge step forward.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: I felt like I took a step back, but now I feel like I've taken a giant step forward.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: And so if you're in that spot, do the same.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: Unplug for a minute, but but know why you're doing it.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Don't just unplug and say, I'm tired, and then you know, don't do anything productive, and then you come back and you feel like you're behind.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Make sure that you're doing it intentionally.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: Taking a break can be strategic and can be honestly, taking a break can be the most productive thing you could possibly do if you do it intentionally.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: So I I just did this, I had a great time with the family.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to do it as well.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm back.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm back.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: You guys haven't missed an episode.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm never gonna miss an episode of this podcast, but uh you've probably noticed I haven't posted as much on s on social.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Here's what's interesting I've continued to reach just as many people, but most of them are non-followers.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: So my followers weren't seeing me because I wasn't posting, but my older stuff was getting shown on Instagram specifically a lot more.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm getting the same amount of reach pretty much each day, but to non-followers.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: So I found that like what a pleasant surprise.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: I stepped away from posting for a week and I'm still reaching new people.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: My audience is growing pretty awesome.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, I was I wasn't worried about it, but it was like eh, I'm probably gonna take a little hit to social that'll have to rebuild.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Not the case.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm actually uh I've gained ground since taking a break, which was a nice surprise.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: If if that's your big concern, just do it, just try it.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: It's it's better for you.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Anyhow, guys, uh between now and June 2nd, I need your help.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but before I ask for that help, I'm giving away a free year's membership to the Massive Agent Society.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm giving away one month of free one-on-one private coaching.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: And also I'm doing a training with some of the biggest influencers and names in the real estate industry.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: And to enter to win these things and to enter to be part of that training, all you need to do is make a donation to the charity that I am really putting a lot of effort behind fundraising for.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: It's the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, LLS.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: They're the charity that they are a charity that I absolutely believe in, and I've committed to helping them raise$100,000 between now and June 2nd to fund the research to end childhood blood cancers like leukemia.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: This is a huge task.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: I set a ridiculously big goal, and damn it, we're gonna hit it.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: But I need your help.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: I need you.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: You yes, I'm talking to you.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: You in your car, you walking your dog, you in the office, you at the gym.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: I am talking to you.
6:30
SPEAKER_01: I need your help to find out how you can win one of the things I just mentioned, win the society membership, win the free coaching, and just if you want to help out, whether that's$2 or$2,000 or$20 or anything in between, please go to Massiving.com.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: More details about how you can enter to win uh those those prizes and how you can be included in this training that we're gonna do with some of the biggest names in real estate.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, with a minimum donation of just$50.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who donates$50 is automatically in for that training.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: And uh all the details over at MassivGiving.com, I ask for your help.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: If if you've ever gotten value from this podcast ever in your life, please go to massiviving.com and do what you can.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: That's all I ask.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: Now most agents are struggling because all the things that matter are falling through the cracks.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: For example, if you can't remember the listing presentation you had six weeks ago and the sellers haven't heard from you since, you need follow-up boss.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: If your past clients ended up hiring a different agent because they forgot about you, because they haven't heard from you since the deal that you closed with them three years ago, you need follow-up boss.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: If you're not selling as many homes as you know you should be, you need follow-up boss.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: And because you're a listener of the Massive Agent Podcast, follow-up boss is hooking you up.
7:51
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7:59
SPEAKER_01: Just go to Massive Agent Podcast.com slash follow up boss to start your trial and see why the vast majority of the highest selling, top producing agents all across the country are all using follow-up boss.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: It's not a surprise, but see for yourself with the free trial, 30 days, they don't even ask for your card.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: MassiveAgent Podcast.com slash follow up boss and make sure that you're staying ahead of what's happening in this crazy, fast moving housing market.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: More importantly, how to communicate what's happening with the people that matter, your clients and your prospective clients.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: You need to understand what's going on for yourself and you need to know how to teach that to them.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: And the best way to do it is to just have KCM tell you what to say.
8:41
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8:44
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8:50
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8:56
SPEAKER_01: Let's get into our conversation with the real Jason Duncan right now on exiting without exiting.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: This is this is the exit strategy for agents.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: This is how to create your exit strategy.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you can start thinking about what comes next.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: Like at what point can you step away from real estate?
9:13
SPEAKER_01: I did this myself in a different way.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: I've structured things a different way, but I learned a lot from today's conversation that I'm putting into place so that I can completely remove myself from the equation eventually.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: I've taken a big step towards that.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm probably closer than most of you are to that, but I still I'm required in my business.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: This is going to show you how to remove yourself from being required for your business to operate.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Huge episode.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: Love this.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Get your notes ready.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: This is one you may want to listen to more than once.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Let's get into our conversation with Jason Duncan.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: What's up, guys?
9:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm here with the real Jason Duncan.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Massive Agent Podcast.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm good.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: I am good.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Dude, I'm so excited for this conversation.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: We've known each other for I think a little over a year.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: I think we met at Neil Dingra's Forward Mastermind.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I've since heard you on a few other podcast episodes.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: You had a great episode with Brad Lee on on Brad Lee's podcast, dropping bombs.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: And and you certainly did.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: So Jason is somebody that teaches other business owners how to exit their business without exiting, which is he'll explain that.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: Super interesting concept.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: But whether you if you're an agent, you just got into the business, perfect timing for you to hear this.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Because now you can structure things in a certain way to build towards an exit strategy someday.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: And if you're if you've been, you know, you're a veteran in the real estate world and you've been in the industry for 20 years, cool.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: You can make some pivots and adjustments and uh and finally have an exit strategy.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Because Jason, I don't know about you.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Do you know any agents that have retirement parties?
10:51
SPEAKER_00: I I do not know that, but I do know that their pictures on their business cards were taken 20 years ago and they have not updated it.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: And when I see them in person, I'm like, whoa, that is not the person that I saw on the card.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Correct.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the the glamour shots from uh from 1987 or whatever.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: That those are hilarious.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, they teach you that in real estate school.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a prerequisite to get your license, I think.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: Um exactly right.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: So, Jason, you've how long have you been a business owner, would you say?
