Latest / Massive Agent Podcast / Lack of Leads is NOT Your Problem w/ ZillowKiller

Transcript

Lack of Leads is NOT Your Problem w/ ZillowKiller · Massive Agent Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, as somebody who did everything wrong marketing-wise for real estate, and I'm a recovering marketing idiot, I can tell you that it's a fundamental flaw in your thinking that's making you not use social media the right way, or not run the right ads, or not have the right online strategy.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: So if we fix that fundamental flaw, then your stuff just starts working.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: So today we're actually going to go deep.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we have James Rembert, as you guys might know, as Zillow Killer on the show, super deep guy, super intelligent, super intellectual, and uh and it's a great conversation.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: But we talk about what that fundamental flaw is.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: We're also gonna talk about how not having leads is not your problem.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: Obscurity is.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Nobody knows who the hell you are.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: So this is a great show.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: This will make you think, and we're gonna fix your brain today.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: So listen up.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: The massive agent podcast.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: I love to buy houses.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: I like to sell houses.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: It's brand ball.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: That's a better one.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: Here's your host, Dustin Brohm.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: What is up, everybody?
1:22
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to episode 172 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Dustin Brohm.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: One hell of a show today that's gonna make you think if you guys have the wrong fundamental way of approaching social media and approaching ads and marketing, then it's no surprise that your shit just isn't working the way that it should be or the way that it could be.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: So let's fix that.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: So we have Zillow Killer on the show today, James Rembert.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh super interesting conversation.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: James is someone who I've seen from afar, I've seen, I've seen Zillow Killer online before on Instagram and all that.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't until Clubhouse that I actually got a chance to listen to him.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: And he's he's a very well thought out, very intelligent when it comes to marketing, very accomplished.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: He's a he's been a real estate agent, he runs a digital agency, and you know, he's he's responsible for a lot of ad dollars being spent for realtors all around.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: So he has perspective that most people don't.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: And and so he's gonna help fix our brains today, so to speak, and and change some some paradigms.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh, something that he's gonna talk about is how you know what so many agents think is the problem that they don't have any leads.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's really a symptom.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: The problem is not that you don't have leads, the problem is that nobody knows who you are.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: You you're obscure.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: Obscurity is your problem.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, with the right mindset, with the right mental foundation, with the right approach to online marketing, obviously we can fix that.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: So this is a great show.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: I think you'll really, really like this and probably even want to take some notes.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: But uh, if not, if if notes aren't your thing, cool.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: Just listen.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: I think that, I think that we'll we'll tweak some stuff inside your head today that's uh that's gonna help moving forward.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: If you are new to the show, welcome.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Dustin Brohm.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: This is the Massive Agent Podcast, a founding member of the Industry Syndicate Podcast Network.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: If you are brand new, I'm a real estate agent in Salt Lake City, Utah.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: I've been a realtor for over 10 years now.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: I am the co-founder of the Industry Syndicate Podcast Network, and I am the founder of the Massive Agent Society and the Massive Agent Daily.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: Both are programs to help agents uh do better on social media, to get leads through Facebook ads and advertising directly to consumers and to people that already know them.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: So check those out over at MassiveAgenSociety.com and uh you know, see if that's your cup of tea.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, if you like to have the shortcut and like to have the blueprint given to you so you don't have to mess around with all the bullshit for eight months while you do trial and error, you should probably check it out.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: If you guys want to watch this interview instead of listen to it, all of our episodes are now up on YouTube.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're recording the video with each interview.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: It's going up on YouTube, so feel free to watch it over on the Massive Agent channel.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: But let's get into it with Zillow Killer, James Rembert.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: Thank God for Clubhouse for bringing us together.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's become a friend, he's become someone I really respect in this industry.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: He's he's a voice that our industry needs and that agents should absolutely be listening to.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: So let's jump into it.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: All right, guys, I'm here with James Rembert, Zillow Killer.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: What's up, man?
4:38
SPEAKER_01: How you doing?
4:39
SPEAKER_01: All is well, sir.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: All is well.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Very good.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you coming on the show.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I I had seen you before Clubhouse BC, but it wasn't until Clubhouse we've actually been able to talk a little bit and have some some conversations and really hear what you're all about and you know the the value you bring to this industry.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: So um I credit Clubhouse for bringing us together and and making this possible today.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh we all say thank you to Clubhouse, right?
5:04
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: It's crazy.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: But uh welcome to the Massive Agent Podcast, man.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate to be here.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: So I definitely want to ask you about the name Zillow Killer.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: I want to get to that in a second.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: But for those that don't follow you on social, haven't heard you on Clubhouse, haven't seen the Zillow Killer name or your awesome hat come across their feed at some point.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, who are you?
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Where do you fit into the real estate industry?
5:29
SPEAKER_01: And uh and then we'll go from there.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh some context of it's always, I guess it's always confusing.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, the Zillow Killer is just a nickname.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: I know and I didn't name myself that, but I guess we can lean into that.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, I started out as an agent.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: So I sold real estate for about four years.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: I say three years effectively, but I sold for four years.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: And um, in my process of selling, uh it there were certain certain, I guess, disciplines and behaviors, and now you can almost call them strategies that I learned that I started to to teach people, right?
6:01
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't teach people to make money, I taught people based off of two things.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: One, um, they asked, and two, I was terrified of being in front of people.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm a big believer in trying to get over certain fears.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: And um, for that time frame, me selling real estate.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you start selling a lot of houses, people start asking, what are you doing?
6:21
SPEAKER_00: Right.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: And my question, the question just kept coming up.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: And I would go to different brokerages and different teams, and it didn't matter, it could be three people, four people, like five people in mid you could show up.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: I would I would be there to teach them what I was doing, and all I was doing was videos, open houses, and I started to get into Facebook ads in a very early stages, and um that kind of transitioned to the point where people started to talk about the information and started to started to tell tell different associations, and different associations started to invite me out to speak.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: And of course, you know, I think what people want to understand is whatever you want in life, if you can declare it an action, there there's always a place for progress.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: But what makes the progress possible is the consistency, right?
