Latest / Massive Agent Podcast / Thriving in Real Estate as a 2nd Career w/ Ken Gaffga

Transcript

Thriving in Real Estate as a 2nd Career w/ Ken Gaffga · Massive Agent Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: So do you really need social media to sell real estate?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Can you have a successful career and not really use social?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Is that even possible?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, today we have Ken Gafka on the show, an agent who's having his best year ever, and he's he doesn't really use social.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: He does a little bit, but he's not uh he's not a big content creator.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: He gets his deals from his sphere of influence, from people that know him, and he's gonna explain to you exactly how he does that.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: The massive agent podcast.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I love to buy houses, I like to sell houses.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're a week.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've had better, better, better.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, have I got your attention now?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Here's your host, Dustin Brome.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: What is up, everybody?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to episode 244 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: I am your host, Dustin Brome, an agent in Salt Lake City, Utah, and founder of the Massive Agent Society Coaching Group.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully you guys took advantage over the last week.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: The society has been open for registration, and as of today, it's now closed.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: We kept it open for one week.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you guys that joined, I am excited for you.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I congratulate you and applaud you for making an investment in yourself and for taking action and you know, not letting all those common excuses stop you from doing something you know you wanted to do and know you should be doing in the first place, investing in your growth and having the blueprint given to you.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: So congrats to all those who jumped into the Massive Agent Society.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: All right, this week, guys, Ken Gafka is on the show.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: He is one of our agents in the Denver area.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: He's been an agent for 10 years, and he is having his best year ever.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this, but he he had uh he had a six-figure month earlier this year, and it's just clicking for him.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's just everything he's been doing up to this point, it just uh it keeps snowballing in a positive direction.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh he's not a big social user.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he uses his stories uh every now and then, but um, as he'll talk about, he's there's so much more that he could be doing on social media that he's not.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: The vast majority of his business, if not all of his business, comes from his sphere of influence, from his network, people that know him.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so in this episode, we really dive deep on how he gets those people to know about him, how he gets them to remember him, how he gets them to know certain things, or how does he update them, how does he keep providing them value so that they when the time comes to buy or sell, they hire him.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna break that down.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: The systems he uses, the things he does, all of that.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, Ken is somebody who came into real estate after having a very successful career outside of real estate.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: He was a senior level executive at AT ⁇ T for years, and real estate is kind of his second career, and uh, you know, so he's kind of had to reinvent himself, which was not always easy, as you'll hear.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: He had he struggled just like everybody else, but he's he's really become um he's become very successful and uh and has some some future plans which which I think are awesome that he's working on.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So well, we're gonna jump into that here in just a second.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Quick shout out and thank you to Follow Up Boss, our sponsor of the show.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: They provide not just the best CRM in the in the industry, but I like to call it a business growth platform.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, they have all the systems in place to not just keep track of your contacts and you know send email blasts.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's literally the bare minimum of what any CRM should do.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Now they do that at the highest levels, they do that better than anybody else.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: But the the user friendliness, the the ease of use, the mobile app, all the extra stuff that you just don't know you need, especially if you're trying to scale and grow a team and add agents in and you want to distribute leads and all that stuff.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's as you heard last week from Tiffany Gilzenis, she hasn't found anything better.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Follow up boss is the best in the industry, and you can try it out for free for 30 days.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: All you have to do is is go to massive agentpodcast.com slash follow up boss, and because you use that link, you'll get 30 days for free, no credit card required, they don't even ask you for it, just uh get the trial, try it out, use it, and you will see that it is far and away better than whatever you're using now.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I will say this the best CRM is the one that you use, but I think you'll quickly see that this is the one you want to use and will use because it can just do so much more for you and save you so much time.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: So go check it out.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, follow-up boss, for the 30-day free trial for the listeners.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: All right, guys, let's jump into it right now with Ken Gafka from Gafka Group Properties in Denver, Colorado.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: All right, guys, I am here with Ken Gafka with Gafka Group Properties in the Denver metro area.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Ken, how are you, my friend?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: How's it going?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: I am doing awesome, Dustin.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Good to see you.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: You too, man.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: You too.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: Your first podcast?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: It is my first, and uh no better place to start than uh the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that's one way to put it, yes.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one would put it the worst place to start, but uh we'll we'll take it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh dude, I'm just stoked to have you on the show because uh you're somebody that I look up to and respect.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: You've been in the industry for a decade now.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you had a very successful career prior to real estate.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, do you want to talk about that for a second?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because I I think I think the story of how you were a successful guy in an industry, transitioned to a whole new industry, and became successful here is just a great story to tell.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, what were you doing before real estate?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: So um before real estate, private industry, my whole career was private industry for 25 years, um, primarily in the wireless broadband and cable industries.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: I was a senior executive with AT ⁇ T and also with a company called Frontier Communications, which is mostly, well, I was based out of Portland, Oregon, um, in in that role.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: But um so in the wireless business, yeah, I ran ATT's wireless business in the state of Michigan in northern Ohio.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um and just just an amazing time in my career.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it was back in the, so I'm gonna age myself here, but back in you know, the the mid-late 90s, early 2000s, um, when wireless really, really took off.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um and also was privileged enough to be part of ATT when ATT had the exclusive to launch the iPhone back in, I think it was 2007.