11:22
SPEAKER_01: So I started uh I started my first real company in 2010.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: So 13 years ago.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And and so what kind of a business was that?
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Because you're not a real estate professional, right?
11:36
SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: No, I saw the business the first real business I started was a lighting company.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: We did LED lighting, retrofits, and commercial buildings uh for the purposes of saving energy.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: I still own that company to this day, and now I do have a real estate investing company that my wife and I own.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: We do some investing, and I'm starting to get into syndication a little bit, but I'm not an agent.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: My wife is aspiring to be, actually.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: She's in the process of taking her testing to become an agent, but yeah, I'm not I'm not an agent.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I love that because you are a business owner who has done, you've structured your business a certain way that's allowed you to, like you said, you still own that business, but you it doesn't sound like you're in that office today.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: You're not running that business yourself today, correct?
12:21
SPEAKER_00: I am not.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: I haven't I haven't run it in uh a couple years.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Still going on going strong, but without me.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: And and right there, is that what exit without exiting means?
12:33
SPEAKER_01: Is you kind of remove yourself, but you you don't actually sell the company.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exit without exiting is a way to um is to get out of the daily weeds of the operations, get out of the daily in and out office hours, all that kind of stuff without selling the business and yet continuing to receive the financial benefits of the business.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, I love that.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: I I love that.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: So uh is that do you have other businesses that you've done that with?
12:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not not in the same way.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: So since since exiting that business, um, the daily operations of that business a few years ago, I went on to start other businesses.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: So I've got uh right now, currently including Holden Companies and the way we got set up seven, seven companies.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the only one that I'm actively involved in on a day-to-day basis is my personal brand, The Real Jason Duncan, where I teach, I coach, I write, I do a podcast.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: That one keeps me keeps me really busy, but it's in the center of what I was put on earth to do.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: All the other businesses, I'm very have very low involvement, and I've got teams that kind of run things on the side.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: I love this so much.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: And this is such a perfect topic for this podcast in particular because an exit strategy is something that I've really focused on for myself over the last three, four, five years.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I met others within the real estate industry who had exited, uh, most of them step what we call stepping out of production, where they don't personally meet with the clients.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: They're not personally driving around town and opening doors, they're not personally selling the homes, but they have teams that do it.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: So they have a real estate business that they um, you know, some of them have managers and they're not required at all.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: Like my mentor Clayton, he works, I guess, quote quotes, works two hours a month, just kind of like overseeing stuff.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they sell 800 homes a year.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: He's not required to be there at all.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: He has a great manager that runs the thing, they have 50 agents and staff, you know, a multi-seven-figure income for his family, and because he structured things a certain way.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: So that's what I want our listeners to hear today is by structuring things a certain way, by thinking in a in a new way, you can have all the benefits of a business without actually like being needed in that business.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Am I describing that correctly?
14:51
unknown: 100%.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: What would you add to it?
14:52
SPEAKER_00: You've got it exactly right.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that the I believe, and this is something that's truly down in my core, I believe that the purpose of business ownership is not just to own a business, it is for that business to provide you the financial resources to live the lifestyle that you desire.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: So if you can design your business around your life, that's gonna be a good life.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: But most of us design our lives around the business.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: The business takes up the biggest chunk, and then we live on the leftovers.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm against that.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: I think an exit without exiting, my book and my pro, you know, the method that I teach is that you can live right now the lifestyle you want and use your business to provide you the financial resources to do that if you set it up the right way.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I, dude, I didn't know that that was possible.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: I I always thought that a business was just like, you know, that you have to do it actively all the time to produce your income.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Because growing up, that's all I saw.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: I saw my parents working jobs, I saw my neighbors working jobs, and there's nothing wrong with that, right?
15:55
SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing wrong with real estate agents who who legitimately love seeing the homes and personally working with the clients and all of that.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: But I think if we're being honest, most people, especially those listening to the show, they want the financial benefits, they want the financial upside, and they want the freedom that comes from being a real estate agent, not the day-to-day required to be one.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why I think this conversation is so important, and I'm glad you're here.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh, is there, I'm curious, is there any industry that that your exit without exiting concept doesn't work for?
16:31
SPEAKER_01: Or is the business a business?
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, a business is a business to the extent that the entrepreneur gets over the hero syndrome.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: And the hero syndrome is the syndrome that we have as entrepreneurs where we have to do everything.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: We our mindset says that we have to put on the cape, we swoop in, we save the day every day.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, in in single shingle or solopreneur like real estate, that happens a lot.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: That happens a whole lot.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: But it also happens for lawyers, doctors, and it happens for electrical contractors, it happens for CPAs, it can happen for anybody.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: You could be running a shoe store.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: The hero syndrome affects entrepreneurs equally without regard to their race, gender, bias, you know, any all that crap.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: But if we can get past the hero syndrome, exit without exiting as a method will work for everybody.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: I've got clients who are in construction, um, I got clients who are lawyers, I got clients who are CPAs, I got client, I got clients that are in ever just about every field you can might imagine.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: And this works for everybody.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Now it just takes, you've got to get over the hero syndrome first.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: And real estate agents, you especially the newbies, this is this is where you're at, man, because you're you're having to kill it and bring it home and you clean it, you do everything yourself.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: You've got to get over that as fast as possible if you're gonna live the life that you truly desire.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: What is the quickest way to get over it?
17:53
SPEAKER_01: I I assume you just have first off have to realize holy crap, I'm a business owner, and then start acting as such.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, talk more about that.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think well, I think we need to be honest too, is like uh people listening to the show, half half of the people listening to the show as real estate agents are content being a real estate agent and they have a job, and that's it, and that's all they want.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: And if that's what you want, more power to you.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Continue to drive your Lexus and go show houses the rest of your life.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's cool, that's great.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: But the other half who are like, no, no, I want to be like Clayton, Dustin's mentor.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: I want, I want to, I want to get 50 agents, I don't want to work every day.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you've got to operate on a completely different mindset.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: You got to operate on a different level because you can't do what the agent who wants to be an agent does every day and get to the place where Clayton is every day.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know who Clayton is, but sounds like a pretty cool dude.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: He's figured it out.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: That mindset, it's just different.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: So so I think the first thing, Dustin, is the listener, listen to this.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: You got to decide, am I an agent or am I an entrepreneur?