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Consistency makes up the difference.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes people want to do different things and they're consumed with uh, well, no one's listening right now, or not enough people are listening or looking or watching or buying and lose the discipline and lose the consistency.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but just for me being consistent and going out and teaching and training, it got I got over my fear because I'm a recovering introvert.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Like this is not normal for me right here.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm very cool in the corner by myself.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm not a I don't I don't need to be the life of the party.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Um and by me going out teaching, it helped me get over my fear of being in front of people, it helped me start to develop a better level of communication, um, and also get over just uh the uh the uh in being an introvert.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, it's still there, but it helped me get past that.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And as that started to grow in the sense of people showing up, I started to people started asking.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, now keep in mind, my focus was always to sell real estate.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to help people.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Like that was my thing.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'll teach and I'll help you.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: I had no thought of anything, anything past that.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: And it got to the point where the rooms got bigger, and as the rooms got bigger, people started asking, I was like, dude, this is a what this is rated PG, rated R.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: What is this?
8:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh this is rated NC17, my friend.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was like, listen, this shit is just too much.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, how much do you charge?
8:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, charge, like, no, I'm just showing you what I do, and I never forget after about three or four times me do hearing that, I just kept telling my wife about it.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: She was like, Why don't you just give them a price?
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Like, just say something, right?
8:47
SPEAKER_00: And I just out was like, hey, listen, um, I could do it for you if anyone is interested, I can do it for you for$500.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: And I never forget, I think like six or seven people walked up and handed me their credit card.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh shit, I don't even know what to do, I don't even know what to do from here.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Right.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: And um, that was the transition from me selling real estate to me building out my very first advertising agency, which is digital natives.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: And to date, we service well over 300 plus real estate teams and brokerages worldwide.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and as of 2000, end of 2018, going into 2019, two other projects kicked off where we acquired um another agency called ROAS Consultant, where we deal with um more commercial-based companies, um, from Macy's, Lego Toys, Um, Warby Park, uh, Addon's, which is Adidas, um, it's quite a few where we do things like uh voice-based campaigns, uh, we do messenger bots, and we do some augmented reality.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the off-brand of me building out these different companies, um, it kind of led into my why in a sense of I always wanted to help.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: And I always say when I got financially able, I want to help as many people as possible.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: And um, we started looking into the VC world and uh we kicked off uh uh VC company, which now we are our investments are solely focused on black, brown, and female companies, mainly because they only get 2% of any type of investment.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it led into and in the kind of I think this is for anybody.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we try and figure out what our why is, and a lot of times, just as a I guess being politically correct, you'd be like, Hey, what's your why?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And like, oh, it's my family, it's my wife, it's my kids.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Um but when you really understand what your why is, your why has enough depth to push you past even the pain of not succeeding right away.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: And I very quickly realized my why was really focused towards the black community.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: So that's the progress of what I develop into.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: So that's me in the nutshell.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: This could go in so many different directions because one of the one of the big one of the main things that I want to get across to listeners is being a real estate agent is such a great place to be because it's a it's it's like the the foundation to go in any way, infinite directions.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Like you can, you know, you've gone into bigger and better things, you know, it started as a real estate agent.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: We had Tarek El Musa on the show, started as a real estate agent.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: He he pitched the concept of flipper flop to HGTV because he was just trying to sell more homes, he was just trying to get exposure.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: And look what that's done for him and his career and and all the different stuff he does.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: So there's there's so much that you can do uh starting out as a real estate agent.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: So there's that, and you're a great example of that.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: But also, I I think it's great uh your story of how you know you're just sharing what works, um, sharing some some strategies, and people like, here, how much?
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, teach me or do it for me.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: I think marketing people get frowned upon sometimes is like, oh, they're just a marketing person.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, you are a real estate agent, you're a real estate agent that understands that marketing is everything.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: If you don't it it is, if you don't know how to get new clients in the door, you're done.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you don't realize it yet, maybe it won't be for three or five years, but at some point, those people go somewhere else.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have control over getting new business in the door, no business can succeed in the long term.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, but marketing's everything.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you mentioned Facebook ads.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: What is let's jump into some tactical stuff.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: What are some major mistakes that you see agents making that are or or or things that they're just not fully appreciating the power of?
12:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they understand that the internet is a presence, not a destination at first, right?
12:53
SPEAKER_00: And when we can understand that and accept that ideology, we begin to start, we we stop trying to focus on digital marketing and we focus on marketing in the digital world.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: It's the world we live in, right?
13:06
SPEAKER_00: And and when we start to segment things, that's where it gets complicated, gets confusing.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: If we can accept that the internet is a presence, not a destination, we can look at these different channels like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, wherever you go, in a sense of you have an audience, I have the ability to build an audience, you understand that that's distribution, that's communication, and it gives you a very unique way to engage with people that have may never have uh talked to you before, right?
13:33
SPEAKER_00: Right.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: So it if we can separate that and get us to a very clear uh awareness of where the world we live in, that's the biggest issue I see with our industry.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: We we romanticize the nostalgia, right?
13:48
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: I have nothing against anything, right?
13:50
SPEAKER_00: Because I believe I believe everything works.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: But if you you it's this weird battle where you're like, Well, I'm an advertising agency.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, why do phone calls?
13:59
SPEAKER_00: What does that have to do with anything, right?
14:01
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, the whole point is to get you to a point where you're bringing a new business.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: If you keep separating those, those, these, these tactic, these tactics, um, it begins to get very, very uh complicated.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: And the the biggest problem is for whatever reason, a lot of our industry, um, because we're not aware, we can get a lot of antiquated information and things in front of us, and we think it's the new new, right?
14:29
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, this is the newest thing.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: And the world we just exist in is showing us how people are communicating, right?
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Like if we if we just we talk about our phone, right?
14:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, everybody has a mobile-based phone.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, who really has a landline now?
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Like, in all honesty, not to say that they don't exist, but that's the world we live in, right?
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Right.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen one in years outside of an office, right?
14:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we say uh information, we ask questions, but before we ask questions, we immediately search to get our own information.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: So we understand information is abundant, you know.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: So even just our our way of living, in a sense of how we engage, how we shop, how we communicate, how we connect is all online.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Why is it so complicated to understand that's where your business needs to live at, and in a sense of growing, expanding, and finding new business?
15:22
SPEAKER_00: Why does it have to be such a new thing to you?
15:24
SPEAKER_00: The world you live in right now is all digital based.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: So that's the biggest issue that I know people are having.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: Because if we start talking tactical, like people want to hear what's the newest thing to do, right?
15:36
SPEAKER_00: And then my question is, are you doing videos?