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, shit, yeah, I remember that.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: So it was just an amazing time.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, just you know, very, very fond memories of of you know the the work and the people that I got to associate with and and friends to this day.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: So you you were a senior executive over there?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I was uh senior vice president and general manager for at least, you know, kind of towards the, I mean, obviously worked my way up through, you know, I was a financial analyst to start, worked my way up through financial organization and then into through business development and then into um senior management.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: Moved around quite a bit.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I was shooting Pittsburgh and Seattle and uh, you know, other places.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: So uh paid my dues for sure.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah um but again it was just a it was a wonderful time in my career and then kind of finished up with Frontier Communications as their senior vice president and GM for the state of Oregon and Northern California.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: So I went down to about Sacramento area um and ran their uh cable and broadband businesses uh there up to about 2010.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I assume, like most agents, you grew up always wanting to be a realtor when you grew up, right?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um it was always a dream of mine, yes.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: Totally, yeah.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you were you were doing your second grade presentation in front of the class saying you I was just paying my dues in the executive ranks of the pri of private industry before I felt like I was qualified enough to be an agent.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: So so what brought you over?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're a high-level executive at a very well-known publicly traded company.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: What brought you into real estate?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so really it was I had reached a point, I think, in my career, um, where I was I was burnt out on the corporate world.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um I was really feeling that it was becoming very, very stressful, um, less strategic and more tactical in terms of what I was doing on a daily basis.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: And it just uh it just was no longer fun and and challenging in a way that I wanted it to be challenging.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: So um it was just kind of time to do something different.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I decided that I wanted to do something just for me.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I had, I mean, 25 years leading people, managing people.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um it uh it it's tough, you know, and so I just wanted to wake up in the morning and worry about kicking myself in the ass to do what I needed to do to be successful.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um and you know, we I kind of bandied about a couple of things, and then my wife brought up real estate, you know, she said, why don't you why don't you try that?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't even thought about it, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I was like, well, that's kind of interesting because we had just moved to to Colorado, and um, I mean, I just love Colorado, I love the Colorado lifestyle, all that stuff.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it's kind of like, yeah, I'll I'll give that a shot.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, so I left my my executive career focused full-time on studying for my license.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my son was playing AAA hockey at that point, so I was driving uh different places around Colorado to take him to practice and all that.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so I would take him to practice, and those were usually three, four hour practices, and I'd sit at a Starbucks and study, watch videos, take tests, study, and um knocked it out that way.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's awesome.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that it's always it's always cool to hear the the grind, if you will, that you know everyone has their own story.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: No one gets into real estate and just everything clicks, they know everything, they're a master.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there's always a learning curve, there's always struggle.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: So talk about that transition from being an employee of a company.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh all I mean, you're a you're in a leadership role, but you're still an employee, you have your your role, uh, your duties and everything, to now being fully 100% responsible for everything.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: What was that transition like?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, let me tell you something.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: It was um this is probably the part I didn't really think through initially, right?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: I just I had yeah, I'm in a pretty confident guy, so I just like, okay, I'll try real estate, and I, you know, I was confident I was gonna be successful and all that.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: But um as I made the transition, um, first of all, you know, throughout my 25 years in the corporate world, I never sold anything myself.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: I never carried a quota.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: I never worked on commission, right?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: I always had a salary and bonus kind of deal.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: That was always my setup.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, going into real estate, you know, it doesn't work that way, right?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: You're 100% commissioned, and and you gotta, you know, produce, produce before you before you get paid.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: So um that was a little kind of like, okay, this is you know, this is different.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm used to, you know, every couple of weeks, paycheck comes in, gets the deposit in the bank, and you you got money.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it it doesn't work that way.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um and it I'll tell you, it was especially tough um for my wife, right?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'll be honest, I mean, we we led a very nice lifestyle, you know, um, as I made my way through the executive ranks.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then going from that to, you know, honey, where's the paycheck?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it was uh uh it was tough.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: And she was so, so supportive.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know, I give her all the credit in the world for um, you know, being patient and supportive through this transition, you know, and it certainly didn't happen overnight.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the other thing I didn't really think through was we had just moved to Denver when I made this transition.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know, I was here six months, I think, and made the transition into real estate.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and didn't know a soul, right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so, I mean, what is this business?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: This is a relationship business.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I had zero relationships because when we had moved to Denver, I was in a virtual role still in my corporate life and worked from home.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I didn't have a team here in Colorado.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, once once I started, you know, got my license and like, okay, shoot, I don't, I mean, how do I get business now?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I just that was not part of my initial thought process, right?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's just getting my license, go to real estate, and you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, you know, I had to figure all that out.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: And and I immediately then, you know, started joining organizations, um, attending events and just just networking um like crazy.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I knew that's what it was gonna take um to start to build my sphere and and to build my business.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Were you taught to do that, or did that just kind of make sense to you?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, I don't know anyone, I need to know people, here's where the people are.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: And you I mean, how did how did you figure that part out?