Latest / Massive Agent Podcast / Selling Over 2,100 Homes in One Year w/ Veronica Figueroa

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Selling Over 2,100 Homes in One Year w/ Veronica Figueroa · Massive Agent Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: On this episode, we are talking to an agent that sold over 2,100 homes last year.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: 2100 plus homes were sold, and she is an absolute killer in this industry.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: Her name is Veronica Figueroa out of Orlando, and she has so many great lessons to share.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: She didn't start as this power team leader.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: She started as a solo agent like the rest of us and grew it through a lot of ups and downs into what her team is today.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: She's now uh the number one team, the number one producing team at EXP based on units, and that's worldwide.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: So at one of the fastest growing brokerages, one of the largest brokerages in the country, she's the biggest.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: They do more home sales than anyone else, and she has some amazing nuggets for you guys today.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I like to buy houses, I like to sell houses, better, better, like I'm gonna get away.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: What is up, guys?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to episode 218 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: I am your host, Dustin Brohm.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: I am so excited for you guys to hear this talk with Veronica.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: She is somebody that I've looked up to for years.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um I I first heard about Veronica when she was at Remax.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: She was this was back when Zillow first uh first announced their Zillow offers uh deal, the the whole Zillow Offers program.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: And Veronica was the agent that they partnered with to launch it in Orlando.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: And and so that I first heard about her then, and then I you know, she she stayed in the news because of that, and then I noticed she left Remax uh a year or two after that ish and came to EXP, my brokerage, and so I really took notice.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, wait a minute, that's awesome.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: She's a big name.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then I started to see after I connected with her on social, uh, the growth that she was having year after year.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: And last year she sold over 2100 homes.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: Over 2100 homes.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean it it's just incredible.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm so excited to have her on the show today to to share how she's done it and what what's important to her.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: She talks a lot in this episode about if you are a solo agent and you're looking to scale, what are the first hires you should make?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Should you hire a buyer's agent?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: Or how about an admin assistant?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh what does that look like?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: And she goes over some of some of those first steps, because I know a lot of you guys are right there.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: You're doing pretty well, you had a great year last year, you're gonna have another great year this year, and you're like, okay, how how can I scale this and turn it into an actual business?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: Veronica spends a lot of time focused on that, but also the mental game of what uh of what she had to go through in order to become the type of agent that could sell over 2100 homes in a year.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: You have to become a certain type of person.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: You have to do a lot of work on yourself.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um in fact, we didn't get into that part nearly enough in this talk.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh not nearly enough.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna have Veronica back on a future episode to talk more about uh the mindset stuff.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: At one point you'll see she calls it the the woo-woo stuff that some some people, hopefully not you, think is uh is goofy or weird or out there or hippie-dippy.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now it may be hippy-dippy, but that does not mean that it's not highly effective and worth doing.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um I've done a lot of hippie-dippy shit in the last year, like you know, the sound bath things with the glass bowls where they go and you sit in a salt cave thing.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: We did one of those the other night.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: But very hippie-dippy.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: Anyways.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Really excited for you guys to hear from one of the most successful, one of the highest producing agents in real estate today, with Veronica Figueroa.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: So before we get into that, guys, I want to give a shout out to Follow Up Boss, a sponsor of this show, a great partner of the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 4:10
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• 4:12
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• 4:15
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• 4:23
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• 4:24
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• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: But there's so many other transaction management, systems and tools.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's analytics and data and tracking and all of this stuff that you need to have.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of the stuff that if you're a solo agent, you don't know you need until you start to move towards scaling.
• 4:39
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• 4:41
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• 4:43
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• 4:51
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• 4:52
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• 4:55
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• 4:58
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• 5:09
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• 5:14
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• 5:15
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• 5:17
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• 5:20
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• 5:24
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• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, I'm just I'm proud that we can be partnered with Follow Up Boss.
• 5:32
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• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: And you guys that have reached out that have used them since we first started partnering with them on the show, uh, the stories you've told about how many more sales you're doing, how much more organized you are, how much your conversion rate with your leads is going up.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: Incredible.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm stoked for more of you guys to have stories like that.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: In the meantime, let's get into the interview right now with Veronica Figueroa with EXP, the lead, the team leader with the Fig team out of Orlando, Florida.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: What's up, guys?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm here with Veronica Figueroa, the leader of the Fig team in South Florida.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: I guess that's not South Florida, you're in Orlando.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's not that's Central Florida, right?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Central Florida.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: Central Florida, yeah.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in Utah, so it's all the same.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um Welcome to the show.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm super excited to have you on the show because you I've watched your journey from Remax to EXP, and then you know, I I first heard of you when Zillow Offers launched, and you were helping them get that program off the ground, and and then just to kind of watch your journey, and then um at EXP now, you're the number one EXP agent or team leader based on units sold worldwide, which is incredible.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: So, first off, congratulations, that's incredible, and uh welcome to the show.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you for having me.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: You're very welcome, you're very welcome.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: So you've done a lot right, and I'm sure that you'd say you've done a lot wrong too, but you know, we see we see the end result.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: We see that you've you know sold over 2100 homes in a single year, and you know, 52 agents, 28 staff.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: From the outside looking in, any agent would say you are crushing it, you are you know absolutely firing on all cylinders.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: But I I kind of want to know some behind-the-scenes stuff because seeing the end result doesn't tell the the whole story, and I know you've worked your ass off.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: You probably had some serious ups and downs, and that's what I wanted to talk about today.