Latest / The Real Estate Agent Playbook / From Nothing to 30 Deals in Year 2 | Wolfpack Way: Liz Crews
Transcript
- 0:00welcome to another episode of The Wolf Pack Way
- 0:03this time with Liz Cruz
- 0:04who is actually not technically in the Wolf Pack
- 0:07but she is part of the Wolf Pack family
- 0:09she is in my organization
- 0:11she is an absolute killer when it comes to real estate
- 0:14Liz is gonna talk about how she scaled her business
- 0:17as a new agent from 0 to 15
- 0:20to 30 deals by the end of her second year
- 0:23and she is going to be coming through with some
- 0:25amazing advice information
- 0:27and the truth is once you get to know Liz
- 0:30you will automatically catch on to her determination
- 0:33her grit
- 0:33and her hard work that has got her to this point
- 0:36there is no secret sauce
- 0:38but she is a testament to hard work pays off
- 0:43she will go the extra mile and make this happen
- 0:46so I have the honor of partnering with Liz
- 0:48she has absolutely taught me the in
- 0:51you know things along her incredible journey
- 0:53but now you have the opportunity to partner with the
- 0:56both of us if you're interested in that
- 0:58please check the link below
- 1:00book a call and we would be happy
- 1:02to talk to you about how we can coach you
- 1:04for absolutely free through partnership
- 1:07uh with us here at our brokerage
- 1:09so without further ado let's bring on Liz Cruz
- 1:14what is up everybody as you can see
- 1:17Liz has popped on
- 1:19and we are super excited to talk to her today
- 1:21about her experience she has absolutely taken
- 1:26the real estate market in Northern Colorado by storm
- 1:29over the last five years but ultimately
- 1:32went from zero to 15 to 30 deals right out of the gate
- 1:35by the end of our second year
- 1:37so Liz how are you doing today
- 1:40I'm great how about you
- 1:42I'm good
- 1:44can you just tell us a little bit about Liz Cruz where
- 1:48where this all came from where this
- 1:50you know powerhouse um
- 1:52female that you are originated haha
- 1:56um well
- 1:57thank you for that uh
- 1:58it's hard for me to kind of like
- 2:01I don't
- 2:01I just always think it's awkward to kind of like
- 2:02talk about yourself but it's
- 2:05it's just part of the story
- 2:06so for me I grew up about our north of Boston
- 2:10um a pretty modest household
- 2:12and so always um
- 2:14kind of had a hand in real estate in one way or another
- 2:17but mainly because my family would buy a house and
- 2:21or my mom really my mom bought a house and um
- 2:25it was not where she wanted it to be
- 2:27but it was what she could afford
- 2:28and so my family is a bunch of hard working people
- 2:31and so she took this house and put a lot of blood
- 2:34sweat and tears into it and
- 2:36you know it was a
- 2:37a group effort and ended up on HGTV when I was fifteen
- 2:41um with her as a result
- 2:43so um
- 2:44my family is a lot of kind of like military
- 2:46state employee type background
- 2:47so not a not as many entrepreneurial kind of influences
- 2:50so that's the way that I kind of went first
- 2:53was for stability and healthcare
- 2:55um but I started buying properties when I was 23 and um
- 3:00just trying to build a real estate portfolio of my own
- 3:02and my leverage out of some of those tighter
- 3:06financial times that I
- 3:08had experienced in my life prior
- 3:09so just
- 3:10was a Hustler from college through my first purchase
- 3:14and then just kind of kept going from there
- 3:17and what really changed things for me was the pandemic
- 3:21um I ended up
- 3:22you know
- 3:22being in healthcare and I was in healthcare sales
- 3:24really impacted my job there
- 3:26and I just kind of took the full leap into real estate
- 3:29and have just really never looked back
- 3:31and I think for me across kind of all areas
- 3:35the biggest things that have really
- 3:38I don't know I guess helped me
- 3:40but it's just really more of like a genuinely like
- 3:43this is how my approach is and it seems to resonate
- 3:46is just being a resource to people
- 3:49and just trying to lead with being helpful
- 3:52and a value to them in whatever way that means
- 3:55and that may not translate directly into a paycheck
- 3:58that day um
- 3:59but that's really not always what it's about to me
- 4:02it's really about the people and
- 4:03and showing up for them
- 4:05and being there
- 4:05in whatever way it is that they need me to be there
- 4:08and then often it does translate into referrals or into
- 4:13um you know
- 4:14paychecks later on which is great
- 4:15but that's just not always the
- 4:17the only focus for me and I think that people feel that
- 4:21yeah well
- 4:22that's incredible
- 4:23if you kind of unpack that a little bit
- 4:25from just having a home creating that
- 4:29your mom working hard to create that stability for you
- 4:32although it wasn't like the dream home
- 4:34the Mary you know
- 4:35whatever it is to being on HGTV right
- 4:38that's that's absolutely kind of the
- 4:41the same process that you've just repeated
- 4:44you know a few times over
- 4:45from your investment strategies to your
- 4:48your real estate career obviously
- 4:49starting during the pandemic was probably uh
- 4:52something that was a little bit uh
- 4:54worrisome at the time but
- 4:56you know just kind of did the things and
- 4:58and push through um
- 5:00when did you get your license
- 5:01based on when the pandemic started
- 5:04yeah so um
- 5:06I got my license
- 5:08I think I got officially licensed
- 5:10like passed all the boards and did all the things
- 5:12it's like end of July early August of 2020
- 5:16um and yeah
- 5:17I was absolutely running scared
- 5:18like I had been in stability
- 5:19like stability like
- 5:20very stable industries before
- 5:23with lots of great benefits
- 5:25and all these kinds of things
- 5:26so taking that leap was terrifying
- 5:29I think for like the first
- 5:30I mean honestly
- 5:31probably for the first two years