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because you're you're right now you're literally giving a masterclass on what to do if you if you're in real estate and you move to a new market.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I I was um well, I don't know.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: I you know, it it it kind of just made sense to me, right?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I kind of thought of and I tried a lot of different things.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, I went door knocking, I you know, did a lot of different things and quickly found out, you know, a lot of those things were not sustainable for me.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't gonna go, you know, pound the streets and door knock for the rest of my real estate career.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I wasn't gonna call expireds and you know, FISBOs.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's just that's not like that wasn't gonna get me up in the morning to think about doing that crap, right?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: So um it was I I you know I love building relationships.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I just love the interpersonal connection.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: And how I started was I just I started to leverage my executive network of people who I knew in, you know, the wireless and telecom space across the country and just let and you know, a lot, some of that through LinkedIn, and just said, hey, you know, here's what I'm doing now.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm I'm pretty widely connected to some, you know, a lot of um executives across the country who might you know that lives in Colorado or is moving to Colorado or moving from Colorado, that I could help, you know, with their their um real estate decisions.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I kind of started there and then also networked um into one of the first where I got my first deal, um, which happened within, you know, I think 30, 40 days, which was yeah, which was fortunate for me.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_03: But I I joined, I figured, okay, how can I how can I join a group?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and again, it was what's going to be sustainable for me because I got to develop relationships in whatever group I'm going to.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I don't want it just to be, I'm going there to see if I can drum up some real estate business.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: So um I joined a group that um um basically was a mentorship group for um entrepreneurs and business startups, because I figured I could lend a lot of my corporate experience and my experience, you know, building teams, um, scaling a business, that kind of stuff with um, you know, entrepreneurs and startups.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: So that's the organization I joined.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: And and it was it was rewarding because I was giving back, you know, based on what I had gone through in my executive career.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um and through the relationships that I developed with other local executives who were also volunteers and mentors in that organization, um they, you know, I connected with them and and my first deal was through was through one of those folks who was a co-mentor with me.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: So you had some success relatively quick, you know, showed that you're you know what you were doing was working.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um is that kind of where the bulk of your first deals were coming from?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Is all your your networking efforts, or did you start to bring business in other ways?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, so you know, I was fortunate to get a deal fairly early, but by no means were the first two years, you know, like rainbows and unicorn stuff.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was it was tough.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think uh my first two years, I combined for those two years, I only did I think 11 deals over over two years.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, and that translated to, you know, I mean, what I was bringing home was peanuts compared to what I was used to, right?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: So did you have like a team split or anything at the time?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well, no, I had a I um I wasn't on a team.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: I was always a you know um uh solo agent, but you know, I had a I was with Cobalt Banker, had a cap and all that kind of stuff.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, sure, and then um, you know, paying co-list or co-buy, because one of the things I did early on was figure, okay, you know what, I'm um because one of the biggest challenges a new agent faces is that question of, well, what have you ever sold before, Ken?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you've you've never done this before, or you've only done one or two deals.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: Why should I go with you when I can go with a more experienced agent?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, I quickly figured out, well, listen, I'm going to have two or three agents who are kind of at the ready, experienced agents who I can partner with, we either as a co-buy agent or a co-listing agent to just eliminate that excuse.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously I was going to do what I could to see if I could get the business on my own, but I wasn't going to lose the business because of my perceived lack of experience.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I mean, I would certainly sell my experience as an executive in terms of um being able to understand and negotiate contracts and, you know, just interpersonal skills and all that.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, you know, let's face it, I can't.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: And that shows you that you're competent.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of agents that don't have that to lean on.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a that's a big deal.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: But still, um, you know, there was a story.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um my wife at the time was working for um, she was working at a nonprofit, and the the senior executive at the nonprofit was um selling her home.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Million dollar home, a little over a million bucks.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: And my wife, you know, got win just from being at work or whatever.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: And um she told me about it, I said, listen, hey, you got to see if, you know, get me a meeting or whatever, see if she'd be open to that.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: So my wife went in and and and talked to her, and she's basically said, listen, we're we're kind of far along in the process of interviewing agents.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: We've we've talked to, you know, several very experienced agents down in, you know, in in that area.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think, I think we're good, you know.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: And she said, and you're you know, your husband's just getting into it, you know, we've got a a pretty expensive home.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, definitely next time we sell, we'll we'll we'll talk, whatever, you know, and she told me, I was like, shoot.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, and that's when I told her, I said, listen, I know the best agent down in that area, the best.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I know she had not interviewed him.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: I said, tell her, and I called that agent, I said, Listen, potential opportunity, I just want to make sure you would do this with me.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: If I get a meeting with this potential seller, um will you entertain co-listing with me?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this this guy doesn't need to do this with me, right?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he was he's he's a big deal in Colorado, but he was with Coldwell Banker, and my managing broker knew him pretty well.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so same brokerage, same brokerage, yeah, different offices, uh, all that.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: But my managing broker kind of, you know, laid the groundwork for him to at least hear me out and potentially do this.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so he said, Yep.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he goes, I'll go ahead and do it with you, we'll split it 50-50.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: And he says, but you gotta let me take the lead.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: You just watch, listen, absorb all that.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: I said, dude, I'm so cool with that, right?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: So um my wife went back.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: I said, here's what you know, I'm proposing to at least try to get a meeting with you know my wife's CEO.