October 12, 2024 • 27 mins
In this episode of the *Let’s Move to Texas* podcast, join Dallas-Fort Worth real estate professional Derek Bradley of The Winning Team Realty as he shares his inspiring journey from successful agent to influential broker. Dive deep into the dynamic world of real estate entrepreneurship as Derek reveals the challenges, victories, and strategies that helped him navigate the transition from agent to broker.
Whether you're a seasoned agent ready to take the next step or a newcomer with big aspirations, this episode offers valuable insights and practical advice. "Journey From Agent to Broker" highlights Derek’s personal transformation and provides a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to thrive in the competitive real estate industry. Tune in to discover the keys to success in real estate brokerage and beyond!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to real estate leads uncovered the podcast that delves
into the dynamic world of lead generation in the real
estate industry. Hey, I'm your host, Lisa Carter. And I'm
excited to guide you through the challenges, the strategies and
success stories that revolve around one of the most crucial
aspects of real estate generating leads
(00:21):
live from the hottest real estate market in America, Tampa Bay, Florida.
This is the real estate leads podcast with the CEO
and founder of the Olga system. Your host, Lisa Carter.
We have a great show for you today. We got
a candid conversation with a dynamic individual out of the DFW,
(00:42):
one of the hottest real estate markets in the southwest.
And I'm so glad to present to you today, Derek
Bradley Derek's gone from agent to broker and is here
to have a con candid conversation with us about how
he got that done.
You and I go way back, way back to the pandemic. Yes,
we do. And I couldn't think of anybody more exciting
(01:04):
to launch this journey that we're having here spreading the
gospel about organic building organic movement when it comes to
a sales professional in the real estate industry. And so
the journey that you have had,
I want you to just um talk about that because
I'm inspired by you. Um And I know that a
bunch of folks um listening in will be inspired ab
(01:27):
about your, your journey. Um So when you and I
met you were in management at a brokerage doing training,
um I identified you as somebody who knew exactly what
they were talking about and had a unique
way of getting others to listen to you. Um So
let's talk about the pandemic because that must have, that
must have upset your whole world because you're doing face
(01:49):
to face training for the organization. So just talk about,
you know, how long you've been doing this and then,
you know, what was your experience? You know, how did
you get the word out and train people when you
couldn't be near and dear to them?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we, we at the time that you
and I met, you're exactly right. I was um in
management at a different brokerage and uh I was the
uh training uh management uh person and developer uh for
the company. So not only did I conduct training my
(02:24):
own on my own. Um
uh Myself, I also brought in other professionals to do
training as well such as yourself. And so uh yeah,
the pandemic just kind of really shook up the entire
world uh And especially over there in the world. Of
real estate when you're talking about the type of business
(02:45):
that it is and having to be,
uh, in constant contact with people.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Well, look, there's a special, there's a, there's a special
place in heaven for, um, anyone who does training. Um, um,
you know, because, um, you, you probably can identify those, um,
that you're training, which ones are gonna follow through and
which ones, um, are gonna definitely slack off real estate
(03:10):
and real estate, um, training.
Um, look, there's 1.5 million real estate agents in the
country in the, in the United States. Um, and so
tell us a little bit about, you know, in terms
of training, you can, you identify like who's gonna follow
through and who's not.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, absolutely. I mean, you know, the thing is, is,
you know, you, you have to show up when, when
it comes to training, you know, as a real tour,
you know, if you're going to stand out or end up,
you know, being the best in accomplishing your goals, you
have to show up for training, you have to continue
to work on educating yourself and staying abreast of what's
(03:52):
going on. Uh, even in the real estate market and
all of that came through in our training that we
can do
with the company. And so those agents who were consistent
in showing up, you know, for training are the ones
that we, you know, most saw, um, been, been the
top producers or at least those who were having some
(04:14):
success in the business.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So you see a direct correlation between training, attending trainings
and workshops um to um leveling up your business, you
see a direct correlation with that.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely. I mean, you, you, you cannot um you cannot
succeed in this business without knowing this business. And that's,
that was our goal to give them practical training that
they could go out and apply the same day?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Cool, cool. Is there anything like um over training? Do
you find yourself where you're, you know, seeing that, you know,
I've experienced where people, you know, there's learners um and
you can talk to us a little bit about that, right?
Everybody has a different learning style.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, you have, you have that person who um needs
to sit in the classroom um needs to have the
um the visual part of training for sure. Uh I'm
an audio and visual kind of person, learning learning person.
But uh the thing is um when it comes to
um
(05:22):
being able to come and, and attend training, it's, it's
one thing to be there and it's another thing to
go out and apply again. Yeah, you can overtrain if
all you're doing is attending training and never going out
and putting it into action if you're never implementing anything.
And then yeah, it, it doesn't do you any good
to just continue to show up just to be showing up.