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, I don't usually do this, but where would you like to start with that?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's kind of a lot, but what where would you like to start?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I I really don't know if I'm gonna get this answer right, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'll start off right around 20 2014.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I got really crystal clear.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um in 2014 I was running my Remax brokerage, I ran a team.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um the industry I felt was shifting, um, but I couldn't really put my finger on the pulse.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And prior to 2014, I had been in the market um in the down market, 20 uh 2009-2008.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I I remember having a moment of clarity there that if I was gonna be a successful real estate agent, I had to be able to thrive in any market.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that um whatever it took, I was gonna have to do it, even if I didn't have the skill set or the knowledge that I was going to have to become an elite agent.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and when it when 2014 was, you know, very clear to me that I had to make some changes, I kind of went back to that moment in 2020 when I was told, hey, you're never, you know, ROs and short sales are the only, you know, it's the only inventory.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you you've never done it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you're screwed.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you, you know, you, you know, they they told me some names of some people that were dominating, and I obviously knew who they were.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I took a picture of them and I put them on my um, at the time, my armoire where I used to work, and I took a picture of myself and I put it right next to them.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they were the agents who were leading the inventory and the REO market, and I would always say this thing, I'd say, well they never they need to move over because they're gonna make room for one more.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna be there.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And they were my inspiration.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't, they weren't my target, they were my inspiration.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I took my last$5,000, hopped on a plane, got on, you know, went to Dallas, and and I was like, if this is where the REO managers are, then I'm gonna come where the REO managers are, and I need to meet them, I need to shake hands, and I need to get in that room.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I successfully did that.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I learned how to build teams overnight because I had an opportunity to meet an asset manager in 2009 that, you know, I said, give me a shot, give me a shot, and I'm gonna show you that you're gonna work with the best agent in Central Florida.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what's funny is that um, you know, sometimes you gotta be careful what you wish for.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because he did give me a shot when I came home.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I came home to 37 assets in my inbox that Monday, but they were all over the state of Florida.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So because it was so scarce and the opportunities were so limited, overnight I had to build teams and markets I didn't even know how to pronounce or existed or where they were located in Florida.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I immediately started to build, and I I had a desire greater than what most I have five kids, I was committed, I had said that I was gonna be successful in any market.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I had this opportunity and nothing was gonna get in my way because I wanted to win, you know, I wanted to win for many reasons.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I built teams and I learned how to scale really quickly, um, made a lot of mistakes.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, from if you had blood running through your veins, you were doing BPO property inspections for me, taking pictures.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you had a cousin that lived in Miami, I was using a P.O.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: box as the address for them to be able to be my um, you know, satellite office at the time for my REOs to be able to be set up.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So fast forward to 20 2014, I had my finger on the pulse of the industry, and at that point I knew the REO market obviously had gone away.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was a farming market, and I farmed a community heavily.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I outworked everybody.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I did pumpkin patches.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, when the RO market dried up, I was like, okay, where's the business at?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it was, you know, traditional market, equity was rising again, people were feeling a little bit of confidence, people had re-established themselves.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I made sure that I was um in every event.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it was funny because I would see agents participate in some of the events, but it would they were like one and done.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so when people would say, Did you see someone, you know, they're copying us?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, it's okay, they're not gonna outwork us, they're never gonna be consistent.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and that's not gonna say never, but I just watched the pattern happen.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: They'd come one time and they wouldn't come the next one.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: See, because they were more important, they were more focused on the 4th of July stuff that they were missing out on than you know, being consistent with the stuff that I was willing to do.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we became a community pillar and we were just outperforming, right?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Out farming people, outworking people, rubbing elbows with the businesses and growing our business.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So when the industry was growing and teams started to grow, and I had that moment in 2014 that I was like, what's next?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: What's really gonna happen next?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I thought Teams, Teams was the next phase, and I was like, okay, I give referrals out.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was using things like um, I think my most innovative tool that I was using at the time was voice pad at the time.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, voice pad, you had the writers where you know the person would text and it would come to your phone, and you know, you could send them uh, you know, the IDX link and it would capture their leads, and oh, that's how innovative I was.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and but I would then at that point screenshot it or text it to someone who was on my team that in my brokerage that I had a referral agreement with, you know, and that's how, and then it was, you know, that's how I was somewhat scaling.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I couldn't hold those agents accountable because they weren't on my team team per se.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: They were just in my brokerage.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I saw how much I was doing that, and I was like, well, I could form a business out of this.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Boomtown came around, and you know, I was like, okay, who's doing these online leads and how do they hold these people accountable?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because I was given away opportunities, but the agents weren't used to being held accountable because at the time, you know, that wasn't how we operated in real estate.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was I work when I want, I came into real estate for freedom, I came into real estate to have flexibility and make a lot of money.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that was not part of what I was building at the time.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, no, you know, like I'm paying this money out, like I need to be able to hold people accountable.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Zillow came around and I was like, You want me to pay for what?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: You want me to pay you to give me opportunities?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, how much?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: What's on my credit card?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I tried it once and I, you know, failed miserably because I didn't have accountability, I didn't have a structured team, I truly didn't have a system, and it was winging it.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when I sat down and I started saying, what are the things that are missing in my business?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was accountability, it was people that were like-minded, it was systems, processes, you know, and I was like, okay, well, I built this real estate business on straight heart, grit, you know, um, just you know, pen and paper.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Really, you know, no CRM and and there wasn't any consistency.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: The the the the most I had was a paper pad, you know.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But then I went back to my REO days and I remembered, you know, we used Equator.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: We had systems in place where our asset managers would want to see.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: They gave us SLAs, they gave us timelines, you know.