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: And and she went back to work and told us, and I think it was kind of like a pity meeting, right?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like, okay, I'll, you know, I'll let your husband, it's because it's your husband, I'll I'll take the meeting.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um so we went down and we got the listing.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he got the listing.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: I was there for the ride, right?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, um you teed it up though.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: I teed it up, right?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: And and and and through that process, I learned so much.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um But first and foremost, it was like, you know, now I've got my my name on this listing, million dollars plus.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: I've got all the collateral, you know, printed brochures, all that kind of stuff that I can now bring to other listing appointments to, you know, say, hey, I, you know, I sold this property.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so that was a big deal, you know, for me, you know, that was again within my first four or five months, you know, of being an agent, I had a million-dollar listing and we sold it before it even went on the market.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so you know, I got some really cool stories, but it really at the end of the day, I did 11 sales in two years.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, but during that time, I just knew I was disciplined enough.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think just from my experience from leading sales teams, like I said, I had never sold anything, but I had been, you know, a sales director, a sales manager.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: I led sales organizations, I knew what the daily grind was to prospect, you know, make those calls, um, you know, steward your your you know, your customer base, all that kind of stuff.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I um I knew what I had to do.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: I knew I had to grind every day and reach out and just every day try to expand my sphere and um remind people of what I'm doing now, versus Ken, the you know, telecom exec guy.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of agents struggle with discipline, no matter how long they've been in.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh we see it with new agents that struggle with the discipline just to do the shit needed to get the ball rolling.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then once you've had a certain level of success, the discipline to keep doing income-producing activities to keep the ball rolling, right?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um it doesn't sound like you had much of an issue with discipline, but what what was the hardest part of your your growth phase?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean I'm not gonna say I didn't have an issue.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we I think we all struggle with that.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, some are better than others of kind of convincing yourself to do it as opposed to make excuses to do other things that are not productive, right?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: So um I'm pretty honest with myself when it comes to that kind of stuff.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um but you know what was one of the one of the weird things that I didn't realize initially as I was, you know, my first couple years was I was letting my own biases interfere with my interactions with clients.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um particularly on on the on the buy side of things.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I've got a certain kind of style of house that I like, a certain, you know, I don't like older homes only because I've lived in older homes and just the amount of work, you know, that they take and the money pit they can be.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, um, and so I found, and I like I said, I didn't realize this initially, but I found that I was that was coming through in as I was doing showings with clients, you know, my bias on some of that stuff.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, it's like, okay, how come we're not, you know, they're not making any offers.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, I would kind of go through my interactions.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking, you're talking them out of it.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: You're you're convincing them not to buy this house because you wouldn't, you know.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: And it took me uh, to be honest, a couple of years to really, really weed that out of my my client interactions.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um and to really be more, you know, uh non-biased, educational.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_03: But at the end of the day, every every client has different wants and needs, they have different likes, they just, you know, it's not it's not my place to, you know, kind of point them towards a certain type of house or style of house or or anything like that, right?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's just just be um objective in you know my communication with a client.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well put.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I mean I've had clients that hated new homes because the in their eyes they had no character, right?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: So they they wanted something uh built in the 1890s in downtown Salt Lake City because it had character.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, like I'm with you, it's like, well shit, character means money pit.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh yeah, that's interesting.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder I wonder how many agents listening just are doing that and have no idea.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: And hopefully now that you've mentioned it, that they can audit themselves a little bit.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, we all have those biases, we all stir our clients somehow, some way.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but and sometimes that's to their benefit.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oftentimes it's to their benefit when they tell us what they want, what their situation is, and you're like, well, okay, well, here you go.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: This fits it over here.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I could see how that could negatively affect everything, you know.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um well, just your own excitement about a house, right?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just like, and that's where I found, you know, I mean, it's a fine line in in you know, educating the client, you know, on an older home.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: What, you know, what could be behind the walls in terms of you know, some older wiring or you know non-existent insulation or anything like that, right?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: But the knob and tube.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, all that kind of stuff.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: But that you know, again, that's that's all fixable, right?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and it shouldn't you shouldn't allow that to dampen your excitement about a home, you know, if if your client's excited about it.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's really that's kind of where I needed to be is like, okay, I still want to educate, but I want to do it in a way that's not perceived as, you know, um, you know, kind of sharing my my bias.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that I think that was uh that's important, and I'm glad you brought that up.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I want to fast forward a bit.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: This this last year or this current year and last year, some of your best years in real estate, right?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: I I think you said you're on track for your best year ever.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what what do you credit that to?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you you and I, we've been working together, partnered together for a couple of years now, and um, you know, I wasn't able to really see what you were doing, you know, for the previous eight years.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, it seems like it's really clicking for you.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: What do you attribute that to?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's uh my most of my business comes from my sphere at this point.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's almost entirely referral-based.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, whether it's past clients, whether it's friends, family, you know, my my professional network, whatever.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: So um, and that is my number one source of business.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: And it's what I focus on in terms of I keep in touch with with my sphere.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I almost to the point where I look for excuses to um contact my sphere.