- 5:32I was just kind of running scared there for a while
- 5:35but it's kind of like a no risk
- 5:37no reward but I right at the cost there is when I got
- 5:40got licensed right that
- 5:42that was that was wild
- 5:44that's when we were starting to kind of
- 5:45figure out what was going on
- 5:46but had no idea what was gonna happen right um
- 5:50I remember that summer
- 5:51closing deals from my office chair in my house
- 5:53and I was like this
- 5:54this might be all right um
- 5:56but haha um
- 5:58yeah so that's
- 5:59that's incredible obviously going through that
- 6:02you know obviously when you're taking the test
- 6:03studying for the test when everything is so uncertain
- 6:07uh you still had
- 6:08you know your
- 6:09your experience in the investing side and
- 6:12and I think that that's you know
- 6:13kind of kind of where it happened
- 6:15turned out it was a really good time to get licensed
- 6:18um so let's talk a little bit about that scaling right
- 6:22so it was 15 deals in your first year
- 6:25is that you know accurate
- 6:28yes my
- 6:28my first full year I was still full time in healthcare
- 6:31um so I didn't
- 6:33I overlapped for a little while um
- 6:36and so my first full year
- 6:37I had 15 deals while doing healthcare full time
- 6:40okay so tell me a little bit about your days
- 6:43because a lot of people you know
- 6:45when they get into this industry
- 6:46they're told you know
- 6:47it's not a promised paycheck
- 6:49um all the things
- 6:50and you were able to have a full time job
- 6:54have 15 transactions in their first year
- 6:57and obviously
- 6:58that was probably an amazing boost to your income
- 7:01if you have the full time job
- 7:02you have the the paychecks coming in as well as that
- 7:05talk a little bit about what your day looked like
- 7:08when you were when you were doing the
- 7:10the dual career thing
- 7:13yeah it was
- 7:13you know it was a weird time'cause also
- 7:15if you remember in for Collins
- 7:16we had the Cameron Peak fire
- 7:17so it also
- 7:18you'd wake up and it looks like you lived on Mars
- 7:20so it was like very apocalyptic
- 7:22so it just felt very weird during that time for long
- 7:25longest time with all the smoke coverage and all that
- 7:29too so a lot of times for my healthcare job
- 7:31I was doing senior care sales
- 7:33and so I wasn't able to go in and see my patients
- 7:37and the families that I would normally be seeing
- 7:40so it was a lot more remote work
- 7:42and having to kind of get creative with that
- 7:45um and then on
- 7:46on the real estate side you know
- 7:47I was trying to balance all that
- 7:49so there's a lot of late nights
- 7:50there's a lot of just kind of trying to
- 7:52you know one
- 7:53understand the market understand what I'm supposed to
- 7:55do because I had a background in real estate investing
- 7:58and that's how I started um
- 8:00there was a lot of
- 8:01kind of real estate basics that I understood from like
- 8:04the client perspective and the rest of it is like well
- 8:07I can learn this so um
- 8:10I would do a lot
- 8:10I would sit down and really study the market on the MLS
- 8:13I would drive through neighborhoods
- 8:15um and then I've really used
- 8:17like social media has been a huge part
- 8:20I think when you're starting out
- 8:21you know it's expensive to get into real estate
- 8:24people
- 8:25say they want to get real estate for flexible hours
- 8:27and kind of all these things
- 8:28and it's always kind of cracks me up cause I'm like
- 8:31if you think flexible hours means flexible hours
- 8:34it just means you work all the time
- 8:35so so for me I love that like I love working and um
- 8:40the best way for me to get my first leads
- 8:42were through social media
- 8:44and so I had a
- 8:46a decent network and I just tried to you know
- 8:49start to rebrand myself in front of my sphere
- 8:52through social media and just posting
- 8:54when I would go tour a house
- 8:56or make a post about a listing
- 8:58um even if it wasn't mine
- 9:00you know
- 9:00I'd reach out to that agent and say that alright
- 9:02if I highlight this
- 9:03and just start being in front of them
- 9:05and being top of mind um
- 9:07that was one of the biggest things that helped for me
- 9:10and then also
- 9:11a lot of my sphere knew I was in real estate
- 9:13as an investor so
- 9:14then I would just kind of
- 9:15reach out to them and talk to them um
- 9:17about real estate in general or just be like hey
- 9:20if you need a connection for a refinance
- 9:23if you're looking for a contractor
- 9:25like things that may not be like transaction related
- 9:28but I still just wanted to come from that place of
- 9:30always being a resource and helping to make it easier
- 9:33and those just really translated to leads
- 9:37right that goes back kind of to
- 9:38to the original story right
- 9:40being a resource using your resources
- 9:42getting getting what you can and
- 9:45and showing up so
- 9:46so that's that's great
- 9:48and I do remember those times like go outside
- 9:50wear a mask
- 9:51get like all the smoke and all that ha ha stuck in your
- 9:55in your lungs and do those things
- 9:56so uh
- 9:58that was that was quite the time
- 9:59but obviously that the fact you were in senior sales
- 10:02that was when you know
- 10:04no one could could approach them or get within
- 10:06you know that
- 10:08that space so um
- 10:10that probably played to your advantage a little bit
- 10:12being able to do remote
- 10:13but I don't envy you for trying to connect with seniors
- 10:17senior people that work with seniors on technology
- 10:19for sure so let's talk a little bit
- 10:21about the transition right
- 10:23when was it like okay
- 10:26I can set this down I'm going all in
- 10:29what was that moment like
- 10:30and what was kind of your emotions and
- 10:32and what were you feeling at that time
- 10:35yeah so in um 2021
- 10:38um my healthcare
- 10:41so my my
- 10:41I had a