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I said, okay, what have I learned along the years uh from the people that have given me opportunities and some things?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, what if I adopted that into my business?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I started really running this like a business and could scale this, and what would it look like?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then I started to take away opportunities from people who were just not a good fit for me, and then I became that person that people were like, Oh my god, can you believe she's building a team?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Can you believe she's doing this?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Can you believe she's not just giving us opportunities and and and just she's she's making it feel like we have to answer to her?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And at that moment I realized, okay, I have to truly be clear on my message because clear is kind.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I said I am truly forming a team.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to be on my team, this is how we're gonna operate.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna operate with consistency, we're gonna operate with accountability, we're going to have the same vision, and we're gonna serve at a high level.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I also knew at that point, I got clear that I didn't want to feel like it was a rat race.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to feel like people were my competitors.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to reimagine real estate.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to feel like I was impacting people's lives.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't at that time because we were kind of brainwashed at the time to be competitors.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're with Remax, Keller's better.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Keller's better than Coldwell.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Da-da-da-da-da.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I also started playing really, really nice with my competitors.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, hey, we don't have to compete.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: What if we share?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: What if we share ideas?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: So my biggest competitor was in my same zip code, and I'm gonna drop her name because she's a good friend of mine, love her to death, Jenny Weemer.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And people couldn't understand why her and I would take pictures together, why we would go to lunch together, why we would mastermind together.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: They were like, but she's your competitor.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you telling her your secrets?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Imagine a world where we didn't have to feel like people were our competitors and we were inspired by them.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we could learn together and we could share because at the end of the day, I should be my magic sauce, my culture, how I come across.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: We can have the same exact leads, we can have exactly the same systems and have a completely different outcome because each and every one of us, by God's design, are unique and different.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we were in the same room, learning the same stuff, coming to the same zip code, and both having extreme success.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what I had reimagined in 2014.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I was so, so, so committed to that, no matter what, that I said there will be a day where all of this is just natural and it's how we will all operate.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just started building from there, building from there, making a lot of mistakes.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, along the way, while I was making a lot of mistakes, I did a lot of things right, and I stood within principle.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't waver from what I was building, even though you know some people didn't like it.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, I mean it was it was a decision.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: I made a decision and I stuck to it, and I it took time to get clear.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: It took time, sorry about that.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: No worries.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um it took time to get clear, it took time to um learn, but once I got committed, I was like, I am I'm going all in.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we did, and we went from you know, me selling 75 homes to me getting out of production to me getting a lead listing agent to, you know, then me building out a buyer's team that was high performing, selling our first hundred homes, selling 200 homes, selling 300 homes, and then from there never imagined that we would say, my God, 500 homes.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And last year the goal was a thousand.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: The actually last year the goal was 1285 homes.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: That was the goal last year.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll share later on how we got to that number, um, how we came up with that number, but it was 1285 homes.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: And when we hit a thousand homes, I think by June, it it was uh Dustin, it was it was mind-blowing because once you shift your mindset and once you get super crystal clear, anything's possible.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember talking to my COO, and he's like, Holy shit, Veronica.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I don't know if I'm allowed to say that.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, come on.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: On this show, you can say whatever you want.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I think, I think we're gonna sell 2,000 homes this year.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: If we continue how we're doing and closing at the pace that we're doing, and hiring at the place that we're hiring, and oh my god, he was like, between our ISAs, between our pod leaders, between our success coaches, between our Zillow account, between this, he was like, We're gonna sell 2,000 homes.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, stop it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember I just saw the ticker just going, just going, just going, just going.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: 1800 homes, 1900 homes, 2,000 homes, 2100, and it was just mind-blowing.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I look back and I think of I remember the days where it was, and I'll get emotional on this stuff, like where selling 200 homes was was just like life-changing.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right, and now it's pretty awesome because what we did, we did it for a lot of different reasons because I want to show people that you can be a really great operator, you could really scale your business, you could still be a heart-centered leader, you could still be someone that was grassroots and decided to build a bigger vision, and you shouldn't feel guilty for that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I no longer do the pumpkin patches, but I teach people how to do the pumpkin patches and be present.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I just am so grateful for what we've been able to accomplish.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, will we sell 2,000 homes last year?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, the goal was 1,285 this year.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this year was an anomaly, you know.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: But we're very, very crystal clear.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're on track to possibly sell 1,500 homes this year, and I'll be okay with that.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and just continue to scale.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, now I'm at EXP and I have almost 2,000 partners.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember even making that decision when I decided to sell my franchise.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: People thought I was crazy.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I was very crystal clear as to what that was gonna look like.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, now I'll say it out there, you know, I can't wait to have 5,000 partners across the country and the globe.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So never imagine that, but I just know that anything's possible now.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: There's so much to unpack there.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: There's so much good stuff, and and I'm glad that you mentioned that last piece.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: What you do, your business model is not just selling a shitload of homes, which you do.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: You have partners, you have a revenue share organization, and I've been following your posts.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like it I every I remember when you first sold a thousand homes and you had all the balloons in the office.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: I remember that post, and and then it just kept progressing from there.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: And then you when you first hit a thousand agents at EXP as part of your group, I'm like, what?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like, she just came here.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um that was my first reaction.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: It was like, how much time's passed?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like she just barely came here.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_03: This is this is bizarre.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: And apparently my family's brought in like some Clydesdale horses um above me.