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um couple of examples, I mean, I've got a lot of systems in place that um, you know, we've talked about homebot before, you know, and and things like that.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I've got I've got systems in place that, you know, touch my um my client base and my sphere on a very regular basis.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: But I also try to look for, like I said, excuses to reach out to them.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, one thing that I've I've done several times is um I saw something come through.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um it might have been on Twitter, I don't really exactly remember, but it was, you know, a um a drive to collect, you know, paint cans.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like everybody's got paint cans in their house, right?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_03: And just like, what the hell do I do with these things?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: And they just keep piling up, piling up.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I'm thinking, well, I'll send this out to, you know, all of my Denver-based clients, you know, because the the paint drive was was right around Denver and there were different locations.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: And um just let them know, you know, it's like, hey, um, we've all got this crap lying around our house, always looking for a reason to get rid of it.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I I sent it out through an email and you know, just some other things.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I got so many responses from that, you know, like, oh my God, Ken, thank you for sending this.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: We've been wondering what the hell to do with this stuff, you know, and you know, this we're just so excited to get this crap out of our house now, you know.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it's just one of those things, like, so now it's like my ears and eyes are always kind of perked up as to, okay, if I see something, is this something I can leverage with my sphere?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that could be of value to them.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I'm very, very aware of, you know, I just don't want to hit them with a bunch of nonsense stuff.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I don't send a lot of real estate, you know, I don't send out a newsletter, real estate newsletter, or anything like that.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_03: I try to really provide items of value.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: Another thing was um I saw an article, we have a lot of hail here in Colorado.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: And man, I'll tell you, the day after hail, you know, these guys that do this roofing stuff, they're pounding on your door, you know, and you'll get three or four of them, right?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um well, there was a whole big article about roofing scams, you know, related to hail and all that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I sent that out, you know, to MySphere.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, they were all like so appreciative to know that, hey, watch out for you know this stuff, because most people are, you know, somewhat trusting, and you know, I mean, some of these guys that knock on your door can be pretty convincing, you know.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and what's the harm of them hopping on the roof and just taking a look?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: But that just opens the door to um uh to some bad stuff sometimes.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: And you then you find them convincing you to commit insurance fraud and all sorts of crap.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh ridiculous.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: So the I think most agents that that I talk to, uh every new agent I talk to, I ask where their last five deals came from.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Almost all of them, whether they're brand new or they've been in the game for 30 years, sphere of influence.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're they're they're getting business from the people that already know them.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: So how can how are you getting in touch with your sphere of influence?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: How how are how are you getting, you know, like the paint can collection thing?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how did you get it out there to them?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have like an MVP Facebook group?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Is it just an email blast?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: Do you reach out individually?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: How do you connect with your network?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_03: So within my CRM, um I've got all of my past clients, you know, my my associates, whatever.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: My entire sphere of influence is in there, and I've got it segregated by um whether they're based in Colorado or outside Colorado.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: I've got it segregated by A, B, C, and D, right?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: So um, and then I just, you know, so I've got all of their emails, most of their phone numbers, obviously.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, as stuff comes up, I'll uh, you know, I'll kind of make a decision like that paint camp.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, this is just pertinent to my Denver-based, you know, folks.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: So that's, you know, I'll get that subgroup, shoot out an email with a link or whatever, and do it that way, you know, um, hail fraud or roof fraud, whatever.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's something that can apply anywhere, right?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just doesn't just happen in in in Colorado.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I sent that out to, you know, my my my entire base.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um and, you know, I usually send it to my A, A, B's, and Cs, you know, my my D people, you know, I'm always looking to either move them up or move them out.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so I don't send them that kind of stuff.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm more working to see if I can engage them a little bit more than they've been engaged with me in the past.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's kind of what my focus is with my D clients.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, that's really that's what I'm doing.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, like I said, I've got different um, I've got a service that does handwritten cards here in Denver.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I provide them a mailing list.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, once a year I go and sit with them, pick out four different cards that they send about every quarter.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I've got my my signature on there, and and so, and usually I try to send out something that's you know, a card that's humorous around, you know, maybe a generic holiday or a season or whatever.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's just another touch point.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: The home bot's another touch point.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: The stuff I send out's another touch point.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, um, I try to pay attention to anniversary dates of buyers and sellers, and you know, that's that creates another touch point.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um so, and then lastly, I'm I'm always texting them to sit, let's let's sit down and have coffee.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: I love sitting down with my clients and having coffee and um just seeing what they're up to and maybe how I can help them.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: What you know, you're doing projects at the house.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, don't don't don't forget, I've got an extensive Rolodex of contractors and um, you know, service providers that if you're ever looking for somebody to tile or you know, wood floors or carpet or roof or whatever, you know, and you you don't have anybody, just hit me up.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'll I'll send you a couple of referrals and you know help you out in that process too.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm always trying to just be a resource for my sphere.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I can tell with you know how you when certain things come across and you're like, oh, that would be great to tell my people about, it it shows that you're just in that frame of mind.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're always looking for value, like you're always looking for uh things that they would find value valuable, helpful, entertaining, um, enlightening, educational, whatever.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's good.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um how how big is social media with with staying in front of your your sphere and your network?