- 10:42my pay structure with my healthcare job was I had a
- 10:44a low base um
- 10:47that really wasn't like a livable base um
- 10:49but it was just kind of had that foundation
- 10:51and most of my income was um
- 10:53commission and so with
- 10:56by the time kind of mid 2021 rolled around
- 10:59my commission was really like dropping significantly
- 11:03um and so for me like
- 11:06you know single person
- 11:07like I don't have a spouse to lean on
- 11:09you know there
- 11:10there's no one to pay my bills for me
- 11:12so I started seeing momentum picking up in real estate
- 11:16and momentum slowing down in healthcare
- 11:19um and
- 11:20and so that was really I mean
- 11:22I'm a really big advocate for just like
- 11:24don't force things
- 11:26like even if this isn't your life's plan
- 11:28like you like pay attention to what's coming easy
- 11:31like what doors are opening
- 11:33and then walk through them
- 11:34because it's happening for a reason
- 11:36and so
- 11:36so that's what I really felt during that time was that
- 11:39although
- 11:40I have a master's degree in healthcare administration
- 11:43and I've been in healthcare for 10 years
- 11:44and I always thought that I would be
- 11:46in the healthcare field in some way
- 11:48there was this whole other avenue that was really like
- 11:53I was just feeling very pushed and like
- 11:55gravitating towards that
- 11:56and so I just kind of started focusing on that um
- 12:00but it was very scary um
- 12:02so I ended up quitting my healthcare job
- 12:05um in October of 21
- 12:08and I still talk to the owners of that company
- 12:11to this day it was a really hard decision to make
- 12:14uh there
- 12:15it was a tight knit little mom and pop owned company
- 12:18so I felt a lot of guilt and I felt a lot of guilt
- 12:20leaving my clients and patients in that field
- 12:23that I felt like had such great needs
- 12:25but ultimately there kind of comes a
- 12:28a time where you can only kind of
- 12:29push that boundary so far
- 12:31and so I just ended up going full time in real estate
- 12:35um and had a
- 12:35a pretty huge life transition at that point
- 12:39um and just basically waking up every day
- 12:42feeling like I was gonna be homeless so
- 12:45so I would just try to work on whatever I could um
- 12:49and helping out other agents if need be
- 12:52doing showings for them
- 12:54and all the while every activities I was
- 12:56I did I was posting on my social media stories
- 12:59to let people know that hey
- 13:01I'm working I'm out here
- 13:04yeah that's so
- 13:05you know for you
- 13:06it kind of felt natural right
- 13:08the income was slipping over here
- 13:09didn't have kind of you know
- 13:11that that stability coming in
- 13:14so you're like boom
- 13:15right into it and I love the analogy of
- 13:17you know when
- 13:18pay attention to what doors are opening
- 13:19and walk through them um
- 13:21as we go so then you
- 13:24you take off you do 30 deals kind of in that
- 13:27that next that second year
- 13:30um tell me about that
- 13:31was it just kind of hair on fire
- 13:33what what was working for you then
- 13:36um you know
- 13:37obviously you had stepped away from the base
- 13:41I'll be it maybe a small base
- 13:43but that's still a a jump
- 13:44I would imagine in in your situation
- 13:47so what was that like stepping into the fire
- 13:50let's go and then reaching 30 deals
- 13:52which is you know
- 13:53top top one and a half percent for sure in our market
- 13:57and probably across the country
- 13:59so what was that that like
- 14:00how did we get to 30 deals
- 14:02yeah it's um
- 14:04it was definitely like a baptism by fire kind of thing
- 14:07I mean I have some friends in the real estate business
- 14:11and things like that that I could call for some help
- 14:13but um
- 14:14truly I was I was widely on my own um
- 14:17for a good bit of learning that um
- 14:20I don't want to
- 14:20to downplay too much some of the resources that I had
- 14:23cause I do have a couple really great friends that are
- 14:25like top agents in this area
- 14:27but they were also very busy at that time also um
- 14:30so for me it was yeah
- 14:32a lot of kind of figuring it out on the fly
- 14:34but what I think really
- 14:37connected me with a lot of clients was
- 14:39I'm very much like an outside the box thinker
- 14:43if you know there's some there's a workaround
- 14:46like I'm gonna find it so
- 14:47I really focused on making strategic partnerships with
- 14:51other kind of outside the box thinkers in my market
- 14:53so lenders
- 14:56you know different contractors
- 14:57different opportunities for clients
- 15:00if they need to fix up a house
- 15:02or renovate before they sell
- 15:03but they don't have the cash on hand um
- 15:06trying to find ways to
- 15:07kind of work around these common problems
- 15:09and I think that that still kind of comes back to that
- 15:12kind of pillar for me
- 15:13of being a resource and being resourceful um
- 15:16I think when you grow up with not a lot of money
- 15:18you just have to you have to do that
- 15:20you have to figure out how to use what you have and
- 15:23and make it happen
- 15:23and so a lot of my clients you know during that time
- 15:26especially I think for a lot of agents
- 15:28when they're starting out early in their career
- 15:30you're working with a lot of first time home buyers
- 15:32a lot of times
- 15:32those people that are trying to get into that first
- 15:34rental property or just that first
- 15:36home in general and
- 15:37and so they don't always have their 20% down
- 15:40and a super clean credit history
- 15:42and all these things that are just like
- 15:44picture perfect to get into a home
- 15:46and so you have to get creative
- 15:49um and I also think too
- 15:50I've never really viewed my like colleagues
- 15:54other agents as competition um
- 15:57to me if if I'm gonna be successful
- 15:59it's gonna be because I'm doing what I need to do