15:39
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't do videos yet.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: Then ain't shit I can do for you then.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: It's nothing I can help you with if you're not doing videos.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: And those that are willing to nurture that behavior of, nah, you don't have to do videos, we can just run ads.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: All right.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll play that game.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll play that with you.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: So you're running ads because you don't like Zillow.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we hate Zillow, but you'll pay for Boomtown and all these other companies to run ads for you.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: Same shit, different rapping.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: The problem is, is if you're advertising to anybody that's unaware, all you're doing is generating leads.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: 2021, we can actually generate conversations now.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: We can physically generate conversations, right?
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Where a person would say, Well, I'll have a referral-based business.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: That's cool, but that's not a strategy.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: That's like hope, right?
16:29
SPEAKER_00: Strategy ain't no hope.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: So if we if we're willing to accept what the world we live in, we're willing to accept the internet is a almost the equalizer to anybody's business.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: The the the the very first thing we have to be willing to do is communicate to people how people are actually consuming information, audio and video, choose one.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't care which one you choose, pick one.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: But you can't get consumed with, I'm gonna write it, I'm gonna put some static image behind it.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: All of that is subjective.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who you are.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: So, my point of saying that is at the bare minimum, at the bare minimum, you being a professional, you're selling the highest priced product on the planet.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Tell me who the hell you are.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: If and I deal with this all the time is age, I did this myself.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I understand it.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: You're you're like, okay, I'm just gonna run ads because like I don't need to get out of my comfort zone.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: I can I can just, you know, it becomes an arbitrage thing.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: Spend this much, this much comes out the other end over a certain period of time, right?
17:31
SPEAKER_01: But what is missing from that reality is missing from that.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: If people see you, okay, if you're running ads to strangers, they don't know you, so they're gonna try to find out who you are.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: Then they go to your page or Google your name or land on your Instagram profile, and they don't know what the hell you look like.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's agents out there that you can't find out what the hell they look like on their profiles, 30-year-old pictures up or those, right?
17:56
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what's worse.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're 65, and there's a photo of you at 40.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh also very strange.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: But people will, they're not just going to hire strangers.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Nobody just hires a random stranger.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: They have to feel like they're getting to know you.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: And if they can't find videos, if they can't find personality, if they can't find you, your Instagram stories or your Facebook posts or whatever, you don't stand a chance.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: So run all the ads you want, but without that personal uh connection that happens from the other content you post, very few of those people will ever hire you.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Waste of time, totally waste of time.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's and and just the the the manifesto of the internet, I don't care what you're selling, is resonate, omnipresence, and intimacy.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Where we win against every software company that could even try to exist is intimacy.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: And we understand that, like we know that because if you say to an agent, you know, you put me in front of them, I sell them, you understand the power of intimacy.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Why not utilize what the internet has given you to amplify that message?
19:00
SPEAKER_00: Video is just conversation and scale, that's all it is.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: It's not like it takes you from conversation one to one, from conversation to one to many.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: That's all it does, and then we can go and amplify the message because if if we can't distinguish the difference between marketing and advertising, that's the biggest issue that I've seen personally in the industry where we ran heavy to advertising and never understood.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Marketing and advertising is two different things, we just merge it in one big ball.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And what we're seeing.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Talk about that.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's an important distinction.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh, well, what we're saying with video is all about marketing.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: And when you think about the breakdown, there's only three levels when it comes to marketing and advertisement, and advertising falls into the luxury or the middle side of it.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: So, top of funnel is all about uh attention, awareness, engagement.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: That's all marketing.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: You can put a couple dollars behind it, it still falls into marketing when you're building attention, awareness, and engagement.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: That engagement is where it pulls you down to if you want to get into the mid-funnel, which is the advertising, that's the amplification.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Advertising is all about amplifying the message.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: So once you once you're engaging with somebody, you learn what the needs and wants are.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Advertising one-on-one, you only advertise to people's wants and needs.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what that is, you're guessing, right?
20:22
SPEAKER_00: So it puts you, positions you right back into the attention side.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Like if you're spending any money to people that don't know who you are, you're paying for their attention now.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: There's no reason for them to opt in with some real intent if I don't know who you are.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: It's just interest now, right?
20:37
SPEAKER_00: And then the bottom funnel, bottom part of the funnel, which everyone looks for, is the conversion, right?
20:42
SPEAKER_00: But the amazing part about that is we go from engagement, advertisement, conversion.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: The fascinating part about that is if you get the top of funnel right where you're at, where you're where you're gaining attention, you're engaging, you're building awareness, you may never need to advertise because you're getting engagement, and engagement is conversation, which aligns with conversions.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: If you're going to advertise, advertisement can be the luxury.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: And I have dozens and dozens and dozens of people that understand that, right?
21:14
SPEAKER_00: So when you're willing to accept what the internet is, resonate, omnipresence, intimacy.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: If you advertise and when you choose to advertise based off that just simple philosophy or that that that breakdown of how things are moving, now you'll start to see conversion and you stop talking about leads, right?
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Leads are easy, anybody can get leads, leads is not what you need.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: Conversations is what you want.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: So that that video component or that audio component are both fall into a place of dynamic.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: It gives you some perspective, it helps you build rapport, right?
21:49
SPEAKER_00: I can from that point, I can actually engage with you.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: And if I choose, if I choose to advertise, I am amplifying a message to people that's actually.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Talking to me.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm talking to people, I'm talking back or giving something of value to people that's actually talking to me.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: And that's the biggest, I mean, that's that's a very interesting place that our industry has nurtured for years.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: We've nurtured advertised, advertised, advertised to people that don't have a clue of who we are.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just it's we're just screaming at people that we don't know who we are.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: And if we put that in just physical context, you scream at me, you have a problem, right?
22:25
SPEAKER_00: That's when anybody you scream at smart, it's like, dude, what are you yelling at?
22:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know you, right?
22:30
SPEAKER_00: Same, it's this exact same thing.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: And it falls, I mean, that the the it falls in in that place of our industry, for whatever reason, our leaders haven't taken that behavior shift to teach the industry what's relevant right now.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to assume that they just don't know.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think they're coasting on what's worked for them, you know, over the last 15, 20 years when shit was different.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, social media is the world, like it is the internet, that's where people are, that's where people communicate, that's where people organize and you know, talk to each other.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: So it's back to one of the first things you mentioned, you know, there's there's so many agents out there that consume social media, but then they don't think to use it to get in front of people that already know them and to let the people they went to high school with or people in their neighborhood or their church groups or whatever just see them more often using the tool.
23:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and so there's a disconnect.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a huge disconnect all over the place.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh we know the uh the scary part that I see about our industry is that um, one, very few people can actually tell me, listen, I grew up and I always wanted to be a real estate agent.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: That's not some shit we hear people say.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: We've never heard doctors, yeah.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: We lawyers, we hear about that, right?
23:54
SPEAKER_00: But we get into this industry and we just die in this industry, right?
23:57
SPEAKER_00: We don't build a business, we don't have anything to leave behind us.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: We're literally just to have a well-paying job where if you stop, business stops.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And I always challenge agents before you dismiss what's possible with the internet, just look at what you're building, right?
24:14
SPEAKER_00: First and foremost.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you're building a business that dies when you die, what's the point?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, like what is the point right now?
24:22
SPEAKER_00: And the amazing part about our industry is it's given us the ability and the opportunity to actually build the business to focus on things like legacy, you know.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: But the interesting thing about all that is we have so many people that have different uh I guess belief systems.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: And there's a scripture that talks about a good man has enough wealth set aside for his children's children.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: So legacy is mandatory.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: So we have to think deeper with this opportunity that the real estate industry has offered us in a sense of it needs to be bigger than just uh cash flow.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: And I need to be working on building something.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: And the sad part about it is like I said, you're gonna have so many agents that come into our industry that either they don't make it in the first year or two, or they get trapped and sell, sell, sell for 10, 30, 20 years, whatever, and just stop.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Don't have shit to show from a destination.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: They were running their job the whole time.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just have some cool stories.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's something that it took me.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: So I've been an agent for 10 years, just over 10.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: Took me seven of those 10 years to really grasp, like, hey, I've been just running my own job, which is for me was better than working some other job, but still, like there's then there's being a business owner, there's running an actual business.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: And so then it made me make certain choices about you know the brokerage I chose and the way I approached business and and what I focused on each day.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: And I think so many agents just fight it because they don't know anything else, that they don't know what the possibilities are, that they just know that their paychecks come when they close deals, and so they just that's all they do, just one after another after another.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: I get it, but it's also dangerous as shit.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: It it really it is well like what if you get sick or a family member gets sick or hurt, or you have to move to another market for whatever reason, and and all of a sudden your business is gone.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: If that's your only source of income, you're screwed and it's scary.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: So I I think that just having this conversation is going to be helpful for some to get them to kind of open their eyes a little bit.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have no choice, like life is life is finite.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: I would love to tell you every day is promise.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: It's not, it's finite.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: You have you have an end date.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: You whether you believe it or not, there is an expiration date on your life, right?
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I do what I do because I I try to help the at least those in proximity to me understand that you know, if you if you treat this industry correctly and build a business, for me, this industry was the keystone of breaking the financial curse of my family's life.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Sky's the limit.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Like this can be a very powerful uh catapult to anything you want to do in life.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And we see it, we know it, but we get so consumed with the the weirdest.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: We have a very weird culture in our industry.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it to me is almost distasteful.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh god, dude, like you you've been doing this for 30 years.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: That shit is not nothing to brag about.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: That means you still ain't figured it out yet, my man.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's that's how I take that, right?
27:37
SPEAKER_01: And you're you're not wrong.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: I I want to switch gears real quick.
27:41
SPEAKER_01: You mentioned something about you know, something that the the software companies, the tech companies just can't touch, made me think of Zillow and your name.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: So, how did you get the name Zillow Killer?
27:51
SPEAKER_01: How how have you avoided legal issues with Zillow?
27:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, dive into that.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: It's it's interesting to me.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: I I don't poke the bear too hard, first of all, right?
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I don't run with it as a brand at all.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: I I use it almost like a it's almost like a pseudonym type situation, right?
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, and it's really a nickname.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: And how I got the name was as same same process of me going out speaking, I was at an association, and um uh I don't know, I can't I can't tell you who heard me, but they talked to uh Enmin New York's um event that that uh 2018, something like that.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and um that was part of my list too, like to be at these different stages.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Like I because I you know, I just it was just part of my thing.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, they reached out to me and uh they asked me to come and speak with somebody, so it was like a tag team thing, and I'm like, I don't know how to okay, whatever.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's an opportunity, so I'm gonna go.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then it went from my time uh for whatever happened, for whatever reason, uh, when I got there, they had already sent the lady the household to speak with up.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it was like, hey, listen, uh, oh, let me back up.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm going too fast, too far.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, when I was preparing to go, I was so nervous.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: I I my my thing was how do I make this really work for the company?
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I, you know what I mean, without sounding, you know, too pushy.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: And one of my guys at the office, we had these, we already had these shirts made, like it was sweaters.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: It was just like a fun thing for us.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: We had Zillow Killer and we had digital natives under it, right?
29:28
SPEAKER_00: And it made me like three or four, and he hit me up about uh he texted me like 2:30 in the morning, right?
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, I'm dead to the world, but I wake up to the text and my days are pretty early.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: I get up about four, four thirty.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: I see the text, and he was like, Jay, you gotta wear that shirt I made for you.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, uh, oh no.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Went back and forth.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, all right, what the hell?
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Right?
29:50
SPEAKER_00: I made it work out because I was thinking about just going casual, like a nice blazer suit, you know, some something I just thought that was the in-man thing, right?
29:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, anyway, I made it managed to get a nice shirt, got the sweater on, and uh said Zillow Killer Digital Natives.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: And long story short, I ended up uh getting to the place, and they the who I was supposed to speak with, she went on.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: So they was like, you know, you know, I'm sorry, James, you know, you you know, you kind of missed your window.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: We didn't, you know, had this this the rotation got messed up.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: And I'm in my head, I'm like, ah, geez.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: So I took my jacket off.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: And the the the two reps that was there, she was like, Do you guys see his shirt?
30:30
SPEAKER_00: He gotta go up on stage.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: It was like, you know what, have a seat, and um, we'll try and work something around.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: And if you have an opening, you probably can squeeze a five-minute opening.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Can you do what you can can you do what you need to do in five minutes?
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Done.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course I could.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I'm terrified, I'm scared of shit right now.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, right.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: So was this the one in New York?
30:49
SPEAKER_00: It was in New York, it was definitely New York, right?
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Big crowd, big room.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: It was 6,000 people, and then lo and behold, the window that they had for me was right after the Zillow representative.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: So she was on, she was on, and I was waiting to go on.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: She goes off, they just push me on stage.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: I jump up on stage, and it's just like the jumbotrons and all of the people.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: And the very first thing that came out my mouth was, Oh man, I'm nervous as shit right now, right?