18:53
SPEAKER_00: Am I an entrepreneur who can build something?
18:56
SPEAKER_00: If you're an agent, embrace that.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: Work at it.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Just do it, do it with the best of best of intentions.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Read, think and grow rich.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your mindset will change a little bit.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Do that.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: But if you're not, stop.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: If you're if you're not, if you don't want to be an agent, stop acting like one.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Start acting like an entrepreneur and start building your business differently.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: Why do so many people cling to that hero, that hero syndrome you talk about?
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, it's it's pride.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and and I think it's also ignorance in the truest sense, like you said a minute ago, you didn't even know the exit without exiting was possible.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, neither did I.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I started my company in 2010 completely out of sheer necessity.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: I was an unemployed school teacher, started this company because my contract didn't get renewed for teaching.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: I had to find something to do.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, I know how to sell, I'll start this business.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: And I started this business, and for seven years, I showed up every single day at the office.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: I worked every day.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: I went on sales calls, I worked with vendors, I flew to China to talk to manufacturers.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: I was doing everything.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And I thought that was what was required of entrepreneurs.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I didn't even really consider myself an entrepreneur.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: I I thought I was just a business owner.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: And then in 2017, 2018, I hired a business coach.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: And it was then my mindset started to shift away from this hero mentality of wait a minute, there's other, there's other ways to live my life than just have a high-paying job that I own.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's when things started to change for me.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And I think it can change for everybody.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: It's about perspective, and I think this is where the beauty of business coaches and mentors come in.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: So, Jason, it sounds like it's just as much about psychology, right?
20:31
SPEAKER_01: And and the mental game than it is about tactics and and business strategy.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: Is that fair?
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Everything is that.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: Your relationship with your wife, your relationship with your kids, your health, your fitness, everything boils down to what goes on between your ears.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Like if you if you can get comfortable with something today, and that's the way you think about it, that's the way your life will be.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: Your reality will reflect exactly what you think about.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: So whatever reality you're living in, poor, rich, wealthy, poverty, healthy, unhealthy, whatever reality you're living in is the direct result of the thoughts that you've had.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: So everything boils down to that.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: A thousand percent.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: So in your lighting business, in your lighting company, when did you start to transition to thinking like a business owner, to thinking like an entrepreneur versus just the you know, the practitioner, you know, in the grind in the trenches every day?
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, it was when I had a business, I hired a business coach for the first time.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: So this is kind of a funny story.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: So when I started, when I started my company in 2010, I literally I was an unemployed school teacher trying to figure crap out.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: My last paycheck was coming on August the 15th from the state.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: My contract didn't get renewed due to budget cuts.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: I was not tenured, last guy hired.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: I was the number one teacher in the county, but that's that's how they made decisions, right?
21:47
SPEAKER_00: So I I was on I was on the chopping block.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: So I just had to figure it out.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: So I I figured it out.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh I didn't know business, uh business coaches existed.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I think I probably didn't even know what life coaches were.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, I became aware of like what a life coach is, and then aware of what a business coach was.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And I remember talking to my business partner uh for years.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we need to bring in a business coach, we need to bring in a mentor.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Ah, we're you know, we're smart enough, we don't need that.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, he he was dead wrong.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know he was dead wrong, but he he was dead wrong.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And so eventually, as the majority owner of the company, I finally said, I'm no longer gonna acquiesce to this crap that we're smart enough and we don't need outside counsel.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: So I hired a business coach in 20, I think it was 2017.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm I my dates are a little fuzzy, but I brought him in and he did a he did what business coaches should do, he asked great questions.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: And so as he started asking these questions, I began looking around, going, wait a minute, you mean there's other ways for me to live a lot?
22:46
SPEAKER_00: Because I was making a lot of money, as especially as compared to being a teacher, right?
22:52
SPEAKER_00: I was doing really, really well.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, you know, I mean, I don't have to show up every day.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: And of course, he said, No, you have to.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: You built your business this way, you have you have no choice.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: And then that was when I started thinking, okay, if I don't have a choice, well then let's sell this thing.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: That was my first thing.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Let me just sell the company.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: We got to be worth millions and cajillions of dollars.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: That's what everybody thinks, right?
23:12
SPEAKER_00: But we but it wasn't.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: And and his my coach kept saying, Listen, man, Jason, you built a business that revolves around you, so it's not worth anything.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: And then that was that started the gears turn.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, I got to figure out a way out of this thing.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: If I can't sell it, what do I do next?
23:27
SPEAKER_00: And that's how the exit without exiting concept was born.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Before we go there, I'm curious about the the motivation and and the mindset around hiring the business coach in the first place.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: You know, if sounds like the business was doing well, profitable, you're making some money.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Why the coach?
23:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think there comes a time when we've all got to admit that we can't be the smartest guy in the room.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: And if we're always the smartest guy in the room, we're in the wrong rooms.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: And and unfortunately, that was what my former business partner used to think is that he was the smartest guy in the room.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: And certainly, no discredit to him, he was very intelligent, had made millions of dollars in business before I met him.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the reasons I invited him to be a business partner, which is a whole nother subject for another day about whether you should do that or not.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: But but as it turns out, he was wrong about those things.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: We we can't be the smartest guy in the room.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: And I started realizing that I can't do this, I can't be the smartest guy in the room.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: I've got to get other people around me.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: I went to a conference, I went to a workshop, I don't know where I was, but people kept talking about this idea of business coaches and what they could do for you.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: I thought, okay.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: So I I literally started Googling business coaches near me because I didn't really know, I didn't know how to find one.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anybody who had one.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: And I started looking.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: I ended up ended up interviewing, I think, three or four guys.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Some were local to Nashville, some were not, and uh, because I live in Nashville.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: And and I I don't recommend what I did as the way to find a business coach.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: But this guy, his name was BJ Howard, he showed up at my office.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: He was early, he was dressed to the nines, he was ready, he was prepared, prepared, he asked great questions.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: And before the end of the end of my interview of him, he started asking me if he could introduce me to some of his other clients because there could be some synergies and how we could work together.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: And that locked me in.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: I was like, dude, if you're gonna provide value to me like that, we're we're in.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: And so I hired him and we worked together for about three years.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: And uh he was it was absolutely phenomenal.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: Sadly, he BJ passed away a couple years ago um during COVID, but uh he was a fantastic dude.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: What are some of the things that BJ had you do in the beginning to start to move towards the exit strategy?