- 16:00it has nothing to do with what they're doing
- 16:02so I'm always in their corner to be you know
- 16:05I want to see you be successful too
- 16:07but I also view them as partners
- 16:08and I just think that you don't get anywhere in scale
- 16:11without partnerships and I was fortunate to
- 16:15become aligned with a couple agents that
- 16:17we had really great partnerships
- 16:19and working and sharing
- 16:20a couple clients that were pretty significant um
- 16:22that were in some specialized areas of development um
- 16:26and farm and ranch and things like that
- 16:28and that really just allowed me to kind
- 16:29of grow my skill set in some other areas of the market
- 16:32as well um
- 16:33so I think in general I see a lot of agents who
- 16:37have kind of like a limiting self belief
- 16:39where they don't think that they can
- 16:41grow into a certain niche
- 16:43or grow into a space or I'm only a two year agent
- 16:45so I can't hit double digits on production
- 16:47or whatever it is and I just think like
- 16:49you just have to get out of your own way
- 16:52um there's a saying that like the
- 16:54the most expensive thing you'll ever own is a closed
- 16:56mind and I just think that that is so true
- 16:59yep absolutely
- 17:00Ed Millett talks about that often
- 17:03um on his podcast and so on
- 17:05I've heard him say it on stage several times probably
- 17:07so um
- 17:08that is absolutely incredible
- 17:12really interesting
- 17:13because that's always been kind of my
- 17:17my approach right
- 17:19I've said it on this channel multiple times
- 17:21I've always operated that like it's just partnership
- 17:25right if I'm spending time with another agent
- 17:27I'm learning something they might be learning something
- 17:30and you know
- 17:31hopefully you know
- 17:33it could lead to a sponsorship
- 17:35you know here with us at our brokerage
- 17:36it could lead to you know a
- 17:40uh just the agent getting a deal under contract right
- 17:44I don't know how many times
- 17:46you know
- 17:46I've gotten involved in a bidding war with a buyer and
- 17:50you know they're like Jeremy
- 17:51the offer was written well
- 17:52we know you know
- 17:53your reputation so your reputation truly precedes you
- 17:57and I'm sure that some of those partnerships
- 17:59you know were learning from you
- 18:01just as I have you know
- 18:03from you in the short time that we've
- 18:05we've been in contact uh
- 18:07no matter what the experience level is
- 18:09the home sold any of the
- 18:11you know accolades
- 18:12you can learn something from every single person and
- 18:15and what they're going through
- 18:16so let's talk a little bit
- 18:18let's transition to your recent transition to EXP
- 18:22um why EXP at
- 18:26at this time for your career
- 18:29yeah so I was actually at EXP previously um
- 18:32kind of during actually that kind of crazy bubble
- 18:37um of that
- 18:37that second year there um
- 18:39and two if you recall
- 18:41that time of year was crazy bidding wars
- 18:44and having to compete and getting creative
- 18:47and I came up with some pretty cool clauses
- 18:49that were helpful so kind of that outside the box
- 18:53um thinking kind of thing
- 18:54but I was at EXP then and I really didn't plug in
- 19:00um I
- 19:01I truly was in a great upline
- 19:03I was in Tina calls line and she's amazing
- 19:06I just personally was not investing
- 19:09I wasn't taking the time um
- 19:11and so for me I I started to feel very disconnected
- 19:15I felt kind of siloed and the um
- 19:18agent good friend of mine
- 19:19that I had joined underneath at that time
- 19:22she had just had her second baby
- 19:24I'm like
- 19:24I think like 15 months apart from her first baby
- 19:27and like she just wasn't in a place to
- 19:30support me as a greener agent
- 19:32so I ended up leaving EXP to go to a local brokerage um
- 19:38little boutique brokerage that was
- 19:39was great for me um
- 19:41really helped me grow
- 19:42my career in the ways that I needed at that time
- 19:45and then I ended up kind of hitting another
- 19:48I'd say kind of like plateau
- 19:49where I just didn't feel I was getting the support
- 19:53I was needing um
- 19:54or I was wanting or the opportunities
- 19:56um I would
- 19:58you know very rarely ask for help
- 20:00but when I would reach out for help
- 20:02it just wasn't as like
- 20:04implementable as I really needed it to be
- 20:06like it's not something like for me
- 20:07I'm a very specific and if I'm reaching out for help
- 20:10it's because I've already thought about like
- 20:12you know the big kind of broad strokes
- 20:13I need like a little bit more specific input
- 20:16and I I just wasn't
- 20:17I just wasn't getting that
- 20:18I was feeling like you know
- 20:19I was this kind of mid upper tier
- 20:22agent that was kind of falling through the cracks
- 20:24like there was the big
- 20:26big agents that had their own systems
- 20:27their own staff their own teams
- 20:29and there's a new new agents where there was um
- 20:32you know opportunities to learn
- 20:34and for trainings and things for them
- 20:35but there was kind of this gap um
- 20:38for agents that were seasoned but wanting to grow
- 20:42uh I also just felt like
- 20:44I started
- 20:45looking at the value proposition of what I was paying
- 20:48to be at that brokerage
- 20:49versus what I was getting out of it
- 20:52um and they're very reputable brokerage
- 20:53very respected but for me
- 20:55it just started to not align with what I was doing
- 21:00or where I was wanting to go
- 21:01and getting kind of frustrated with
- 21:03always being in that 30 day cycle
- 21:05and wanting to say like
- 21:06you know
- 21:08how do I build from here like
- 21:09how do I get more streams of income
- 21:12and do you have more stability
- 21:14that's something that's really been
- 21:16what I've been seeking these past few years
- 21:18like ever since I turned 30
- 21:20I'm like yeah
- 21:20probably should