31:19
SPEAKER_00: And the crowd just like was like, and he just bust out laughing.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: It was like instant rapport, like, I this is a real dude here, right?
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And it kind of helped ease the process.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: And I went to my presentation, and uh, when I was done, I did pretty well because everyone was clapping.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: It was like a you know, I went to the back.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: The manager, she gave me like this really big hug.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: And now when I was in the green room, I've never been in this type of environment, so I didn't know what to expect.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: I know that you can see the green room, you can see it was on stage and it was a counter, but it was like silence.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: So I I in my head, I thought you could only hear the speakers.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: What I realized when I came back from me speaking, the speakers wasn't connecting with the audience, right?
32:00
SPEAKER_00: So when I got back, I could still hear he still he still still hear people clapping when I got back to the green room, right?
32:07
SPEAKER_00: I come to the green room, you know, everybody's greeting.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I was in the green room, keep in mind I got this big Zillow killer shirt on, Zillow was the was what they did.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: That was their world, right?
32:18
SPEAKER_00: Yep, they they treated me like the little dirty kid in the park, like everybody was walking around me, nobody spoke to me in the beginning, right?
32:25
SPEAKER_00: It was just and I just figured it was I didn't know anybody, right?
32:28
SPEAKER_00: I came back, everybody's cheering.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, good job, they hugging me.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Now, dude, I'm I'm from a world like listen, either either we good or we not, right?
32:38
SPEAKER_00: That's that's that goofy shit to me.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: So I was so annoyed.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, you guys do realize I was the same dude that was sitting back here that I didn't want to speak to.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: So I just grabbed my bags and I left.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Now I didn't know you're supposed to stand back, supposed to stand the back and wait.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: And I had two people that's waiting for me.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: So I had my bags, I went to the front.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: When I got to the front, I you know, I called my guys, like, all right, let's get out of here.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Did I have to do no big deal?
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and as I was going to the front, the audience let out.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Now you're supposed to stay in the green room, so the audience let out, so you didn't, you know, so you can go and what if you had a booth or mingle?
33:13
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just was like, Man, I'm not into that.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: And while I was standing there waiting for them, I had my bag and I didn't put my jacket back on.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: Like 200 or so people just surrounded me, and everybody was calling me.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Zillow killer was like, Hey, what's up, Zillow Killer?
33:28
SPEAKER_00: Hey, and they sort of asked me questions.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: While they was asking me questions, I text my assistant, was like, um, Tiff, everything that says Zillow Killer locked that shit down, and it stuck every since.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: I uh you said that was 2018, 2018.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I was there.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: I I missed that session, damn it.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: It was the uh tech session, the tech talk.
33:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: I I was yeah, I was there.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: I probably I was probably doing lobby con.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: Whenever I go to Inmin, I just I I do the lot, I do the lobby.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: You walk the lobby, yeah.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm there to network, and you know, it was so weird because like I said, I was listening to the other speakers and they and they were talking about like tacos and goofy shit like that.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Man, I'll I don't know, and I didn't know where to go with it because it just seemed like that was the thing.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: I had no jokes, right?
34:12
SPEAKER_00: I had no I had no taco jokes to go up there.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: Everybody had a taco joke, I had no taco jokes, so out of material, yeah, yeah.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: So it was so how has that changed your your business or at least your uh your brand within the industry among agents?
34:28
SPEAKER_01: Because it sounds like you can kind of look back to that as being when you kind of like you didn't have your 15 minutes, like you just that's when you were revealed to the industry.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: Is that is that accurate?
34:39
SPEAKER_00: To some degree, we we had already had the agency, so I was already working with like well over 100 or so teams and brokerages.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, it made people uh I'll tell you what we did because I understand marketing and I understand the power of attention and awareness.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: We leaned into that, right?
34:57
SPEAKER_00: And we leaned to that almost like you know, just to create attention.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: But the funny part about it is I never talk bad about Zillow because I don't really care, right?
35:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't care what Zillow does because I understand what the internet is.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but as for attention and awareness, it makes people listen totally makes people listen real quick, but I never talk about it.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't be like, hey, I'm the Zillow killer.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't even do that shit.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: I just hey I'm James, and when I come and speak, I don't even talk about Zillow, so it's more of I'm teaching the industry how to garnish attention and awareness by osmosis, like I'm showing you how it's done.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I love it, man.
35:34
SPEAKER_01: Um it's when I very first saw you.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: I I can't remember if it was if I saw a photo of you or a video or if it was just the name.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: I think it was actually you wearing a shirt that said it, and it got my attention immediately.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: There's something about that phrase Zillow Killer that just gets attention.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: And as a marketer, you know, that's kind of an important first step, right?
35:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, is is the awareness and getting attention.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: So um, like in your nickname, even though you know you didn't do it for yourself, like it was kind of given to you or anointed upon you, I guess.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: Um you're teaching people marketing right there, like marketing 101.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: Just one.
36:15
SPEAKER_01: Talk a little bit more about that, because I think there's so many, I don't think, I know the vast majority of agents that they're listening, they're like, hey, I am using social media, but it's not working, it's not just like nothing's happening.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm not getting clients from it.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: They're just putting out shit that they want people to see.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: They're not putting out anything that their audience wants to see.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: They're just like pushing, hey, I want you to see that I sold this house in 24 hours.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see this new listing that's really average and boring, but I want everyone to see it.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: And then they're like, man, social media doesn't work for me.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: I don't get it.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, go back to some of that marketing one-on-one stuff.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, what can they walk away with today mentally that's really gonna help them with their content moving forward?
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: There's two sides to marketing, right?
36:58
SPEAKER_00: And you you hit it on the nose.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we spend years push marketing where we just wanted to yell, yell, yell.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we live in at as in this day and age, we live in a place of pull, right?
37:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: If you're putting something out there that you can at least gain awareness and and it's your your uniqueness, right?
37:13
SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't want to say authenticity because I think we've we've kind of exhausted that word, but a lot of us have unique characteristics where I have a guy, one of one of the guys that coached me called itself the fit agent.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: He looks it, right?
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Easy to remember, right?
37:27
SPEAKER_00: The the game is not about fitting in, it's about being memorable.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: If you want to fit in, then fine.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: That'll that'll put you to a place with every with it where every other agent is.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: That's when you start seeing, well, no one's engaged with me because that shit is boring, right?
37:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, like that doesn't, I don't know who you are.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of interesting components about ourselves where if I'm willing to at least share it, right?
37:49
SPEAKER_00: You'd be amazed at how people engage.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: I take you even deeper here.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Here, this this was gonna trip a lot of people out.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: When I sold real estate, my very first year, like I said, it was horrible.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: I sold real estate to about probably like four people in the midget.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: That's how bad my first year was.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: It was terrible.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: And I got my very first coach, which was Joshua Smith.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua, um, he didn't teach me the industry, he gave me a paradigm where he helped me understand um it's it's it's not you.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: The problem is is obscurity.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: Nobody knows who you are.
38:18
SPEAKER_00: So, this is what led into the video side of me putting myself out there.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Why I say that to everybody else.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: It's not just skills, it's it's it's just purely obscurity.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: Why your business sometimes or a lot of businesses are failing.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: But in my second year, uh, when I started doing videos, my first videos was trash, and I couldn't figure out like how could I relate?
38:38
SPEAKER_00: Like I couldn't make sense.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm from Harlem, right?
38:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm from you know, predominantly black community.
38:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, anything the thing about Harlem is not just the the ethnicity, but the culture, right?
38:47
SPEAKER_00: A lot of style is from Harlem.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: Like you guys ever seen anything like on the runways and stuff, a lot of stuff comes from Harlem because you know, we always we have this thing where we say fashion could be taught, but style is innate, right?
38:58
SPEAKER_00: You gotta you either you have it or you don't, right?
39:01
SPEAKER_00: So I come down to South Jersey to help my moms, and I call Jersey the armpit of the country.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: It's boring as shit out here in Jersey.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: So I'm from a world of nothing but culture, style.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: And I come down to South Jersey.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: How do you make this work?
39:14
SPEAKER_00: Right.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, and me doing videos, my background or my degree is in visual communications and design.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: So I was always starving creatively out here.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: And what I started doing was the videos I did were about things that I could actually relate to, in a sense of I just think for red doors and aesthetic structures and just my experience of I would always talk about something creatively that I seen about the like the area, clean lines, just whatever I could I can connect myself to, I did.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: And those are the videos I put out there.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: And when I leaned into that part of me being just unapologetically, me, just myself.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: I didn't change up.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: I didn't try and talk extra proper.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: You can still hear the Harlem swag and the way I talk, nothing changed.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: It was just me being me.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: And um, my business picked up in that second year.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: My second year I did about 10 million in sales, my third year, I did 13 million in sales.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: My fourth year, I went part-time and did six million sales, and that's when I built out my team.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: But the interesting part about it was I was doing videos, and when I came down here, I was focused.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: My focus was going to be the black community.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: That's what my thought, my thought patterns was like Jesus, that's what I'm gonna do.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Black women, black people ain't buy shit from me, Destin.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Nothing, nothing at all, right?
40:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, nothing at all, right?
40:30
SPEAKER_00: But check it.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: As my business grew, I was focused on a black community who knew when I put myself out there, it was unapologetically me.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Over 30,000 white women would fall in love with me.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: What happened in my second year?
40:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my second year, uh, my business picked up, and I was about 15 transactions in.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: I didn't pay anything attention.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: And um, everybody I came in contact with was like, Um, I got your number from like where you get my number, where you get the information from.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I got it.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: I sent your video, and I got your numbers from the mom's club.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: I thought that was like a running joke.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: I had no no nothing, I had no thought of what that really was.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Right.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Lo and behold, that was the Facebook group uh for Cherry Hill East and Cherry Hill West of over 30,000 women circulating my video inside the group.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: It that's honestly one of the best things I've ever done for my own career was just letting go of who I thought a realtor was.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I used to wear freaking khaki, not khakis like dockers, but like you know, tan colored slacks, right?
41:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and a and a shirt buttoned up and you know, dress shoes.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: And I always felt like a fish out of water.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: I felt so stupid and I hated doing it, but I thought that's what you needed to do to be a successful agent because my mentor told me that, and I didn't know any better.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I just started, I think it was when I started watching Gary V and really started learning about him.
41:55
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, wait, this he is not like the other motivational speakers, he's not like the other uh uh gurus online, you know.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: And now that I looking backwards, I'm like, wait, Tony Robbins isn't either.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he swears like a sailor, you know.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: But it started to teach me that if I was just myself, it was enough.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: And so letting go of who I thought I needed to be, and then just started to be myself, and I'd say shit every once in a while, and I'd swear and and you know, lose my train of thought, and just you know, me honestly, and your business picks up with the right people.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: You attract the right people, and the beautiful part, some some agents think this is a bad thing.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: When you repel those that you repel the wrong people, that's a beautiful thing.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: That's an excellent thing.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: It's the best because then you don't get assholes, you don't get people that you're not a fit with, they just don't call you because they're like, oh, they're not my cup of tea.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: That's pulling, that's pull.
42:50
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's huge.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: And that's what people don't understand.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I I try and help people understand if if when you get to the place where you're unapologetically you, the market will adjust.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: Simple as that.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: You everyone's trying to make and fit this.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't, you know, the the the only reasons why people buy when we talk about online is only two reasons, right?
43:12
SPEAKER_00: There's emotion or agreed upon value.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: But what I learned is when you're providing value, the world no longer sees gender or color, they just see the value in you, right?
43:24
SPEAKER_00: I I completely agree.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: I I love that.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: Um any last thoughts or last words?
43:32
SPEAKER_01: And you're a lot deeper than I thought.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: Like you're you're a deep, deep thinker, intelligent, like you know, you're very not to say I didn't know you were intelligent, but like you, you're you're very um you have a bigger vocabulary than me.
43:44
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not nearly that deep.
43:45
SPEAKER_01: So some of the some of the stuff I'm like rewording and uh and saying in in my own way, just so that I can grasp it.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Um that's been a pleasant surprise.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: But what any last words before we jump into the rapid fire questions?
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I would tell anybody, Asian or other, you know, um, life is short, right?
44:06
SPEAKER_00: And if you want something, just declare what you want in action.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to get permission, stop trying to wait for somebody to validate it.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: Decide what you want to want, decide what you want, and just uh make notice, get it done, right?
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the that's one of the worst things I see people do, period.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: In our industry, we we're looking for validation and we're looking for approval.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't need it, not at all, right?