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I don't know that there was anything necessarily specific that we did.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: There weren't really really homework assignments or go do this.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: It was really about the mindset behind why business ownership, why we had this business ownership.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Now, so I had I had a minority partner in the business, it's just two of us, and I had BJ.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And so the three of us would meet about every two weeks, and we would meet for an hour, two hours, and we would talk.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And BJ always had some sort of curriculum or some sort of outline, things to talk about.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: And he would, he would whiteboard, he would get up and whiteboard concepts and blow us away.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Like there were just things.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'd never seen a SWOT analysis until he did it.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: I know now they're pervasive.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows what they are.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, at least most people do, but I'd never seen that.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: And then he went through um um what is it?
26:25
SPEAKER_00: What is the uh the Six Sigma?
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know what Six Sigma is?
26:29
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people know about this.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: I've heard of it.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: It's a way to do yeah, it's it's mostly in manufacturing, but it's a way to manage um processes.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: And of course, you can divide that down and or reduce that down to smaller businesses rather than these businesses that deal with widgets and you know on the millions and millions of dollars of scale.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: But but he showed us how to do that.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: He would show us these things, and so slowly my mind at least started opening to these new opportunities and new ideas, like wow, if we did this or we did this, or and then one of the questions he he asked me, he said, he said, Jason, he said, if you weren't doing this, like if you could take all of your current knowledge as an entrepreneur and business owner, you've been very successful, we had been recognized by national magazines, we've been won awards.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Like if you take all this, all this now and go back to 2010, 2011 when you started this lighting company, would you start a lighting company again?
27:24
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hell no.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: No, absolutely never a million no's.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Why?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Because I didn't care anything about lighting.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: There was zero, I gave zero flying, you know what's about lights.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: But I looked, I used it as an opportunity to build a multi-million dollar business and a very successful life on the back of that.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: But if I could go back, I would do something completely different.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: And that I think that was the thing that for me was like, yeah, I gotta, I gotta get out of this.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: I can't like the I got great employees, I've got great team members, I've got great vendors, we got great customers.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: There's no complaints, but would I do this again?
27:59
SPEAKER_00: No, I gotta find something else to do.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: That's super interesting.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of real estate agents they they like seeing cool houses, right?
28:09
SPEAKER_01: But but all the all the back-end crap that you have to deal with, it it's insane, right?
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Like like any business.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: And so I I really think it's important that anyone listening is just honest.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: What what is it that you want?
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Is it the is it really the real estate, the day-to-day of writing offers and opening doors that you love?
28:29
SPEAKER_01: That's what that's what you get out of bed for?
28:31
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: But it to most people that I talk to, most agents I'm connected with, they don't give a shit.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: They like the freedom that the real estate industry provides, right?
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Flexibility of schedule, uh, no cap on income or revenue, right?
28:47
SPEAKER_01: You could you could do whatever you want with limitless.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: And so I love that you're here talking about this concept.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: So let's take it further, Jason.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: Once you start to like once you made that decision, I'm an entrepreneur.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm gonna run this thing as a business.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: Most people like, okay, uh, I've been this, I've been running my own job forever.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: What the hell do I do next?
29:12
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about that.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Well, the first the first step is mindset, which we we already talked about.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: So that that is step number one, and that will lead you to the conclusion of I'm gonna be a business owner, entrepreneur, or I'm gonna be a job owner as a real estate agent.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: And either of those is fine.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: You just have to know that that's what you've accepted and that's what you're gonna do.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: So let's assume for a minute we've made the decision mindset-wise.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be an entrepreneur, I'm gonna be a massive agent.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: You like how I did that?
29:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be a well, I'm gonna have a great business uh around real estate.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now that you've made that decision, step one is you have to embrace delegation.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: You have to embrace delegation.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, shameless plug here for the for my book, Exit Without Exiting.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: I actually detail every one of my, there's four core principles.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: The first step is delegation.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: I detail that it in the book, but but embracing delegation, here's what that looks like.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: So as an as a real estate agent, um, at first, and I've never been an agent, so I can only imagine what it might be like.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: But as an agent, the first thing you're gonna do is you've got to figure out how to get attached to a broker, then you've got to figure out you've got to get some training, you got to get some marketing plan put together so that people see your face and name out there so that you can get a listing, because that's what you want first.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: Or you want somebody that raises their hand and say, help me buy a house.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: One of those two things, right?
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Get a listing, or you get somebody that wants to buy.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: That's that's your two options.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Now, at first, maybe six months, maybe a year, you got to do 100% of everything.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: So when the when the you got to find the buyer, you got to find the listing person, you gotta the the seller, you gotta find all that and do all the paperwork.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna do it all yourself.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: You need to fill out every piece of paperwork.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: But once you get past six months to a year, you have to look for ways to delegate some of that stuff, and you start only doing non-minimum wage activities.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of minimum wage activities involved in real estate.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of pushing papers around, there's a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails, there's putting up a sign in a yard.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these are the things that minimum wage people should be doing.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: You need to figure out immediately how to get out of that.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: How do I get out of it?
31:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, at first, just like any investment, that's gonna cost you money out of your pocket.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: So your net worth is gonna go down because you're investing money.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: You're taking money out of your net worth and you're investing.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you hire an assistant, maybe you hire a VA, maybe you hire an intern.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you do, you get somebody to start doing your minimum wage activities, you start focusing on the$1,000 an hour activities or$500 an hour activities, whatever that is.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Do that.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: And once you get comfortable doing this and you're only focused on high-level activities, then you can move on.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: But first, if you don't delegate, you don't embrace it, it's not gonna work.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for real estate agents, an assistant obviously is huge.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: I assume any business owner needs an assistant just to take the admin crap off their plate that doesn't require them personally to do it.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: Transaction coordination is is basically an assistant who does paperwork and puts files together and makes sure that you know page six is initial and the T is crossed over here on page one and all that stuff.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: Transaction coordination, agents can pay, you know, three to four hundred dollars per file and just have it all done.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: And and so I always tell everyone that's the first step.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: Like get a TC on every deal you do, even from the first one.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh after you after you kind of to me that to me, that feels like the low-hanging fruit, like the obvious, like the the the the minimum wage stuff, like you said.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: How do you progress past that?