- 21:22probably should settle down a little bit
- 21:23so I've been looking for for ways to do that
- 21:26and I've done that in my real estate career sometimes
- 21:29um I
- 21:29you know
- 21:29I've worked into equity partnerships on larger jobs and
- 21:32um I had rentals that I've since liquidated
- 21:35but I I really wanted to find something
- 21:38that was really sustainable
- 21:39in terms of like
- 21:40my time money
- 21:40energy output
- 21:42that would also help grow and support my production
- 21:45business as well as
- 21:47allow me to grow in being a resource to others
- 21:51in a way that wasn't currently available
- 21:53where I was at at that time
- 21:55yep and so you hear a lot of creativity going on
- 22:00and Lisa's brain there right
- 22:02talking about equity partnerships within
- 22:05you know transactions and all of those things and
- 22:09and sometimes you know
- 22:10it's not about hey
- 22:12this is the managing broker
- 22:14they have to give me all the answers
- 22:16it's about the steps right
- 22:18and having people that you can connect with
- 22:20and collaborate with that you can bounce ideas
- 22:23off of and having two or three or seven
- 22:28um is
- 22:29is always a thing and EXP's model happens to offer that
- 22:32about the same time that Liz came to the brokerage
- 22:36uh co sponsorship was launched
- 22:38and talk to me a little bit about co sponsorship
- 22:41what you originally thought of it and
- 22:43you know how
- 22:44how you've you know
- 22:45kind of come around to this idea of being
- 22:48an absolute game changer for your business
- 22:51yeah
- 22:51so like that whole time earlier this year was just wild
- 22:56I um
- 22:57just so much changed during that period
- 22:59so I came back to EXP um
- 23:02in March and which is really exciting
- 23:05we have um
- 23:05during the time I was not at ESP
- 23:07we've grown a larger presence in my market
- 23:10so there's just more agents
- 23:11we have a physical office
- 23:13um there's just
- 23:14there's just more
- 23:15so for me it felt like that was definitely the push
- 23:18it felt like the right time for me
- 23:21and it I've been toying with the idea for a long time
- 23:24and I've been in contact with my
- 23:25my direct sponsor
- 23:26Chris Mullinberg for probably a year and a half
- 23:28um but didn't really feel right
- 23:30didn't feel right and then all of a sudden
- 23:31it's that other feeling where it's like
- 23:33doors are opening momentum's pushing me this way
- 23:35like now this is the time
- 23:37um and so made that change
- 23:39and then very shortly after
- 23:41they announced co sponsorship
- 23:42and I didn't really know what that meant
- 23:44um you know
- 23:45I'm just kind of getting back to brokerage
- 23:46and getting my feet wet and actually
- 23:48part of what like pushed my change was that
- 23:52another agent in my brokerage at that time
- 23:55was also considering cloud based brokerages
- 23:57and looking at those different options
- 23:59and so we had connected
- 24:01because we were looking at the same types of things
- 24:03and she was like on fire ready to go
- 24:06so I was like well shoot
- 24:06I
- 24:07I guess this is this is like baby bird leaving the nest
- 24:09like you gotta go so um
- 24:11made this switch she came over too
- 24:13and then shortly afterwards
- 24:15the co sponsorship was announced
- 24:17and it's like well
- 24:17what is that and how does that work
- 24:19um and I had another relationship with another agent
- 24:21locally here
- 24:22um who I've known for years
- 24:24and she was considering EXP as well
- 24:27and she was also talking to you
- 24:28so I'm like who is this Jeremy guy
- 24:30and what is going on here
- 24:32and all of these kinds of things
- 24:34and I'm trying to understand it
- 24:35and talking to my upline and like co sponsorship as a
- 24:40as a whole is just a completely new concept
- 24:42and it in theory it sounds pretty simple
- 24:45but when the ripple effect kind of comes in
- 24:47there's a lot of considerations to really look at
- 24:49and to make sure that it's the best for that agent
- 24:52um and that I also
- 24:53understand my role and all of those kinds of things
- 24:55so it was one of those things where
- 24:57like when we were at the Denver rally
- 24:59like you and I were on stage together and I'm like
- 25:01who's this guy like
- 25:02who's like I didn't know if I liked you at that point
- 25:06um but then
- 25:07but then I think it's all about education right
- 25:09like a lot of times um
- 25:11when things are new and people are scared
- 25:13it's usually from a place of ignorance
- 25:15um and that's certainly where
- 25:17where I was but I also am always somebody
- 25:20that's open to be educated
- 25:21so it's I recognized my lack of knowledge in that
- 25:24and wanted to better understand how that works
- 25:26and it really wasn't
- 25:28until you really look and map it out
- 25:30and see like
- 25:31how this functions why this works
- 25:33how this benefits the agent first and foremost
- 25:36and then the sponsor and co sponsors as well
- 25:39and really just is able to kind of like
- 25:41harness the power of two agents
- 25:43and like a powerhouse down
- 25:45up line and be able to really help that agent
- 25:48get the exact ingredients that they're looking for
- 25:50for their specific recipe
- 25:52and it's it's been awesome
- 25:54like I've done co sponsorship even out of state
- 25:57um with agents that are
- 25:58interested in being involved in land and ranch
- 26:00but they have a local relationship
- 26:01there in their market um
- 26:03and so it's just really open the doors to I think
- 26:07check more boxes for more agents on what their
- 26:10their needs are
- 26:12mm hmm
- 26:13absolutely and
- 26:14you know I've
- 26:15I've heard a lot of the people that were in
- 26:17on the creation of it and it's almost like
- 26:20you know having two parents instead of one
- 26:22mm hmm right