44:30
SPEAKER_00: You declare what you want in action, you gain the discipline to act on it, you stay consistent.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: Any everything is limitless at that point.
44:40
SPEAKER_01: It took me a while to get there, James.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: It, you know, I when you're struggling financially, uh, you're you're you want to take every deal you can get.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: Like you'll and you'll even expand the the area that you target and that you farm, because you're like more houses equals more business, right?
44:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, it actually doesn't.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I know what it's like on the other side, but but now getting to this place of abundance, uh, which I still have a lot of work on, I think we all do, it's something magical happens and business becomes more enjoyable, that begets more business, the right people come.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's crazy.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: It it's it's absolutely crazy.
45:17
SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of counterintuitive for those who are in that spot where they're still struggling or they're trying to get their career launched, they're brand new to the industry, and you know, they're they're launching it in in one of these, you know, in this market today, which is super tough.
45:30
SPEAKER_01: But um I could not agree more.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: I think you're spot on with that.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, every episode we have a guest.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: We like to do these rapid fire questions.
45:39
SPEAKER_01: They're either or questions.
45:40
SPEAKER_01: You can elaborate if you want to, don't have to.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh we'll run through those and then we'll wrap it up with with uh letting people know where they can find you and hear more from you, which I highly recommend, especially on Clubhouse.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, and you're dominating Clubhouse, by the way, my friend.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to tell you that, but you've you've built quite a presence on Clubhouse, which is impressive.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, all right, ready for the rapid fires?
46:02
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
46:03
SPEAKER_01: Facebook or Instagram?
46:06
SPEAKER_01: Facebook Facebook or LinkedIn Facebook books or podcasts.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: Books books or audiobooks audiobooks.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: iPhone or Android?
46:22
SPEAKER_01: iPhone.
46:23
SPEAKER_01: I know it's laughable, right?
46:25
SPEAKER_01: Alexa or Google Home?
46:27
SPEAKER_01: Alexa.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: Burgers or pizza?
46:30
SPEAKER_00: Pizza.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: New York or LA?
46:33
SPEAKER_01: New York all day.
46:35
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh man, I miss New York.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: Um is that where you're currently at?
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Is New York City?
46:41
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm in South Jersey now.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: Between close proximity to both of the offices.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
46:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, quick side note like I love New York, and I think we're gonna try to spend Christmas there this year, but I've heard it's the worst time to visit, and I've heard it's the best time to visit because that it's just not the crazy crowds and everything.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
46:59
SPEAKER_00: Well, right now, based off our current environment, you'd be fine either way, but it's it's always something to do in New York, it's just certain spaces like like Times Square.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: I avoid Times Square like the plague.
47:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: I I've seen that once and I don't need to go back.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: It's worth seeing once for sure, but yeah, you there's not a place for locals, I assume.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: No, not at all.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: All right, NFL or NBA.
47:24
SPEAKER_01: I don't watch any sports.
47:26
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't watch TV.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: No, my man.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: All right.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't really either.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: Like I follow, I follow the jazz every once in a while.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: Um when they're doing well, I don't really give a shit if they're not.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: I have I have no, I couldn't tell you what a professional player name or who they look like.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: They could walk right past me, wouldn't have a clue who they were.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: All right, respect.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: Mountains or beach?
47:48
SPEAKER_01: Mountains.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: Podcasts or vlogs?
47:52
SPEAKER_01: Podcasts, YouTube or Facebook Live?
47:56
SPEAKER_02: Uh YouTube.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: Rich Dad, poor dad, or millionaire real estate agent?
48:01
SPEAKER_01: Neither.
48:03
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
48:04
SPEAKER_01: Uber or Lyft?
48:05
SPEAKER_01: Uber.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: Gary V or Grant Cardone.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: Gary V.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: I think Grant Cardone was full of shit.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: He's uh different, very different than Gary V.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't I tell you, I tell you, and I say that.
48:18
SPEAKER_00: Anybody that's willing to do anything for attention is dangerous to me.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: And he is that.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no doubt.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: I think he's a douche.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: I like his 10x book.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: I think he's spot on with that.
48:29
SPEAKER_01: Stop there.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: I have nothing against him.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I just my point is they say a city without walls.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: That's that's what that is.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: It's just dangerous, very dangerous.
48:39
SPEAKER_00: Gotta have boundaries, man.
48:41
SPEAKER_01: I think we're on the same page here.
48:43
SPEAKER_01: What's the most impactful book you've ever read?
48:46
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, anti-fagility.
48:48
SPEAKER_00: I live by that book.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: I read that book about six times.
48:51
SPEAKER_00: What's it called?
48:52
SPEAKER_00: Anti-anti-fagility.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Really?
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Um it's uh well here it is.
48:59
SPEAKER_00: When you when you're trying to be the greatest version of yourself, there are times where you just don't want to do things, right?
49:08
SPEAKER_00: And when you start to understand emotions will always portray you, you start to act off what you know.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: So when you look at things that are fragile, everything that's fragile, the more it's attacked, the more you destroy it.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: There is no alternative, like there's no well, what's the opposite for fragile?
49:24
SPEAKER_00: People say robust.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, but robust, it never moves, it's just what it is.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: A rock is a rock, right?
49:31
SPEAKER_00: So the theory is there has to be, if if there's fragile, there has to be anti-fragile or a a place of anti-fragile that if whatever's fragile that's attacked is destroyed.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Whatever's anti-fragile, the more it's attacked, the stronger it gets, right?
49:49
SPEAKER_00: Almost like you kind of look like you ever watch comic books like Vibranium.
49:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, the the more you attack it, the stronger it gets.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh, well, the point of it is is the reason why I read it so many times is I tried to figure out where I could fit that in my life.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: Like in in in in conversation, that shit sounds cool, but you're like, what can you actually do that you can keep pushing and striving and attacking outside of working out?
50:14
SPEAKER_00: Like muscles, that's what it is.
50:15
SPEAKER_00: You rip them, they grow.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: Like we get that, I understand that part.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I needed more.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: And what I learned was just by osmosis, uh, things that are the the strongest anti-fragility that you can add to your life is learning at all levels, even when people challenge what you say.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: It's never about I know.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: It's always about, okay, if someone gives their opinion or perspective, even if you do know, be willing to hear and learn from that perspective.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, even if they challenge it, like, dude, that's that shit is wrong.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how so?