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: This is this is nice.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're keeping it real.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we are keeping it real.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this working from home life.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um so Veronica, just for clarity, back in twenty fourteen, were you a solo agent at the time?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was the broker, I was a solo agent, I was a top producer, I was uh team, supposedly team that really wasn't a ch team.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I was, but I was doing everything.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, gotcha.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: And and growing from there to where you are now is is crazy.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: One of the overlying themes in all of that was I mean, you just you seem to have this relentless drive that you know you made a decision and then you're absolutely relentless in moving towards it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um have you always had that?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: Is it something you've had to develop since you've been in real estate, or you know, w what do you do to cultivate that um that focus and drive?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I I've learned a little bit about myself over my personal development um and and the journey of trying to find that out, right?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because some people ask me, what why do I have that drive?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think we're all wired differently, right?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we all have that chip on our shoulder or know why we're doing things when we need to discover that.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I also uh, you know, Dustin, I think I have something that if I don't share it, I'd be being um dishonest.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: My father was a drill sergeant, my father um and my mother was an entrepreneur, and I was working in their shop at the age of 12.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: My mom used to tell me, if you want something, this is how many hours you have to work for it.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I was taught the value of work.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if I wanted something, I had to earn it, I had to go after it, and I thanked them for that.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I watched also my mom be an innovator, and um, you know, in our culture, when we were in the military, you know, there were not any businesses that can support what we were um, you know, like our products, you know, that we would like from our, you know, from our heritage.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: My mom opened a store and she saw that we didn't have artists, and she became the producer that would bring in artists.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and and you know, she was uh entrepreneur, and I watched that.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: My father, as a drill sergeant, before I could go out and play, made me every Saturday clean the house, he would inspect it, and then he would make me do um uh math uh flashcards and uh history flashcards, and even though I knew it, he focused on mastery, he made me master it, and I would say, but I know it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I don't care, I want you to practice it over and over again.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know that until I started doing the deep work as to why I'm wired the way I am, because I needed to know why am I wired this way?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I gotta duplicate this in other people, right?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it was a struggle for me where I couldn't understand why people were not wired like me.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I would get frustrated with them, but I didn't understand why I was wired that way.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And as I've been doing a lot of the deep work, which I don't want to go woo-woo on you guys, but it's really important for me to share that, is I understand and appreciate who I am a lot more, and I realize okay, I could be a lot more aware and realize they didn't have my upbringing.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be more aware of this and not impose my ways on people, but help them discover what makes them tick.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I have been relentless my whole life because of how I was raised, and I went through certain things as a child that and as a as a teenager that I had to it was me against the world.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that that fire in me has always been there because people have told me I was 16 and pregnant, so I was told that I was not gonna be anything in life.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like that little girl in me still lives, and that fire in my belly still lives that I'm like, no, no, no, no, no.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's no longer, I don't have to prove anything to anyone anymore.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now for me, it's more how can I show other people that they can reach anything that they want, anything that they put their mind to.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: So before I used to operate from this place of proving things to people and fear and like I'm gonna show you.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now I operate from a place of imagine a world where you could just dream and be as big as you want, whatever that life might look like.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, your your your past doesn't doesn't uh your past doesn't define who you are.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a part of the journey, and it's a beautiful journey if you learn to love it.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that relentless pursuit of excellence has a lot to do with how I was braced.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: My father was a drill sergeant, and you know, um, I resented him for a long time, but I'm so grateful, you know, because again, consistency, habits, mastery.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like every top agent that you know probably has a commitment to excellence and is committed to mastery, and the mundane work, the boring stuff is where the magic happens, right?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad used to make me read those flashcards over and over again.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I know how to do it.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I have to do it?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I know how to do it.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: How'd I have to do it?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, now I kind of think that that is one of the reasons why I am consistent and I'm not afraid to do things.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then my mom, oh, this doesn't exist, let me go build it.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: I witnessed that as a kid, and that inspired me, and I'm like that as a as an adult, so it's my parents' fault.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's awesome.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I and I if we have some time, I want to come back to the woo-woo stuff you mentioned, you know, the the self-improvement stuff, because I think that's super important too, and it's not talked about nearly enough because people some people have decided it's weird, but is it?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think it's weird to not try to be your best self.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I'd I like to get into that.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: But um you've grown into one of the largest teams in the country in a what seems to be a relatively quick uh period of time, like o over a short period of time.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: I know it probably hasn't felt that way, but for any aspiring agents who maybe they're solo right now and they're just looking to uh to start bringing on buyers' agents, listing specialists, whoever to scale, what do they need to know?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now that you're kind of on the other side looking backwards, you've gone through the ups and the downs, what and maybe I'll phrase this differently, what would you do differently if you were starting over today?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: And and let's help these people who are kind of right there start moving in the right direction to scale.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I mean, I get this question a lot, and I will say one of the things I did ri uh well early on was hire an admin.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that admin is one of my best friends, um, and she now is a top agent in t Dallas, Texas.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um she was one of the first people who I ever trusted in growing my business with.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and to know that after 16 years, she's still my best uh dear friend is something I'm proud of.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think when an agent thinks I need to scale, it looks very glorified.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna hire a buyer's agent, but they don't have enough support and foundation to support that agent and it becomes a train wreck.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: And not to say you can have two buyers agent or two people come together and say that they're a team, but what do they really have?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: What is the foundation?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your admin is gonna come in and take your business to the next level and be a part of the puzzle, right?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Identify the areas that you are really, really good at.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you good at and focus on that and identify the areas you might struggle in?