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Like, what's the next level?
32:38
SPEAKER_01: What when you've kind of delegated uh all the minimum wage stuff that that you're not required to do, it obviously frees up some of your time.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: You can make better decisions, you can think more about the vision and direction and strategy and all that.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: What's next?
32:52
SPEAKER_00: So the next core principle that I teach is called eliminate stress.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: Eliminate stress.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: And the reason this is second is that well, I well, actually, this is back up a little bit.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: If you talk to most business coaches and gurus out there, they'll tell you systems and processes, systems.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: That's all you gotta do, systems and processes.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: But the problem with systems and processes is that if you put together the greatest system on earth, but you are not a master delegator, that system's not gonna run because it's gonna still need you.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: You just got a good system that you're running.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And likewise, if you don't eliminate stress, you will have a stressed system.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: So systems are good, but they're the third thing.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: So first is delegation, second is stress elimination.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: So, stress elimination, what is that?
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, as an agent, as a salesperson, because that's primarily what you are, let's just face it.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: We're we're salespeople, most entrepreneurs are salespeople.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: If you don't understand how stress can negatively affect everything you've got going on, then you're not going to ever move beyond what you did over the last six to nine months.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be it's this continuous cycle of chase and release, of chase and release.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna chase something, catch it, and let it go.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Chase something, catch it, let it go.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: There's this endless cycle.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: And in the meantime, you're building up these stress levels that affect everything.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: They affect how you show up, they affect how you interact with your clients, they affect how you interact with your vendors, they affect how you interact with your coworkers.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: And that stress is a killer.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: And most people don't understand how stress is caused and how to find and mitigate the causes of those things.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the, and that's actually a law of the universe called the law of open cycles.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: And we don't really have time to get into that today, but but the law of open cycles states that stress is not caused by the endurance of stressful situations, but is rather caused by too many open cycles at any one time.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of agents, they take, they say yes to everything, whether it's yes to this listing, which is a double wide mobile home and you know in the woods somewhere, and they're also trying to sell the five million dollar house on the lake.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: Like that's not gonna work.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Like you gotta, you can't say yes to things because you're opening cycles, even though it could be a quick sale, you're opening cycles that add distress.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: So delegation, it's where it starts, and then it moves into how do I close as many cycles as possible and keep as few open as possible.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: Look at it this way: if you can imagine as an agent everything you have to do every single day, week, and month on written down, every single thing on a single piece of paper, no matter how big or little the task is, responding to a text message is on a single piece of paper, uh, filing closing docs for that last six million dollar sale, that's a single piece of paper.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: Like you write every action, every open cycle on one piece of paper.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: Well, then the question is how thick is your book?
35:38
SPEAKER_00: If you bound all those pieces of paper together into a book, and all those pieces of paper, one piece per task, how thick is your book?
35:47
SPEAKER_00: Well, if your book is really thick, you are stressed out, it is affecting everything.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: The thinner your book, the better.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: So the idea is you've got to rip those pages out.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: You got to learn how to manage your open cycles.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: And part of what my coaching program teaches my clients is not only the the psychology behind the law of open cycles, but now how to use that to our and leverage it to our benefit.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: What are some of the other before we move on to step three?
36:11
SPEAKER_01: What are some of the other common stresses that you see business owners deal with and and how do they remedy those?
36:18
SPEAKER_00: The only way to remedy stress is closing open cycles.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: So so every single one of us can manage whatever task is given to us if it's the only one we have to deal with.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it's all it's it's hard to imagine because it's such a it's such it's such an impossibility of reality.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: But if you only had one thing to handle today, just one, you'd be really, really good at it, and you get it done quickly, and you'd get it done proficiently, and you'd make a you'd you'd make it work, whatever that one thing is, no matter how bad it is.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: But if you add that one thing to a thousand little things, that's when you start to feel stress.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: And you're wondering why, why am I stressed out?
36:59
SPEAKER_00: I I know how to clot I know how to file closing papers, I know how to put up a sign in the yard, I know how to get a listing, I know how to, I know how well the reason you're feeling stress is because you've let all these other little open cycles that are inconsequential come into your life.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: The only cause of stress is open cycles, and the only remedy of stress is reducing open cycles.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: So more outsourcing, more delegating, more hiring is is big at this step, I assume?
37:24
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can part of it's a mindset too, where you say, I I tell this story a lot, but my wife, I work, I work out of my home, I love it.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: She thinks I'm crazy because she leave, she leaves and just goes to the coffee shop and she can work all day there.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: I can't do that.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: I like being here because I got shorts and flip-flops on, you know, I just put this shirt on just for this.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: I had a t-shirt on a minute ago.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: Like I like I I love working from home.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: Some days I don't even go outside.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't ever drive.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: This is fine.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: But I also understand that when I'm here, because she works from home too, if she walks into my office and says, hey, we need to deal with something, like I opened myself up to all these other open cycles that she could throw on me.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not this I'm not throwing shade on my wife.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: That's just the natural relationship of you'd have your wife working out of your home.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, I remember this this happened not too long ago, six, eight months ago.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: And she walked in and I was having a stressful day.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: I had a ton of stuff.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: I had a lot of pages in my book, so to speak, that I was dealing with.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: And she walked and said, Hey, we need to deal with X, whatever X was.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Listen, I have two way too many open cycles.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: I can't even deal with that right now.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna allow that to be open.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, she knew what I meant, meant because we talk about open cycles.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: Like when she starts feeling stressed, we do this open cycles inventory together with her.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: Same thing with me.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: So she knew that immediately when I said open, I got too many open cycles.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: So she politely turned around and went away, and she didn't bring that back up until such time I was able to deal with it.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: That's a mindset thing.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: And if you could train your employees, your VAs, your assistants, whoever you got working with you to understand what open cycles are, it's not just about hiring a bunch of people to do stuff, it's about managing the stuff that you do.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: You don't need there's so many things we should just completely eliminate.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: So delegate, yes, but then when you go to eliminating stress, sometimes just eliminating stuff.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't be doing it at all.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't even move the needle, quit doing it.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and I certainly relate to that situation where you know your wife came in, something to talk about.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: I work from home, you know, my wife, uh, you know, we had to have this a similar conversation because uh she didn't understand, you know, that when I'm in my zone, that like I have too many freaking open cycles.