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, um I don't I don't think I'm not sure really how much of my sphere really follows me on social media, to be honest with you.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: You know, um fair enough.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I um I mean I'm I'm fairly active on Instagram, I'm fairly active on on uh LinkedIn, um somewhat on on Facebook, right?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: But social media has not been a source of my business.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think um I'm active on there because I'm I I truly believe that you know it's it's a validating point, right?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: If people, regardless, if I get referred to somebody, I mean that's probably the first place they're gonna look up, is you know, whether it's LinkedIn or Instagram or something like that.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um they'll Google me.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I I do want to have a um a strong and regular presence on social media, but it's not what's generating my business.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: Now I I think that's an area that that I certainly have a ton of room to improve on.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I think um it's an untapped area for me to to grow my business beyond where it's at right now.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'd agree with that.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're you're great on camera, you're a great communicator, you have a ton of credibility and knowledge, and you know you just have so much to share, and video on the internet is just you know, uh that's where you get people to see it at scale.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: So so yes, I I agree that that is uh the next frontier for you, but it it's also you've been trying to pound it in my head for two years now, so it's I've been nagging subtly and not so subtly.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: And now in front of the massive agent audience, get your shit together, Ken.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but it's it's actually refreshing that you've you you're having your best year ever.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Last year was pretty damn good.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, and you're not really using social uh intentionally, you know, to to get business.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: You you know, you're I don't want to call it the old-fashioned way, but just well, yeah, the old-fashioned way, I guess.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's tried and true.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it's for anyone who isn't doing social, it's not like you must do it or you'll literally never get business.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's just that you're if you're not doing it, you have one hand tied behind your back, yeah, while others don't.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, it's exciting to think about if you've been this successful without it, once you get it dialed in, you know, it's it's off to the races.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: So uh but that's cool.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh what else, uh what other sources of business, you know, what what else are you doing that's worked for you?
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: Or is it still just like purely people that know you?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um well I think ad campaigns you've done or anything like that?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: Not nothing that's sustained.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think um, you know, one of the things um that I have found to be um uh useful here at EXP, because we are a uh you know a global brokerage, you know, we've got we've got one place where we can go um on workplace, you know, internal system to where you can post and and go after referrals across the country.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: And um I would say, you know, in my eight years with Cobalt Banker, I think I had one or two referrals in eight years.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um in my two years with EXP, I've probably done eight or ten referrals.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: Close.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's just it's just being active in that referral group, you know, for somebody maybe who's out there posting and say, hey, I'm you know, I'm an Austin agent, I'm I'm looking for, I've got a family member in Denver, Colorado, looks and looking to buy a house, you know.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: You go out there, you communicate with that with that agent, and um bam, you've got a you've got a referral, right?
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I found that to be you know quite um quite beneficial um in my time here at uh at EXP.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: It it doesn't surprise me.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, the nice thing is it's one company.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: There aren't a bunch of different franchises and offices.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's one company, so everyone's all in this referral network group.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're in an area, well, actually it doesn't matter the size of your market.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: It any area you're in, if you're active in there, yeah, you've got uh 80,000 or so, 86,000 other agents that are, you know, someone's gonna have business come into your area.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_02: And if you happen to jump on it quickly, there you go.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: You've closed eight to ten deals from the referral network.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I know just from our our team, you know, the massive agent team, you you got some business um from our our friends in Big Bear, right?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: Or did you refer to them?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: No, they referred to me, and actually, you know, those clients, you know, I've done multiple deals with them now.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: And on top of that, one of them that's awesome.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm doing business with his mom, who is in New York City, but now she's buying investment properties here.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: So that's led to four or five deals.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's so cool.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's uh that is not a small thing.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's a big deal.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: And look, it's not like we're the only company that has a referral network, but you you're you're very active in it.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I've received tags from you before.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'll get tagged by others, and uh it's it's cool, it's robust.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're if you're listening and you you have a company that has a referral network of any size, like be active in it.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's worth having those notifications turned on.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, because uh how hard do you work to close one deal and all of a sudden it could just be referred to you?