50:45
SPEAKER_00: Right?
50:46
SPEAKER_00: And as long as I'm willing to position myself to learn, I'll forever, ever be top of my game.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: I'll never be behind because I'm always open.
50:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm not ignorant to the point to believe that I know it all.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm always open to learn.
50:59
SPEAKER_00: So that component of being anti-fragile is one of the things I've adapted.
51:03
SPEAKER_00: So I I live by that book.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think it's absolutely fascinating.
51:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna grab that on Audible immediately.
51:10
SPEAKER_01: Um and and what a breath of fresh air you are, and that thinking is in today's world, which is just so like nobody thinks anymore or they don't think critically, they just let others think for them, and they they just take it at face value.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: Just oh, okay.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and that's a problem.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: So I think I that's a great recommendation.
51:31
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you uh you giving me that because I I have not heard of that book.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: You're very welcome.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you, my friend?
51:37
SPEAKER_01: What's the best place to get in touch with you and and follow you?
51:41
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, if you look up Zillow Killer, one word, you'll find me.
51:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm the only brown dude out there doing this, so you can't miss me.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Well, and with a name like Zillow Killer, it's uh you know, you throw that into Google, it can only go so many directions.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not too far.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: I'll pop up.
51:56
SPEAKER_00: Just use just one word.
51:57
SPEAKER_00: You I'll pop, promise you, I'll pop up.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: And for anyone that wants to follow you and hear more from you on Clubhouse, what's the what's the best way or any regularly scheduled rooms that you recommend they they jump into?
52:09
SPEAKER_00: Uh Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are is a room that we we host with everybody.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: You come, Destin comes and hangs out as well.
52:16
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
52:17
SPEAKER_00: We I the the the focus on that room is to put the industry in front of practitioners, not not just somebody that that that read a little bit or know a little bit.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: They need to be talking from experience, and that's what I try and nurture.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: Just conversations where people can ask some get some real honest answers when we talk about the internet, not like, oh, I seen this video, I heard somebody say.
52:41
SPEAKER_00: No, these people are actually doing it, and just even with me when it comes to advertising.
52:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, we we we we we kind of hone in on things like Facebook, but we do it all from Facebook, Google, YouTube.
52:55
SPEAKER_00: We do it all, and we're spending upward, sometimes up to 70,000 a day in the platforms.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: So we're talking from experience, not from just what I what I read.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we try and pride ourselves on inside the room.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: So come ask questions, um, come shoot the shit sometimes and just meet some real cool people.
53:15
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
53:15
SPEAKER_01: And it will have links to all of your social media and your clubhouse profile in the show notes.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the podcast or if you're watching this on YouTube, it'll be in the description below the video.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: James, I really appreciate it, man.
53:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, great talking to you.
53:29
SPEAKER_01: Super deep guy.
53:30
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
53:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, it made me think, uh, think deeper today because that's if anyone knows me, that's not me, not usually.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I appreciate it.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate your time.
53:39
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: You bet.
53:41
SPEAKER_01: I told you we'd fix your brain.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: I told you that we'd we'd jump in and and you know, change some of some of those paradigms that you have, because uh there's just there's a right and a wrong way to market yourself as an agent.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: There are there's a right and a wrong way to use social media, there's a right and a wrong way to run ads.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: And we just, if we have a flawed way of thinking going into it, we don't stand a chance compared to those that don't have flawed thinking.
54:07
SPEAKER_01: So now you don't, and you're about to kill it.
54:10
SPEAKER_01: So, congratulations for listening to this episode.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: Please share this with any agent or team leader or your broker or your office or your agent friend on the other side of the country.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: If you found value from this episode, please share it with them.
54:23
SPEAKER_01: It helps us to grow the show and to grow the audience, but we also want to spread, spread the good word, so to speak, spread the value across the industry because this business, being a realtor, is hard enough without without support and guidance and mentorship and wisdom.
54:40
SPEAKER_01: So share that shit with them, help them out if you found value from it.
54:45
SPEAKER_01: One quick call to action before we wrap this up for the week.
54:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm still looking for market leaders in in quite a few major markets within the country.
54:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking for agents to partner up with and and so that I can find a leader and build a team underneath them in certain markets.
55:02
SPEAKER_01: So if you are somebody that is a high producer, you sell a bunch of homes, um, and I don't mean hundreds, you don't need to sell hundreds, but if you if you actually sell homes, if you if you want to help other agents come under your wing and build a team underneath you, then let's chat.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: I'll explain more about what exactly we're building and what we're looking for.
55:22
SPEAKER_01: But uh we're expanding our team.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: We we're already in uh I think 30 states, 30, 31, 32 states at this point, and uh and Canada.
55:32
SPEAKER_01: So we are expanding, uh, but we're looking for market leaders that we can build teams underneath if you're the right fit for your market.
55:39
SPEAKER_01: So if you are interested in that, shoot me a DM on Instagram at MassiveAgent.
55:44
SPEAKER_01: Also, guys, this is my second or third episode that I've done with my new mic, and I was messing with the settings before recording.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get it right because I had it dialed in with my old mic.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: Now that I have a new mic, there's all these, you know, there's more settings, I'm trying to get it right.
56:01
SPEAKER_01: So if you guys think that the audio is worse now or better now than it was before, let me know.
56:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, give me some feedback here because it sounds good to me.
56:11
SPEAKER_01: But you guys that have been listening for a while, you know better.
56:14
SPEAKER_01: So let me know.
56:15
SPEAKER_01: Shoot me a DM on Instagram and say, hey, your audio actually a little bit worse, or it's it's gotten better, or I like the sound more now, or you know, I can hear your peas and your pops more now, or whatever.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: Give me some feedback if you would, for the love of God.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you.
56:31
SPEAKER_01: Guys, thank you so much for listening as always.
56:33
SPEAKER_01: Tune in next week for another Massive Agent Podcast episode.
56:36
SPEAKER_01: And if you're new to the show, if this was your first episode, there's 171 other killer episodes that you should go back and listen to.
56:44
SPEAKER_01: All of them by the end of the weekend.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's your homework.
56:48
SPEAKER_01: 171 straight episodes.
56:49
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just kidding.
56:50
SPEAKER_01: But go check them out.
56:51
SPEAKER_01: A bunch of amazing episodes in our library and more amazing stuff coming up soon.
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Thank you guys so much.
56:57
SPEAKER_01: Go sell some homes.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: Have a great weekend.