- 26:23and the the value stack that
- 26:28you know is created right in the new EXP
- 26:31EXP 2.0 value stack right
- 26:34where all of us as agents are creating
- 26:37you know value for other agents
- 26:39and it allows you to kind of mix and match
- 26:41and kind of a LA carte uh
- 26:43your own upline into an actual value stack
- 26:46which it didn't need to be for the first
- 26:49you know rendition of EXP
- 26:51but now as it's changed people understand what EXP is
- 26:55they've been you know
- 26:56told or pitched overly to EXP which is not how we roll
- 27:03you know it just now it's about what
- 27:05what value right now people are sponsorship
- 27:08and now with co sponsorship they're
- 27:10they're really sponsorship
- 27:11they're going to the mall instead of the
- 27:13the outlet I guess
- 27:15or whatever so um
- 27:16that's that's really cool
- 27:18so let's talk a little bit about your
- 27:22you know transition from okay
- 27:24like I I need to focus on my production
- 27:28I need the steps I need all of this
- 27:30to then bolting on something completely different
- 27:32in Rev share which
- 27:34you know certainly was on your horizon and vision
- 27:37but why why the Rev share
- 27:40you know
- 27:41excitement at this point what
- 27:44what will Rev share do for
- 27:46for Liz Cruz's you know
- 27:48life stability and and work ethic
- 27:51yeah I mean
- 27:52it's I mean
- 27:53it's already done quite a bit
- 27:54and I think what it really does is
- 27:58I mean it's just allowing me to invest in other people
- 28:01in a way that I've always really done
- 28:04but it's you know
- 28:05it incentivizes you so for me
- 28:07you know as captain of my basketball team growing up
- 28:10I mean I was always
- 28:11even when I was in middle school
- 28:12I was teaching basketball to kids younger than me
- 28:14and so that was like
- 28:16being in those types of roles have always been kind of
- 28:19natural to me um
- 28:21and being on in a
- 28:23in a leadership form in one way or another
- 28:25so I think for me I've always been drawn to that
- 28:28and up until this point it's like
- 28:31I don't know that I've felt that I had enough
- 28:34experience in my real estate career
- 28:36to be able to really speak and pour into other people
- 28:40but I think that's kind of where like
- 28:42my next chapter is going is yeah
- 28:45I don't I don't know everything but at all
- 28:47but I do know a couple things that I do well
- 28:50and you know
- 28:51if that's helpful to somebody
- 28:52that's great like I
- 28:53you don't have to have all the answers
- 28:55and so I think for me the ability to have sponsorship
- 28:59and add support and help you know
- 29:01agents build out their systems and grow in new ways
- 29:05is really exciting to me um
- 29:07while also maintaining my production because ultimately
- 29:10like that's what I love like
- 29:12I love being in production
- 29:13and I love being able to help other people
- 29:15in all these different ways
- 29:16but I also love being challenged
- 29:18and if I get bored um
- 29:20that's really been the only reason why I've ever
- 29:22left jobs in the past was
- 29:24I mean including like a brokerage change is that like
- 29:27I'm just not being stimulated enough
- 29:29and so I think for me it's just opened up a lot
- 29:33like a whole another vein
- 29:34and I mean like I said
- 29:35stability is really a big thing for me
- 29:37I mean I have a mortgage that's not a rental
- 29:41like I I have to pay this one
- 29:43so I um
- 29:44I have to kind of look at that
- 29:45I mean helping my family has always been um
- 29:48kind of at the core of you know
- 29:50my whole life and adult life
- 29:52and wanting to be able to support them as well
- 29:54and so Rev share is just an amazing opportunity
- 29:58I'm already seeing some of the benefits of it
- 30:00and it just I just see it as such a way to
- 30:04help learn from other people
- 30:07I mean that was one thing with
- 30:08you know
- 30:09Shivonne when she came over is she's an OG killer agent
- 30:13and it's not what always what can be provided to her
- 30:17it's what she also provides
- 30:18and so I also see um
- 30:21Rev shares an opportunity to learn from other people
- 30:23and selfishly kind of like
- 30:24grab them and be like let me
- 30:26I wanna I wanna be in your presence
- 30:28um
- 30:28as well as having the opportunity to pour into others
- 30:32awesome yeah
- 30:33that's that's kind of where
- 30:35where it's at and I
- 30:36I love what you said there
- 30:37the basketball captain analogy is so relevant
- 30:40especially at the high school level right
- 30:42because you're just a peer
- 30:45but you're recognized for your accomplishments
- 30:47maybe you have a little bit more leadership
- 30:49responsibilities there's still a coach
- 30:51there's still a referee there's still rules
- 30:54but being a captain and you know
- 30:56sometimes it's just being the hype girl
- 30:58right getting people ready to go
- 31:00sometimes it's you know
- 31:01calling people out when they're not getting there
- 31:03and that leads us to kind of
- 31:05you know something that we talked about this week
- 31:08um that
- 31:09that you're creating right
- 31:11and it's it's gonna give back
- 31:12and you know
- 31:14throughout your story
- 31:15there's so many times where you've selflessly been like
- 31:18okay we gotta go this route right
- 31:20those doors aren't opening by accident
- 31:23it's because you know
- 31:24you've selflessly gave whether it's the family side
- 31:27whether it's the you know
- 31:29other agent relationship side
- 31:31whether it's the equity ownership pieces
- 31:33you're like okay
- 31:34I'm gonna step up and I'm gonna do this
- 31:35and I'm gonna serve and we'll figure it out right
- 31:38and so the ability to do that
- 31:41and have a servant heart on that end
- 31:43and then have you know
- 31:45the leadership to you know
- 31:49teach others is is absolutely incredible