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I truly believe in the model that you again, an agent should be negotiating contracts, should be shaking hands, kissing babies, building new relationships, and you know, um, now in this era that we live in is the best marketer out there, is kind of like a media uh person uh persona.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's what you should be spending your time on, you know, crafting your vision.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: But then they're like, but who's gonna send out the mailers?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And who's gonna who's gonna uh make sure that my my appointment schedule is right and and make sure that my seller got the updates and who's gonna make and a lot of times it's not another buyer's agent, it's a strong admin that has the the skill set and they're passionate about that skill set.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: They want to make your life easier.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I always say start with an admin.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: And today, you know, a lot of times people would just say, Well, I'm gonna hire someone I like.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big mistake.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even about hiring someone you like.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And now, beautiful the beautiful thing about this is we are now in an era where you can hire people that specialize in hiring admins for you.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, whether it's, and I'm not plugging people just because I don't get anything if I plug them, but think about this like they are specialists in hiring admins.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my good friend Brindley, you know, she's someone that is absolutely a specialist in, and they're called your leverage coach, right?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: In hiring admin, TC, and operators for real estate agents.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because the number one issue agents have is where do I find talent?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: What is the job description that this admin should have?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: What are the roles and responsibilities that they should have?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: And agents fail time and time again, and or they say, I found someone, but they wouldn't work, and I ended up doing the work myself because I didn't have time to train them.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times you don't have the time to train them.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: We are now in an era now, I think it's the best time to be in real estate where you can scale through other people and they'll hire help you hire, whether it's wise hire, spear rocket.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they can help you with these services for you to hire your first admin to take care of the things that a true executive assistant or admin should be doing for an agent, specializing in that those um those uh skill sets, right?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we use culture index for my business.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I could have afforded culture index at the beginning, and it has been a game changer on my team.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: We literally look at our org chart based on the personalities that we need, and then we're able to bring in the who um because we built the box as to what we needed for our team.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: But if I were starting out again, I would start off with a kick-ass admin and I would start off with a kick-ass um uh um marketing specialist who can help me get to the next level.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, of course, if you are now uh at a point where you need leverage with the with you know a buyer's agent because you have too many listing appointments and you can't service the buyers, then I would bring a showing assistant in.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I would do first.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't bring in a full-blown buyer's agent first.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: I learn the showing assistant model because the showing assistant can help you scale to the next level.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, one of the things that agents call me about is that they're stressed that they don't know if they have enough business to support that buyer's agent.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then the buyer's agents, you know, let's say it's a female, I'm just using hypothetics because I'm a female, and and she's inspired and she wants to do it, but her husband is mad at her because she doesn't have enough business, you know.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we set these false expectations and we think we got to give them leads.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're gonna develop them as an agent.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't give them the expectation that you're going to give them this, you know, uh uh um, you know, this number of amount of business that you're just gonna happen to lay on their lap because that's not what I want.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's an order taker.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: You might as well just have a showing assistant and an admin, and you just do more business.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's about getting clear, and then as you start evolving, people start seeing what you're doing, and they're like, oh my god, I'm so inspired.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, look, I am hiring, but I'm very particular as to the type of agent I want to be on my team.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want an agent that has the same principles, that has the same core values, that understands that real estate is not a recreational sport, understands that real estate is something that we are gonna work nights and weekends, but we are gonna have a balance.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: And together we're gonna support each other, and we are gonna be super crystal clear on the type of clients we want to work with.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that you know, for me, if I were starting all over again, I would do that.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Admin, showing assistant, and a really great marketing assistant who specializes in it.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Another mistake I see agents doing is they have an admin, they're like, She's my TC, she's my admin, she's my personal assistant, she's my showing agent, and they're giving them too many hats to wear, and they burn that person out.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, they're a unicorn.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: Send them my way.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll hire them if they can do that many things.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I doubt it because I want to get the person super crystal clear as to what their specialty is and have them focus on that one thing, right?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on your one thing.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, shout out to the one thing, right?
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: The book that obviously anybody can learn from.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and and I think that that's the mistake.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when I hear people, they're all over the place.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, ah, I your business is all over the place, too.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I want the agents doing nothing but video.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm sorry, I want the agents focusing on video and focusing on the things that I mentioned that they should be doing and get really, really clear that they are a media persona, and you know, um, their support staff should be able to handle the business while they are with their clients, negotiating contracts, building relationships, and building that media persona.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so uh an admin would a TC be a separate role from your admin?
• 34:36
  unknown: Yeah.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so many TC services out there that you pay in perpetuity.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, your TC, you don't have to um incur this overhead of a TC when you can hire TCs that will help you scale.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: My TC that helped us scale to 470 transactions was a third-party TC.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: He was my my buddy Chris Stephen.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out, and actually, he's amazing and he's always taking on new clients because he's built a business around it.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I only brought in in-house TC when I knew I needed to teach new systems and processes that it was going to take us to the next level.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um it was a hard, you know, it was hard for me, but a lot of my agents who started off on the fig team that I call fig team alumni, they still use Chris and they thank me every day for introducing to him.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he he is in perpetuity, so you're paying in perpetuity.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: You mean you pay only if you close.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't you have a skilled TC?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, he's more knowledgeable than a lot of these agents because he's working with the top agents and sees a lot of things.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd call him and like, hey, have you seen this before?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who do you call for this?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, if have you run into this scenario, he said, Oh, I just had that scenario happen on this file over here.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, I got you.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Call this person, call this person, call this person.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's a lot of times it's ego, but you know, picking up the phone and asking for help, there is nothing wrong with that.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's what makes a really great agent and team leader and leader per se.