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that's great.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Ken, what is next for you?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, do you have any big plans to grow a team?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: Are you just gonna keep you know increasing your sales, increasing your your average price point?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, um what are you working on?
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I I think there's two things really.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um one is uh, as we just talked about, um being more intentional with social media, specifically around video.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think specifically YouTube and Reels.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, those are the two things that um I I really need to kind of get my ass in gear on.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um there you go.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's right there.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I've got to me, I've got such an opportunity in the area that I live.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I don't have to go far to showcase a great community with that that that's expanding, that's growing, you know, right up against the foothills.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is quintessential Colorado lifestyle, kind of where I live.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Easy access to Denver, to Boulder, to Golden, and up to the mountains to ski or fly fish or hike or or or whatever.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: So um I what's you know what's the name of your community again?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's Candallas, and it's in West Arvada, yeah.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: So um the lifestyle there is is so easy to sell.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I it's yeah, it's just it's you know, hit me upside the head, and I just I just gotta go do it.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: So that's that's one.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: And the second thing is um my wife and I have, you know, we've been talking course of the last year or so about um you know, investment properties.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_03: Gotta do something there.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I've been kind of fighting it because it's kind of oh, do I really want to be a landlord kind of thing?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: But um one of the things we're gonna try is um Airbnb.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna try it at our house, at our primary residence, because we travel a fair amount.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my wife travels a lot for her job.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um so we're looking at um, we're in the early phases of that, but doing a lot of research about um, okay, in my community, what are the Airbnb rules?
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, my HOA does allow it, which is unusual, you know, to find an HOA that allows that.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, what's the deal with licensing and permits?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_03: And okay, how do what's what's a transition look like if we're going on vacation to get our place ready to Airbnb?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: What areas do we have to lock off?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: What do we need to transition in terms of, you know, bedding and linens and toiletry?
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Trees and I mean it's just it's kind of crazy.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, eventually we want to buy a couple of properties that we we can Airbnb.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: But we figured, okay, before we jump in and and and invest, you know, big money into that, let's learn the process.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let's learn how to market it.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Let's learn, you know, the uh the operational aspects behind it.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: So that, you know, number one, if we if we like it and we find it profitable, then we can turn around and go buy a property and be that further ahead of the game as opposed to just experimenting, right?
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um the other thing, too, is as an agent, it's so important to know there's stuff, you know.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, agreed.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: So many buyers out there, you know, investors are like, yeah, I'm looking for an investment property so I can Airbnb, you know.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_03: And um, one of the one of the things I just learned, you know, here in in the Denver metro area, most communities, you can only Airbnb your primary residence, right?
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um because it's there, it's just fairly highly regulated.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: But in Arvada, you can Airbnb up to three non-owner occupied properties.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I could go buy three properties in Arvada and Airbnb them.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: Don't have to be my primary residence.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know that, you know, three weeks ago.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: So now, you know, and I and I know that you know Denver doesn't allow that.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: I know Lakewood, I know a lot of other communities that don't allow it.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, if I've got um an investor client who, you know, wants to buy some properties to Airbnb, um, now I've got that knowledge and that education, right?
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's so important to have because let's be honest, most agents they don't know Airbnbs and what the rules are and how different cities and communities treat those.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, uh so it's a value add for my client base that most agents don't offer.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: Agreed.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, go stay in an Airbnb for a month, and you'll learn a lot of things that uh that you need to do or not do as the host or the owner of the property, too.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm still living in this goddamn Airbnb and I'm learning all sorts of things not to do.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, don't go cheap with the silverware and the pots and pans and the appliances, like unbelievable.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that that's key.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't know that about Arvada.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: So are you familiar with Airbnb arbitrage?
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's yes, rent you rent a property and then Airbnb it.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's interesting.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, as long as the the numbers work and obviously the person who you're renting from, it's all got to be in black and white and everything.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but some of them don't care, you know.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: They're just like, hey, as long as you take good care of the pro of the place and pay the rent on time, then then we're good.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's interesting too, because then you're you don't need to go use your credit up uh and you know expand your debt to income by purchasing properties.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something I'm learning about as well.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's just so so much to be so much to be done.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_02: And to your point, when you have a client who is also wanting to entertain certain things, isn't it's so much more attractive in their eyes if you're like, hey, um, yes, I can answer those questions based on my experience, or hey, I've I've heard that this is the way it's done.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, they're gonna want somebody who has done it themselves, who owns property, who's done short-term rentals to guide them through their own.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a no-brainer.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: So uh that all makes so much sense.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Ken, that that that's exciting.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: So keep us updated on how that goes because that's uh it's quite a journey.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's cool.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_02: I will.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, hey, you know, it's also, you know, maybe a um an opportunity for video, right?