39:35
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I I had to show her like here's how it works.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: It's not that I that's not important, it's not that you're not important, it's just the timing uh needs to be different, and and we can get to that thing later.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: So uh ever since we had that conversation, it things have been so much more smooth.
39:54
SPEAKER_01: I've been able to focus more, and uh, and a lot of that is like like you said, you you were in the beginning I was wondering where you're going with this, but you're so spot on.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: It's a decision, right?
40:05
SPEAKER_01: It's a decision and it's some discipline.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: There's desire that fuels all of that as well, you know, to get to a certain place.
40:11
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's brilliant.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh anything more to add to that before before you take us to step three?
40:17
SPEAKER_00: No, there's there's there's a lot around the open cycles concept that can't be talked about in short in a short form like this, but um yeah, there's a lot more to that.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: But just thinking that way, that thinking about what are those open cycles we have, that's gotta be just a huge step forward for most business owners, right?
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Because most of them just they just react.
40:39
SPEAKER_01: And they're just like you know, their day runs them.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: And and that every single person listening, I know has at one point you've been super busy, you've had a crazy busy day, you've done a ton of things, and at the end of the day, or even at the end of the week, you're like, what the hell did I even do?
40:57
SPEAKER_01: Like, what did I even get done?
40:58
SPEAKER_01: What did I even accomplish?
41:00
SPEAKER_01: Because you were just like reacting to shit.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: And that's common.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: And you know, you can make a decent living doing that, but it's also you're just stuck, right?
41:11
SPEAKER_01: Like I can't imagine you can grow much if if you're constantly reacting to stuff for the rest of your career.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, reactive people don't lead anything.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: Reactive people aren't leaders, reactive people are responders, and they are followers and they're employees.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make them worse people than anybody else.
41:31
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't devalue them, that's just different, right?
41:34
SPEAKER_00: My wife is a reactive person.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: My wife is a follower, she's an employee.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: That's all she that she's very clear.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm not an entrepreneur, Jason.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm not interested in it.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: The world needs both of us, but but if you and I, Dustin are entrepreneurs, and we're talking to you know, people listen to us that want to be entrepreneurs, you can't act like an employee if you want to be an entrepreneur, man.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: You can't react.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: You have to be proactive, you got to be a professional, active person.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: You got to go out there and activate what you want happening in life because it's not gonna come to you, it's not gonna show up in a mailbox.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: You got to go out there and get it.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, this is awesome.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: Take us a step further.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: What's next?
42:16
SPEAKER_00: So the the next step is establish systems and processes, like we talked about.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, systems and processes are really, really important.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: Systems are groups of processes, and then processes are these little tasks that, if performed in the same way every single time, can produce predictable results.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: And then you take all those small tasks that produce predictable results and you put them into a system that everybody operates the same way every single time that will produce bigger predictable results.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: And no matter who you insert into the system or the process, it still happens the same way.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: This is where the beauty of exit without exiting begins to happen.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: Because at first I'm doing everything, then I get the mindset I shouldn't be doing everything, then I start delegating for other people to do it, and then I start dealing with my own stress and teaching other people how to deal with theirs, and now I can set up a system that no matter who's involved, mostly not me, but no matter who's involved, all these systems and processes work without me being the puppet, you know, the puppet master, making sure that it all happens.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: And that's tough, especially and I admit that even in my coaching business, when it's just me and my assistant, I got an intern, I got a couple of VAs, I got, you know, I've got a small team that's all mostly well, mostly virtual.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: Like this is a new thing for me to learn how to do it.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: And I know real estate's people are probably dealing with the same stuff, but nevertheless, you've got to have systems.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: So we had like an hour and a half team meeting with my team.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: I had two VAs in the Philippines.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: I've got an assistant who lives here close to me, and I got an intern.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: So the four of us were on this call, and we were went through my whole podcast.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: Like I've got a podcast like you do, went through our whole podcast, our master sheet, who's coming up next, when are the drop dates, how are we doing this?
43:58
SPEAKER_00: And there's a system that everybody has to follow.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: And they know titles go here.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: We got to get the headshots like this.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a system.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: And then in my wet live webinars series that I do, same thing.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: And then we got into what's the system for doing X.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: We had to get into that.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I spent an hour and a half on a Monday going through with my team on this system.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: Now that hour and a half saves me 16 to 20 hours a week of doing that stuff by myself.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: So I could spend the hour and a half teach, train, lead, make sure the system's working, fix it here, tweak it there.
44:31
SPEAKER_00: Then they go run it and I'm not having to be involved.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
44:38
SPEAKER_01: Are there any tools or if someone is listening, they're like, yeah, you know what?
44:43
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm at that stage where it's time to really dial in the systems and processes.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: Are there any tools or platforms or words of advice you have for how to do that more successfully?
44:54
SPEAKER_00: Well, that one becomes a little bit more personal to the per you know, to the person I'm working with.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: So if I've got a client who's a doctor, you know, obviously the systems and processes he's gonna put in place are gonna be different than the guy that has the has the shoe store or the retail store or the restaurant.
45:08
SPEAKER_00: So as a real estate agent, I think your systems or processes are gonna be mostly technology driven.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: That's because I'm not an agent, so I don't know what that and actually I've only had one ever real estate agent as a client.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: Um so uh for whatever reason, real estate agents haven't been coming to me to hire me as a business coach yet.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll change that.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, come on, come on, come on, come on.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: I'd be happy to help you out because business is business.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: But I can imagine that a lot of the real estate technology systems process are gonna be based on technology.