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and you know, your TC can be in perpetuity.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Your admin that works for you is gonna take care of those tasks that need to be done no matter what, without fail.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a separate role than your TC.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you must have a TC.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: That is one of the roles that hands down you have to have.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, that's something we harp on.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_03: We harp on our audience all the time.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: Get a TC, even if you're doing your first deal, get a TC.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I there's just so much value in it.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: So once you you have your admin, you have your support staff in place, and you're ready, you're like, okay, now we need some hires agents or whatever.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: I've heard it recommended that rather than just hiring one, you might maybe you hire three at a time.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um is that recommended?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so here's the thought process, and you can pick this apart if it's if it's incorrect or you disagree.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: But if you hire one and then something happens and they leave or it doesn't work out, everything gets dumped back onto your plate.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: But if you have a couple others, they're still there to help um handle that business so it doesn't come back on you.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, when you're ready to now scale and hire agents, that's a game changer.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: John Chet Black is my coach, and you know, we have this thing that agents will say, but I'm not ready to recruit because I don't have all my systems in place, or because I don't really know.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, recruiting solves all your problems.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like you said, when one person leaves, then you gotta bring you gotta bring someone else on uh you know on the bench and you gotta re-recruit and you got it and you're over you're doing this over and over again, as opposed to you saying we're always casting the net, we're always looking for talent.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you find the who that's a good fit, you're gonna find a way for them to be on your team.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we do.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we're always recruiting, we're always bringing in new blood.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember the first time we had 13 people.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: 13 new people, and one of my agents who had been with me for so long, and she's still with me, um, she says, Oh my god, we're so big, I don't even know who they are.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it was 13 people walking through the office and we're introducing them, and I'm like, and she's like, How many more people are we bringing on?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Oh, we're gonna keep on bringing them, baby.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, because what happens is it elevated the the the team.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Every and here's what happens when you when people see you recruiting, they either level up or they they leave because they're like, I don't want to be a part of the growth, and that's their either insecurities or they're like, I liked it when we were small.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you leave tomorrow and my profit goes out the door, you're okay, but I gotta start all over again, like you just said.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm always developing talent.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: I always want to see talent coming through that door now.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: When you finally get into the place where you're recruiting and you're ready to start developing agents, then you go into overdrive.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, I want five agents on our onboarding because you got to teach the same thing over and over again.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why not teach five people at a time?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's a 30% attrition rule.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: 30% are gonna leave.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you just have one person, they're gonna leave.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: The odds that they're gonna leave is are high.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we're always recruiting, um, everybody's recruiting on our team, even our admins are recruiting on our team.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say that, it's like help us find talent.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we do a lot of culture marketing on our team.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: So everything we do, Dustin, we we we capture on video.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Even if we haven't used it today, we repurpose it and we're showing people what it feels like to work with us.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: What it feels like to work with us.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a solo agent and it's you and your admin and your TC, y'all better go to lunch and record that.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you're out there putting a sign, record it.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Record what you guys do as a culture, and you're gonna find people that will say, I want to be a part of what you guys are building.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, are you guys hiring?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and and that's when you start realizing, wow, people are watching.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: How many of people let me let people know I am inviting people into my world?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then what happens is when you do recruit them, you know, this is this is what I would always tell people.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, we're super excited to have you join us.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: We are on a journey of growth.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a lot of changes happening.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing I promise you is we're gonna make a lot of mistakes, but we're gonna have your back.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the one thing I am really good at, in addition to the mistakes that we're gonna make, is getting agents into production.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put you in front of more buyers, more sellers, and I'm gonna help you become a great agent.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Along the way, it's gonna be sloppy, it's gonna be messy, but we're gonna grow together, and real estate isn't it it's not a straight line, and we're gonna take some twists and turns.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to take these twists and turns with me?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've already set the foundation that it's there's gonna be some turbulence.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't have it all figured out, but I will get you into production and I'll teach you how to be a kick-ass agent.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what most people want.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's gold.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's absolutely gold.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: So that leads me to my next question, which is an objection that I hear from a lot of agents that are like, okay, so I I should bring on three or four agents, but how do I support them?
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: How do I get them to business?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: And you're really great at helping those agents get into production.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: What are some of the ways you're doing that?
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: What what are let's get into some into some of those specifics to help um an aspiring team leader support their people, or just to get, you know, yourself up and running with uh with selling homes.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I think there's different ways, right?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be honest with your style, whether it's events, you guys are rolling to events together, make sure you have a lead capturing system.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you are, you know, I tell people, where are your first hundred people that you're gonna enter into our database?
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you know, you are going into that person, you are going into business with that person and their database.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you go into business with someone that has no social media, that has no Facebook, that has no Instagram, this person probably is not gonna be a hunter.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably, you know, they're already a secret agent.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say stand stay clear of that person.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because if this person is saying, I'm gonna get into real estate, now I'm gonna open a Facebook page, I'm like, you're probably not the person I want to be in business with.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because I need to be in business with people that embrace social media, that that's part of our model, and I really don't want to have to build you from scratch.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so these people, I am choosing to be in business with them because I want to be in business with their network.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm telling them, hey, we're gonna be in business together, let's go ahead and build your database.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Who are your hot top 100 people that you can think of?