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_03: Document kind of my absolutely my process of of learning and executing on an Airbnb.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it content gold is what that is.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, Ken, before we wrap it up, I want to get to the rapid fire questions, and then at the end, we'll let everyone know where they can connect with you and uh and you know find out what you are up to moving forward so that they can hold your feet to the fire on the YouTube, the the YouTube commitment you just made.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_02: I hope they do something good.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: You'll be so good on YouTube, man.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm stoked for you.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: So either or questions, you can elaborate if you choose to.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: You certainly don't have to, and then we'll we'll wrap it up.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: So Facebook or Instagram?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Insta.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: Instagram or LinkedIn?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh, uh Insta.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: Books or podcasts?
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: Podcast.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: Podcast or audiobooks.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: Podcast.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh rental property or flipping?
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh short-term rental.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: That works.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_02: Burgers or pizza?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: Pizza.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_02: New York or LA.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_02: LA.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, NFL or NBA.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_02: NFL.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, no contest.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh college or pro.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: College.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: Mountains or beach?
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: Mountains.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: Fly fishing and skiing, dude.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: See, I do see that in your stories.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: I I see all the the awesomeness.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, shit.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_03: Not that I don't like a beach, but you know, uh I can couple vacations and I've got I get my fill.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen you enjoying the shit out of that beach in Cabo.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, I I love a beach too, but uh give me my mountains.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm with you.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: Podcasts or vlogs?
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_02: Podcasts.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: YouTube or Facebook Live?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: YouTube.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think anyone's ever answered Facebook Live, to be honest with you.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: You need to come up with another option there.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_02: I do, I do, yeah.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Rich Dad, Poor Dad, or Millionaire Real Estate Agent?
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_02: Rich Dad Poor Dad.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uber or Lyft?
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Lyft.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_02: And Gary V or Grant Cardone?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Gary V.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: And Ken, what is the best place for people to connect with you?
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so email, Ken Gafka at iCloud.com, um Instagram, Gafka Group Properties, on LinkedIn, uh, just my name, Ken Gafka, and on Facebook, Ken Gafka Real Estate.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_02: Ken, we will link those up in the show notes.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're listening, just click into the show notes.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: If you're watching on YouTube, just click into the description and make sure you follow Ken because his YouTube channel announcement is forthcoming.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: So we're looking for that.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: I said it.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_02: I said it, Omar.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_02: I love it, man.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: Ken, thanks so much.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_02: This is this is good stuff.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's really cool to watch you grow and um and dominate.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_02: So um just really appreciate you sharing your wisdom.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_03: Dustin, it was a pleasure and an honor being on uh the best real estate podcast.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: Here it is.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, buddy.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, man.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_02: All right, guys.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: I I think you can see now that uh social media, while it's hugely important, you can still have success without using it all the time.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I still think you should, and Ken agrees.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: He he will he has plans to use social and YouTube especially uh a lot more than he has been.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just the you know, it's the next frontier that he hasn't explored yet, but he still had a shitload of success.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_02: So can you?
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_02: All right, there's so many different ways to attract business.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_02: Social media is just a hack, it's a cheat code, it's a way to reach a ton of people for free, and it it just works.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_02: But it's not if you're not using social, you can't use that as an excuse.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there are other ways of getting business.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: You just have to go out and get it and follow the blueprint of people like Ken and others who aren't really using social all that much, except for maybe personally, and they're still doing quite well.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_02: You can too.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: It starts with deciding deciding that you can be successful, deciding that you will be, that you should be, that you deserve to be.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_02: So much, so much of success in business and in life comes down to confidence.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_02: Confidence is absolutely everything.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone on our team who is you know selling 100 plus homes a year, they have a high level of confidence.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_02: They believe that they should be earning the income that they're earning.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: They they believe that that's their average, right?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's just that's just the level that they operate at.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_02: Of course they're gonna sell 120 homes in a year because that's just what they do.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: They've decided that it's possible and then decided that that's who they are.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that's when you decide that that's how you are, that's just how you operate, subconsciously, on autopilot.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: So if you guys are not operating at the level you want to, look at the programming within your mind.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: At some point, you've programmed yourself for accepting less, for performing less.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: Now, but it starts with being aware of that programming, and then you can start to set big goals, take action, start doing the right things, do all the stuff you've learned about on this episode, on the last episode, on all of our episodes.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: Taking action consistently is the way forward.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: And if you pair that with with the uh with the decision, with the intentionality in your in your own mind that this is going to happen, you are going to reach this level.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: You are that person, you are that agent, you just have not, the numbers haven't caught up to you yet.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: When that happens, it's just a matter of time.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_02: I hope all of you guys get there.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: Whatever that level is for you, I want that for you.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_02: So, if you would, please share this episode with anyone you think who needs this message, anyone who would benefit from hearing today's interview and today's show, please share it with them.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: Not only are you helping them out, but you're helping us to grow our audience.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that is all we ask of you.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: Free podcast.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, all we ask is that you help us if you found it valuable to share it with someone else so that they can find it valuable too.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate the hell out of you guys.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see you next week for episode 245.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_02: See ya.