45:39
SPEAKER_00: So if there's an appointment setting technology that needs to be implemented, well, how many hours does that save?
45:44
SPEAKER_00: It's it's a it's kind of a uh it's a fine balance between the delegation and the system.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: But also, you if you're gonna be the entrepreneur and not the agent who just works for a broker, then you are in charge of setting up your systems.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to do it the way the broker does.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, you've got to be careful.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to get, I don't want you to lose your your opportunity to have your license with that broker.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: But if you're doing your own thing, make your own system.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: If it makes more sense for you to sit down and do a kitchen talk with somebody who wants to list their house, then do the kitchen talk.
46:16
SPEAKER_00: But if it makes more sense to do a webinar, do a webinar.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: If it makes more sense to do a monthly listing uh workshop where you invite everybody, do whatever the system is, fix and work on that system for you.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: Make that work for you.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: And then frankly, on a lot of the systems and stuff that I teach, it's really based around sales systems.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: And that's where I think the real estate agents need the most help.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: And that's where I'm actually really, really good is the sales system.
46:43
SPEAKER_00: I teach a very specific three-part sales system that starts with identifying ideal buyers and clients.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: And then, second, how do we make sure we understand who's gonna buy for me versus who won't?
46:55
SPEAKER_00: And then third, what's the sequence of everything I do?
46:58
SPEAKER_00: What's the perfect sequence?
47:00
SPEAKER_00: How do I put all this in the right sequence to end with someone spending money with me?
47:05
SPEAKER_00: Because you can do all the right things in the wrong sequence and get a no.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: So I'll show you how to take all of those things that you're doing that are right, put them in the right sequence to get a yes.
47:15
SPEAKER_01: Do you use uh do you recommend using trainual or Google Docs or you know, like where do you keep when as you're putting these systems and processes into place, like actually documenting them?
47:26
SPEAKER_01: Um I assume the goal with those is then you can pass them off and have other people step in and they have their roadmap, right?
47:34
SPEAKER_01: Like you can put someone new in that seat, they have the roadmap.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, or am I am I overcomplicating it?
47:41
SPEAKER_00: No, no, that's that's that's right.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's very simple.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: We we use Google Sheets and Google Docs because no matter where a person is in the world, they can open it up and see it at the same time.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: We're working on it.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: So that's easy.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: So we have uh we have SOPs, so standard operating procedures for two very big functions in our uh in my company.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: So we've got um the SOP for our live webinar series, and we got an SOP for our podcast.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: Those are the two big ones because they have so many doggone steps to get someone who, you know, from potential all the way to recording, and then after the recording, what we do about promotions.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: And then that SOP we highlight and color code, like you know, Kierra is this color, Jade is this color, Justin is this color, Nisha's this color.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: Like we can see who's who, and they know this is my task, so they can log into that SOP and go, okay, have I done the task I need to do for this.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there's there's technology that can be used.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then there's systems around appointment setting.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: I use Calendly, I'm a huge Calendly fan.
48:39
SPEAKER_00: I use that, and there's other stuff on your phone that you can use.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: I love Evernote.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of little pieces to the system that you can put together and you can cobble together your own version of Frankenstein that actually works really, really well.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: And it may be ugly to everybody else, but it works perfectly for you.
48:56
SPEAKER_01: All the tools are out there, right?
48:58
SPEAKER_01: It I think that there's a lot of people that are looking for like the perfect system.
49:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, what do you use?
49:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm only gonna use that, and you know, cool, but uh how often do you see this just be like the roadblock that people get stuck on?
49:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't it's not a lot.
49:17
SPEAKER_00: I think what it is is people get shiny object syndrome with the tools and they go get this thing, they pay for that, and they do this.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's nice, we'll do that one too.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you just got to use what you know, like there might be a better tool out there, but you know what?
49:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use what I got.
49:31
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, sometimes, you know, I don't need the chisel.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: The flat blade screwdriver is gonna work just fine.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: I've got it right here.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: It's handy.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: I know where it is.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna use it.
49:39
SPEAKER_00: But you know, I could, I could, I could go find a better chisel and make it work better.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: But right now, let's just do this because finding the better chisel is gonna take me a few hours and I'm not interested.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: That actually happened to me today.
49:50
SPEAKER_00: We're doing, we're doing our first ever for my coaching company live event in May.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: So, in about a month and a half, we're doing a live event here in Nashville on podcasting for profit, which is very interesting because we're on a podcast.
50:03
SPEAKER_00: And I've got a guy coming in from Cincinnati who is a podcast like guru expert.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: He's flying in, we're doing this live event.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, I told my team this morning, hey, we need to set something up to sell tickets.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: We got to set like Eventbrite or something like that, because I've used that in the past for free events that I've done for other organizations.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning, for about 10 minutes, my my intern said, hey Jason, give me the login in Eventbrite.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna work, I can go ahead and set up the event, we can start figuring this out.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: And and I thought, well, you know what?
50:32
SPEAKER_00: Let's peek around and see if there's something better than Eventbrite.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: And I started looking around and there were lots of alternatives, but everything was gonna require more mental energy for me to figure out if it worked, and maybe it does work better, but at the end of the day, I went, you know what, Justin, just go with Eventbrite.
50:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if something else works better and it's cheaper, we know how to use it, go.
50:50
SPEAKER_00: Because it's speed is more important than being accurate sometimes.
50:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's not true every time, but but I want to get to market fast rather than get to market with the exact tool that I need at the right cost and all the right features.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: Let's just get out there and get it done.
51:03
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like in this context, you you believe that done is better than perfect.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: In this context for sure, I am a perfectionist and I do commit to excellence in everything I do, but sometimes you just gotta know what just do it, man.
51:16
SPEAKER_00: We just need to get this done.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: This has been so great.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: I want to get to the rapid fire questions real quick and wrap it up because I know uh we both have a hard stop here.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: But um any final thoughts?
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Any final words of of wisdom?
51:28
SPEAKER_01: Any anything uh to tie a bow on this whole concept for for agents to know?
51:33
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll tell you this.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who told me this as an agent a long, long time.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: Who was an agent who told me this a long, long time ago?