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: Go through your phone, let's go, open your phone.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have a database.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: Open your phone, let's go.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pick 100 people that know you for first name, and that we are gonna send them a video and you're gonna tell them that you just started your real estate career and that you've aligned yourself with one of the top teams in the market, and you are so excited for them to be a part of your real estate journey and that you would ask that they would trust you during this process.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if they know anyone who's thinking about buying and selling, that they would think of you for the opportunity for you to have a shot to help them navigate this.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why you partnered with one of the best agents in town to be in business with the best, to give the best service.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I want you to do.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna go through that top 100, we're gonna put them in our database, and we're gonna do nothing but send them videos.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: On top of that, we're gonna do a Facebook Live, and you're gonna go live on your Facebook, on your IG, and we're gonna start letting the world know that you are now a real real estate agent and that you are excited to help people grow and that you've again um are committed to excellence, and you're gonna be giving people updates, and you're gonna be giving people, you know, um a sneak peek of your journey in real estate.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: How hard is that, Dustin?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's not hard.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens is people think that I have to give someone, you're opening up Pandora's box if you are recruiting people by telling them that you are gonna give them a magic pill and that they don't have to put in the work.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I invite people to say, I'm gonna develop you as an agent, and let me tell you what good agents do in this market.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna leverage my brand, which is a brand of credibility in our marketplace, because we have sold X amount of homes.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: And You get to piggyback.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: We get to ride together with that.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's go ahead and get that first 100 in.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And on top of that, here's our database of some people that we haven't had a chance to buy.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to have you call them and we're going to have you know what it feels like to face rejection.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not always love and pink and roses and real estate.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to call.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're also going to invite them to our next client appreciation event.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've never made a connection with this person.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to call on my behalf.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to make sure that they're in the Figaroa Forever Club, that we give away things and we've noticed that they weren't in there.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we have them labeled in there as not yet in our Facebook group.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you're going to call them as our newest partner.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to invite them into our group, where we're doing giveaways, we're giving updates as to what new things that are happening in our market.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we're just grateful.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's exclusive for our past clients.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like little things like that can get an agent, and you'll know instantly if this person's like, I don't feel comfortable doing that.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, then you're probably not a good fit for my team.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, my biggest takeaway is this has been a paradigm shift for me.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: And or uh I've just gotten some clarity because you are so selective on who you allow to come join your team, and they need to have certain attributes.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned that if they if they're not already active on social, if they don't already have, you know, some network going on, then you're just fighting an uphill battle.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and uh, you know, thinking back to conversations I've had with frustrated agents who are stuck trying to build teams, they're they have a scarcity approach to it where they're just they're hiring anyone who will anyone who will join them rather than you saying, no, no, no, you have to be the right person to join us.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so they're fighting these uphill battles, trying to get somebody to launch a network and to you know start doing social media in the first place.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_03: And you're like, no, no, no, let's just find people who are already doing that shit, plug them into our system, pour gas on the fire, and it's off to the races.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's huge, that's everything.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I had to shift too because I used to take anyone that had blood running through their veins as well.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got really, really clear as to this is a this is a train wreck.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now to join my team, people think it's too many layers, but I don't care.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very clear because I need them to give up before they start with me.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: So on our team, we have Spark Hire, they've got to submit a video as to why they want to join our team, how they heard about our team, what they think about real estate, what they think success on the Figueroa team will look like.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: And people are like, they have to submit a video just to join to get an interview with your team.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yep.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, what happens if they don't want to do it?
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Then they're not a good fit for my team.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: You're weird.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: Why would I want someone that is already?
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: They have to complete the culture index.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, they refuse to complete the culture index.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're not a good fit for our team.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're very clear that persuaders and influencers are really great avatars for our team.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: You might ask me what that is.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I sit here and I dissect this leadership training on the type of personality that I want for my team, the type of personality I want to be in business with, and literally invested in this because I'm very crystal clear as to who I want to be in business with.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you may know who you want to be in business with.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's, you know, someone that, and I'm not asking you to go as in-depth as me, but you you start knowing who you want to be in business with and own that and go.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you guys are VA specialists and you guys go to the moose club or you go to the VA club, and that's gonna be your niche, then that's who you should hire.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: Someone that has similarities of you and the things that you guys are gonna do, and you guys are gonna want to go to the hospital, and you're gonna want to go to the naval base and do these things.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just find and get crystal clear.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: Me, I knew what I wanted, and I I stick to those principles.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_03: Veronica, I think I could ask questions for another hour.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: This is just so fascinating, and and your your insight is incredible.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you being such an open book.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um before I get to our rapid fire questions, these either-or questions that we do with every guest, and and then wrap it up.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um looking back at your career, everything you've built, if uh if you had to distill all of all of your learnings, all of that into something that you could give our listeners to give them uh a leg up on following the same path, what would that be?
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, what are some of those key things that you'd you'd tell them to focus on today?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think for me, um I think the change happened when I became honest with myself.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um I wanted people to do things um and I wanted it more than that they wanted it for themselves, and I was attracting the wrong people.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then what I what I did, Dustin, is I got really honest with myself.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I want okay, if I want to be the leader and I want to inspire people to do what I have to do, I need to do the things that I'm asking them to do.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can't be that leader that tries to tell people to do things that I'm not willing to do myself.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I was operating out of character for a long time, but preaching this gospel that I wasn't living.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want your people to do video, you better be doing video.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you want your people to, you know, be consistent in prospecting, you better be recruiting because recruiting is my way of showing them that I'm prospecting.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you want people to, you know, be professional, then and and and um, you know, give a great representation of you and the real estate industry.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: And y'all know real estate industry, everybody's a gossiper in your local market, everybody's watching, but you're the sloppy person at the at the at the happy hour.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: It started with me.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: I quit drinking Lug Dostier and my whole life changed.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: And now my entire team works on personal development.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: I realize now, as I looked back, is that everything that happened in my career, the good, the bad, the ugly, was a reflection of the choices that I made as a leader.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I stopped blaming other people and I realized that I had control over my destiny, over my economy, and that no nobody was at fault but me for the outcome that I would have.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if I wanted to build a team of, you know, high performers, I needed to show up like a high performer.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a time that I was performing at a high level, but it what I wasn't operating at my best.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I took a look within and I owned my faults and I owned why people left my team and why they were able to screw me over.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: My team agreement wasn't buttoned up because I was too cheap to invest in an attorney, or I was too cheap to have a system that would guarantee that people knew what our standards were, and I was afraid to to um to let's say stand behind my principles and I'd waver and I'd make exceptions for this person and exceptions for this person, and then I realized when shit hit the fan, when things blew up, whose fault was it?
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was my fault.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if I go look back at my entire career and and people might be like, damn, Veronica, but I want the magic pill.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everything that happened to me, good and bad, was a reflection of me.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I started getting really clear.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things I'm burned on?