- 31:52and Rev share is gonna give you that opportunity
- 31:54so talk a little bit about your 30 for 30 challenge
- 31:56kind of what that's gonna look like
- 31:58for the agents that you serve
- 32:00whether they're you know
- 32:01100% right here ready to partner with you
- 32:04or maybe just kind of trying to get a taste of
- 32:07of what Liz Cruz leadership looks like uh
- 32:09tell me a little bit about that
- 32:11yeah well
- 32:12and I think too it's important to talk about what
- 32:14when we talk about rep sharing
- 32:15co sponsorship um
- 32:16and all of that
- 32:17that it's like it doesn't work without production right
- 32:20like you're speaking in a bad rap
- 32:22that it's a recruiting brokerage
- 32:24well it
- 32:25you don't get Rev share payout
- 32:27if the agents aren't in production
- 32:30so we are a selling production company
- 32:34that also just
- 32:35facilitates so much collaboration to help
- 32:38support that production
- 32:39and work life balance and systems within each other
- 32:42because you're incentivized to do so
- 32:44and so for me
- 32:46that's really what that is kind of looking at is
- 32:50you know these 30 for 30 challenges
- 32:51I did one earlier this summer
- 32:53where I just went live on my story
- 32:57every day for 30 days
- 32:57even if it was for a minute or a while um
- 33:00a lot of times I'd be
- 33:01it kind of turned into my car thoughts
- 33:02while I was driving
- 33:04so maybe don't do it while you're driving but um
- 33:07but sometimes that's where I have my best ideas
- 33:08so it's just
- 33:10being able to get on there and connect
- 33:12and be personable I mean
- 33:13not everything is super polished and like
- 33:16perfect all the time but I think for a lot of people
- 33:19it's about just getting out of your own way
- 33:21and doing it like
- 33:22done is better than perfect every time
- 33:24and so the 30 for 30 challenges are
- 33:27I'm gonna be setting out different challenges
- 33:29every month um
- 33:30for agents to help
- 33:32you know to participate in if they want to um
- 33:34and just having open office hours um
- 33:37or really office minutes I should say probably for
- 33:39you know 30 minutes in the morning that open zoom link
- 33:42come hop in um
- 33:44talk to me about your 30 for 30
- 33:45if it's just like an accountability
- 33:47you need somebody who's gonna be able to be there
- 33:49that you can be accountable to cool
- 33:51I'm happy to be that person
- 33:52if you have questions or support
- 33:54and I can be a resource for you great
- 33:56I may not have the answer
- 33:57but I may know somebody who does um
- 33:59or maybe I've I've
- 34:01you know worked that same problem before
- 34:02and can help you as well
- 34:04but I think ultimately that these 30
- 34:05for 30s
- 34:06are gonna be ways to be able to expand your sphere
- 34:10stay in front of your sphere
- 34:11be more consistent grow your production
- 34:13I mean that's really where the foundation
- 34:15that's why we're licensed
- 34:16that's why we're in real estate and um
- 34:18sometimes I think for agents
- 34:20it's just just kind of like
- 34:21you feel like you just don't really know what to do
- 34:22and it's helpful like if you go to a new gym
- 34:25rather than just you going and working out
- 34:26you go to a gym that has classes and you just show up
- 34:29and this may not be
- 34:30an exercise that I would normally do
- 34:32but um the class is telling me to do it
- 34:34so I'm just gonna trust the process and do it
- 34:36and I think sometimes that's the best
- 34:37best way to kind of break the
- 34:40if you're in like a plateau or you're kind of stagnant
- 34:42that's kind of the best way to break through those
- 34:44is to just do something outside the norm
- 34:47because it's being directed to you
- 34:49and just embrace it full on and see what happens
- 34:52and how that impacts your business and your income yeah
- 34:55and implementation and execution is so important
- 34:57in our kind of serial learning right
- 34:59YouTube University generation
- 35:02you can sit and learn and learn
- 35:03you can take this course you can buy this
- 35:05you can go to this webinar
- 35:07and the only thing that's gonna separate you
- 35:10is not watching all
- 35:11of that and being that educated
- 35:13it's the implementation that comes along with it
- 35:15so I absolutely love that accountability piece
- 35:17I love throwing out the challenges and
- 35:20and this is someone who has been in your shoes
- 35:24most likely right
- 35:26I I have conversations all the time about
- 35:29you know agents hey
- 35:30I I just need to put food on my table
- 35:32I have to work this job and you know
- 35:35that's kind of their their norm
- 35:36and they get in this dual career kind of situation
- 35:40and they're not putting enough time in to execution
- 35:42over here on the real estate side
- 35:44to make enough money to build the nest egg to
- 35:46to do those things Liz has done that right
- 35:49there's also agents who you know
- 35:51have been in the industry for a long time
- 35:53and maybe had a couple really good years
- 35:55and then it
- 35:56you know fell on hard times or something happened and
- 35:58and now you're considering like okay
- 36:00should I continue to do this
- 36:02this is that door opening for you as an agent
- 36:05so we will put Liz's information in the
- 36:08the bottom
- 36:08so that you can absolutely plug into that first
- 36:1130 for 30 that's happening here in September um
- 36:15or October we'll see if we can put it together in time
- 36:18but um
- 36:20definitely reach out and give this a chance
- 36:23cause it's gonna be absolutely incredible um
- 36:25so Liz anything else on that before we
- 36:28we ask the final the final question here
- 36:31yeah I think just um
- 36:32it's brokerage diagnostics
- 36:33so it's just for anybody um
- 36:37and I think it's just one of those things that
- 36:38if you're you're in a red
- 36:40like none of this stuff is gonna be caught