51:40
SPEAKER_00: And and now I've bought I've bought a lot of houses, I've been on that buying side and I've sold houses.
51:46
SPEAKER_00: Here's the question.
51:47
SPEAKER_00: This has nothing to do with what we've been talking about, but this is the question.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: When you finish walking out of that house with somebody, or you're almost ready to walk out, you just showed it to potential buyers that you think will buy this house that you're showing.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask them what they thought.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask them, did you like it?
52:02
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask, you say, could you picture yourself living here?
52:07
SPEAKER_00: That question, that question will get you to the bottom of things really fast because I believe better questions lead to better answers, and better answers lead to more money.
52:16
SPEAKER_00: So don't ask dumb questions when you fit when you finish the showing.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: Ask the right question.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: Can you picture yourself living here?
52:22
SPEAKER_00: Because if they say anything other than yes, move on.
52:26
SPEAKER_00: Like move on.
52:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
52:28
SPEAKER_01: That and then you're not wasting the next 30 minutes talking about what they don't like about the place.
52:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, who cares if they didn't like the carpet?
52:34
SPEAKER_00: Who cares if they had red walls in the bathroom?
52:35
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
52:36
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask them what they thought because it doesn't matter.
52:38
SPEAKER_00: Can you picture yourself living here?
52:39
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
52:40
SPEAKER_00: I think we can.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: Great.
52:41
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's talk.
52:41
SPEAKER_00: When are we gonna sign a paper?
52:43
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there's a few more steps, but just get right down to it.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: Quit asking dumb questions.
52:48
SPEAKER_01: There's not a ton more steps.
52:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that that that's pretty spot on.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: Um in the next minute we have, uh Jason, I wanna I want to run through these rapid fire questions.
52:56
SPEAKER_01: I'll condense them a little bit, and then make sure that we let everyone know where they can find you, where they can hear your podcast, where they can find your book, all that good stuff.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: So either or, you don't need to elaborate, Facebook or Instagram.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: Instagram.
53:10
SPEAKER_01: Instagram or TikTok.
53:12
SPEAKER_01: Instagram.
53:13
SPEAKER_01: Instagram or YouTube.
53:16
SPEAKER_01: Instagram.
53:17
SPEAKER_01: Books or podcasts.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, that's tough.
53:22
SPEAKER_01: Books.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: Even though I'm a podcaster, man, I listen to all kinds of podcasts.
53:27
SPEAKER_00: If I really, really want to dig in on something, I gotta go to a book.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: Books or audiobooks.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, golly, that's hard.
53:34
SPEAKER_00: Um books, probably.
53:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: New York or LA.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: Neither.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: Rental property or flipping?
53:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh rental.
53:48
SPEAKER_01: Cash flow.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh baseball or football?
53:51
SPEAKER_01: Football.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: Mountains or beach.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: Mountains 100%.
53:57
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: Umber or lift?
54:00
SPEAKER_01: Lyft.
54:02
SPEAKER_01: And then Gary V or Grant Cardone.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
54:05
SPEAKER_01: Grant.
54:06
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
54:07
SPEAKER_01: Jason, where can people find you?
54:10
SPEAKER_00: The real Jason Duncan.
54:11
SPEAKER_00: You can find me on all those, uh everything everyone he was just talking about, but mostly Instagram.
54:15
SPEAKER_00: That's where I hang out the most.
54:16
SPEAKER_00: And YouTube and LinkedIn.
54:18
SPEAKER_00: Those are the three places.
54:19
SPEAKER_00: They're at the real Jason Duncan.
54:21
SPEAKER_00: And my website is The Real Jason Duncan.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: And uh go pick up a copy of my book on my website, the real jasonduncan.com slash book.
54:29
SPEAKER_01: I am definitely going to get your book like today.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: And I love your podcast.
54:33
SPEAKER_01: I've listened to five or six episodes.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: It's great because I am wanting to build an exit strategy that I can walk away from and you have the roadmap.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for being here today, The Real Jason Duncan.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, man.
54:45
SPEAKER_01: It's been an honor.
54:46
SPEAKER_01: I told you we'd be bringing the fire today.
54:48
SPEAKER_01: I told you this was a jam-packed episode.
54:50
SPEAKER_01: If this didn't open your mind into what's possible, and if this didn't give you some hope that, hey, you can actually do it and show you the roadmap to get there, I don't know what to tell you.
54:59
SPEAKER_01: Look, if this isn't for you, if you just if if real estate's a part-time deal and you just want to sell a couple homes and it's cool, awesome.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: This is really for those who are career real estate professionals, and at some point you want to remove yourself from the equation.
55:14
SPEAKER_01: Entrepreneurs, business owners, this is for you.
55:18
SPEAKER_01: Please implement what you learned today.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: Please implement what you were what you were inspired to do today.
55:23
SPEAKER_01: And make sure you go follow Jason Duncan, the real Jason Duncan, listen to his podcast, go get his book.
55:29
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening, all the links to every all of his stuff is all in the show notes.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: And if you're watching this on YouTube, it's all in the YouTube description.
55:37
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you go connect with him.
55:38
SPEAKER_01: Let him know that you that you heard about him on the Massive Agent podcast.
55:42
SPEAKER_01: Just shoot him a DM on Instagram.
55:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, super cool, approachable, available guy.
55:48
SPEAKER_01: And I mean he'll at he'll help you out.
55:50
SPEAKER_01: So um really Jason, thank you for coming on the show and sharing your your wisdom and knowledge.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: This is someone that we can all learn from who's just a few steps ahead of where we're at.
56:00
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
56:01
SPEAKER_01: Before we wrap it up, if you would please go over to massivegiving.com, find out how you can win a year's worth of the Massive Agent Society membership, a f free coaching with me one-on-one, and how you can join in this free training with some of the biggest names and influencers within real estate by helping me helping me raise money for a great cause, LLS, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
56:25
SPEAKER_01: Please go over to Massiving.com and do what you can to help.
56:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
56:31
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
56:32
SPEAKER_01: Please share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
56:35
SPEAKER_01: Talk to you guys soon.