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this person took my leads.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then my team agreement didn't talk about the exit clause at the beginning of the honeymoon.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: So now I talk about the exit clause during the romance period.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, by the way, this is what it's gonna look like when you leave my team.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you leave my team and there's anything that's a team-generated lead, you know that you're not gonna get paid or you're gonna get 20% because we have to protect our database.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a sphere business, we're gonna go ahead and let you take it, and this is how it's paid.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like we talk about the breakup at the beginning because I'm gonna tell them there may be one day that we're gonna want to break up, but we're gonna do so with grace and we're gonna do so in a way because I've learned from my mistake.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know how many friends I've lost in this business because I didn't know how to have mature business conversations early on, and that is probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: And thank God I'm mature enough to know that I am the one who was at fault for that.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: So when I look at that, and if you're really looking to grow a team and grow in leadership, you better buckle up and and face your your your your truth and start having hard conversations up front, and you could build a really strong business.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: Incredible.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: I I appreciate you going in that direction rather than you know something tactical because the you're talking about the foundation.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you've got to have this solid foundation that everything uh runs off of.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you're you're creating your own operating system um internally, and and that's super cool.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and people are gonna join you for you, for your character, for your integrity.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we all can have the same leads.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: We all can have Y Lopo, we can have Whitley, we can have Zillow Leads, we can have Flex.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: People join people, people leave people.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I've created a world where people are excited and people are thirsty to be a part of our culture because it's I would consider an irresistible culture and remarkable culture, and they want to be a part of more than just the leads, the camaraderie, the support, the love we pour into people, the accountability that we have.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: Accountability is the highest form of love.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, your Zoom, your camera's on, you know, you show up at 8:30 on the huddle.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is the culture we've created.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_00: And before, again, we made exceptions because we were not great leaders.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's this is how we operate.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: You want to be a part of it?
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned that through the mistakes that I've made.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_03: Veronica, uh, before we wrap it up today, I want to get through our rapid fire questions.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: So they're either or, you don't need to elaborate unless you want to, and then uh we'll wrap this up by top of the hour.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um at the end, we'll let everyone know where they can find you, follow you, and and see what you're up to, and uh insure you on.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_03: So let's start it out.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_03: Facebook or Instagram.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: Facebook Okay Facebook or LinkedIn Facebook Books or podcasts?
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_03: Podcasts or audiobooks.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_03: Audio books rental properties or flipping burgers or pizza?
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: Pizza New York or LA LA Um Mountains or beach?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_03: Podcasts or vlogs YouTube or Facebook Live.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: Rich Dad Poor Dad or millionaire real estate agent?
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: Rich dad poor dad.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uber or left?
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uber.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_03: Gary V or Grant Cardone.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, oh crap.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Gary Vee.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: That was a tough one.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and what is the most impactful book you've ever read?
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh The Alchemist.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: It got me out of a really dark time.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_03: I keep hearing about that.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, cool.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_03: So, Veronica, where can they follow you?
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_03: Where can they find you?
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_03: Where can they, you know, keep tabs on what you're doing and all of your growth.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can go to Veronica Figaroa Inspires on IG.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: You also could go to VeronicaFigaroa.com and sign up for uh where we're going, what we're doing, and follow me on Facebook.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_00: Love Facebook.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always on there.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_03: We'll put links to all of your social and your websites in the show notes.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're watching this on YouTube, in in the YouTube description, Veronica, I cannot thank you enough.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_03: This has been great.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I I felt like doing a four-hour Joe Rogan type episode with you, but uh, we have other shit to do.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll have you back again.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, anytime.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_03: You're the best.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: See you soon.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, you can see why now I want to have Veronica back for another show, and maybe even another one after that.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_03: I could talk to her for hours.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_03: She has an infinite amount of wisdom.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_03: She's learned so many things, she's gone through so much, and we didn't really get into her story, her personal story.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that's incredible.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_03: I've heard her uh give a speech from stage, and that woman has gone through some serious shit.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: She is a very powerful, very um strong, very determined woman who I mean, she can do anything, obviously, and she has.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_03: Just incredible.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm Veronica, thank you so much for being on the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: I enjoyed the shit out of our conversation, and I hope you guys enjoyed that as well.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_03: If you found value in this, please all we ask is that you share this episode with somebody else.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: Share it with an agent you think would would get value from it.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: Share it with your broker, share it with your team members, share it with within your brokerage, within your you know, internal Facebook group, uh, or an industry-wide Facebook group.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: Just share the episode, share a screenshot, share it in your stories, tag the uh at the Massive Agent, our new Instagram handle, make sure you're following the new Instagram, um, because that's where I'm doing everything now.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh stories, I do a lot of announcements there, uh a lot of stuff that um Massive Agent Society, when we're gonna be uh unveiling that and opening up uh registration for that, uh you're you're gonna hear about in my stories uh or on our email list if you're on our email list.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: So make sure you do that.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_03: Guys, uh thank you for listening.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for sharing.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh please, for the love of God, if you learned something today that excited you, uh that's gonna help you move closer to implementing what you're building, please do it.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_03: Please, please, please do it.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we ask that you share, uh get this podcast in front of new people who will find it helpful and also implement what you've learned.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_03: Take action.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_03: Don't wait, don't waste another day.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_03: Don't kick the can down the road and say, I'll do this tomorrow or next week.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_03: Start doing the shit now, and you'll be surprised, you'll be blown away at how fast you can start moving towards your goals.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you guys so much for listening.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be back next week with another interview with another high-powered agent here on a Master Major Podcast.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: Take care of it.