- 36:42it's not gonna cost you anything
- 36:44and I think that's the other thing that
- 36:46it comes down to like in this industry
- 36:48there's lots of
- 36:49people and companies that will take your money happily
- 36:52um but there is something to be
- 36:54said about just kind of bootstrapping it
- 36:56like there's also a lot of free
- 36:58or just effort based
- 37:00activities that agents can be doing um
- 37:03to help grow their business
- 37:05and that's for me
- 37:07that's how I've built my entire business
- 37:09so um
- 37:10that's the whole goal here is
- 37:12is is like what are the free activities
- 37:14what are some things that you can be doing
- 37:15so um
- 37:16so I'd encourage anybody
- 37:17if you're looking to just do something different
- 37:20shake things up looking for accountability that that's
- 37:22that's exactly what this is going to be for um
- 37:25for you
- 37:26just to kind of get out there and try something new
- 37:28and really commit to the 30 days
- 37:30and see how it changes your business
- 37:32if it changes your business at all
- 37:34or you just feel more comfortable
- 37:36maybe being on camera or whatever it is um
- 37:39for that month's challenge
- 37:40I would just say just you know you
- 37:42you have to commit is the biggest thing
- 37:44you have to commit you have to show up
- 37:46and you have to actually put in the effort
- 37:48so um
- 37:49I don't know if I can cuss on here
- 37:50but like you you can't half ass it
- 37:52you gotta full ass it like full ass that
- 37:54so full ass that I love it
- 37:56we're good to go there um
- 37:58perfect and we comment 30 for 30 below
- 38:02we'll get you that information if you can't find
- 38:04find her information which is there
- 38:06we'll get you that information
- 38:07so Liz as we kind of tone this down
- 38:10wrap it up when the dust settles
- 38:13what do you want to be known as for your agents
- 38:16from your clients
- 38:17from your family that I know is so important to you
- 38:20what what's that gonna look like
- 38:22yeah it's always hard
- 38:23um I
- 38:25I'm a very driven person I love working
- 38:28um my whole family is that way
- 38:30like I'll never not be working
- 38:31so I think for me it's I
- 38:34want to be known for being a people first
- 38:37type of person um
- 38:39it's never money over people
- 38:41it's people over money um
- 38:43and so I think being you know
- 38:46people centric is something that's really
- 38:48important to me um
- 38:50I am not your warm and fuzzy person
- 38:53like I am I am your tough love person
- 38:55like I am the friend that gets called
- 38:57when somebody knows that they did something
- 38:59they probably shouldn't
- 39:00and they want some actual like heart felt
- 39:02felt compassionate but honest advice
- 39:04um every one of my friends will tell you that
- 39:07and so I think being people centric
- 39:09and being authentic and loyal and um
- 39:13just there for people is is like pretty
- 39:16that's like for me like box 1
- 39:18and then I think box 2 is I'm
- 39:20I'm very hard working and I feel like
- 39:23one of the worst things you can say about somebody
- 39:24is that they're lazy and so for me that's
- 39:27that's kind of No. 2
- 39:29is just being a hard working person
- 39:31and I think those two ingredients
- 39:33translate to financial success
- 39:35a lot of the time but it's not necessarily about that
- 39:39like I seek stability and I think for me
- 39:42there's never a number that I want to earn to be like
- 39:46oh okay
- 39:46I'm good now like there is no ceiling on that
- 39:49because I always see it as a way that
- 39:51if I made all the money in the world
- 39:53that I could I now have more
- 39:55that's just a tool to me
- 39:56to be able to harness and to help for my family
- 40:00for other applications like it's never
- 40:03it's never something that is limiting to me in any way
- 40:06positive or negative it's always just
- 40:08I see financial things more as tools as it is
- 40:12as like a possession
- 40:14so for me it's about it's about people
- 40:16it's about working and that spurs into
- 40:19hopefully
- 40:20financial success that you can then implement in
- 40:23your life
- 40:23and in ways to have a positive impact for yourself
- 40:26and for those around you
- 40:27so that's that's the name of the game
- 40:30sounds like those accountability
- 40:31calls are gonna be fire
- 40:35which is awesome so
- 40:37uh Liz
- 40:38let's round this out where can people find you
- 40:40where you know
- 40:41can they connect with you
- 40:43Liz Cruz the realtor
- 40:44the person and the all around uh
- 40:47hardworking accountability partner yeah
- 40:50I mean my just Google my name
- 40:52my phone number is everywhere
- 40:54um but my Instagram is at Liz Cruz Real Estate
- 40:57Facebook at Liz Cruz Real Estate um
- 41:00I you know
- 41:01my business Instagram is freely open
- 41:03so I didn't in
- 41:04encourage you to add me on there and DM me and um
- 41:07if I see you in public I do have a chronic RBF
- 41:10so please say please say hello
- 41:13if you're in my local market
- 41:14or I see you at like
- 41:16an ESP event or something like that
- 41:18don't be deterred by my inadvertent RBF sometimes
- 41:21apologies in advance but um yeah
- 41:24just reach out on social media is probably
- 41:26the easiest way to connect
- 41:28and I'm just happy to meet more people and
- 41:32learn from you all and hopefully give you some
- 41:33some value as well awesome
- 41:36we'll put all that information below as well
- 41:38uh but Liz
- 41:39thanks so much keep crushing it
- 41:41uh again
- 41:42zero to 30 transactions in a single year
- 41:45by year two is absolutely incredible
- 41:48and you continue to push the norm
- 41:51listing a gold mine here in the coming future
- 41:54that's gonna be absolutely incredible
- 41:56so thanks so much for your time today
- 41:58and we'll see you next time on the Wolf Pack way
- 42:02thank you