(05:44):
So I think that, uh, the most important thing is
to walk away from it and identify what can I
apply today, you know, to help me, you know, uh,
move a little bit further down the road towards my goals.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Well, well, listen, we're, we're sitting, we're talking today to, uh,
Derek Bradley from the winning team,
um, realty group and he's a, a learner. He's a sharer.
He support, he's offers support and guidance as a broker
um to his team. Um and to others in, in
the uh Dallas Fort Worth area. Tell us a little
bit about the environment right now in the Dallas Fort
(06:18):
Worth area. Uh When it comes to, you know, the
challenges that real estate agents and brokers are having.
Uh what's the biggest challenge in the DFW area today
for a real estate professional.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Uh The challenge right now is, you know, and I'll
give it to you from two different perspectives in what
we deal with in the real estate. And you got
your buyers and you have your sellers from a buyer's perspective.
You know, the challenge to the realtor is to be
able to um
demonstrate to the buyer while now is still a good
time to uh purchase a home in spite of what's
(06:51):
going on with interest rates and also to be constructive
in how you um help a buyer achieve that goal. Because,
you know, uh there are, there are a number of
ways to have a successful home purchase in this market
right now where the
buyer is not overwhelmed by a house note. And so
(07:11):
from a seller's perspective, the challenge for us as agent
is to go out there and acquire these listings. And
so we have to uh from both sides of that spectrum.
I heard a speaker say in this day and time,
you need to only run the plays that you know,
are going to be successful. So,
(07:32):
or to put a sports analogy on it, you know,
you only run into plays right now that are going, that,
you know, will, will work because of the way the
market is right now. So in one sense, we have
buyers who are straddling the fence and scared to pull
the trigger. And then in another sense, you have uh
not enough inventory, you know, uh in, in the, in
(07:52):
the boxes of, uh
uh of the market. But yeah, I think those are
the major challenges that we're facing up front.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I'm glad you, I'm glad you brought up a sports
analogy because I'm, I'm a sports mom. Um, I got
three boys and I've, I've done it all like lacrosse.
You know, my kids were the only brown boys on the,
on the field during lacrosse, right? It's like,
mhm. Brown boys play lacrosse. Yes, they do. Uh, and,
and anyway, um, we had basketball and football and so
you mentioned, um, you know, plays on the field and
(08:23):
and one of the things that I always talk about
with targeting a niche is if you sit on. So
what did you play? You play? Did you play sports?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Uh, I play a little basketball and baseball just a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So if you're in the basketball court and you're taking
100 shots or is it better to take the 100
shots from the same position, um, to guarantee that you'll, um,
that you'll score or, or, or should you move around
and take those 100 shots from different positions on the court?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Definitely from the same position because once you get locked
in on that same position, I mean, it's, it's a,
it's a no brainer at that point when you, you know,
you know, from the release, uh, that it's going in,
you know, for the most part, you can just feel
that release
Speaker 1 (09:09):
and
I knew you played basketball because you're pretty, you're pretty tall,
you're pretty tall guy. So the shooting from the same,
same position is the same thing. Um, that real estate agents, um,
should be doing any sales professional, right? That's a niche.
You're standing in one spot, you're taking 100 shots and
you're bound, um, to hear the swoosh, right. Um, so
(09:29):
I love that you, you talk about the, the playing field,
but the other part about the playing field or the
court is a pretty crowded right now.
A lot of agents came in trying to get that
money trying to get that pandemic money. Um, have you seen, um,
a lot of competition with, um, agents that you and
(09:52):
brokers that, you know, that are originally from the DFW area,
born and raised there or migrated to the DFW area
years ago? And now, um, where are you seeing the,
the agents come from? I'm here in California. Um,
is a, is a place where they're coming in droves
to Texas, um to start new lives and a lot
of them want to be real estate agents.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, there's definitely some of that going on as well
as you know, uh just people in general migrating from
these areas to um Texas. I I do want to
elaborate on, on one of the statements you just said
and that was about, you know, the market, you know,
the court court being a little crowded. Uh and that
is the case, you know, uh when we started off
(10:34):
this conversation, you mentioned the pandemic and, you know, things
kind of got hot uh towards it in the pandemic
and the market just
loaded. And so in the market, current market that we're
in now, we're starting to see. Yeah, the court is
still a little crowded. However, some of some of the
players in the court on the court are starting to
experience some fatigue because of the way the market is
(10:55):
right now and the challenges that we're facing. So we're
expecting that that will continue that trend will continue that
some uh will continue to fall off, but only the
strong will, you know, survive and continue to thrive in
the market.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So the fatigue is real, right? And so I uh
I talk to agents across the country on a daily basis.
Um I hear tears and fears and everything in between
serious straight up. Um So I, you know, and I,
I feel for everybody because I always, for folks outside
of the industry, I always say it's like this, you
(11:28):
have a shoe store, you set up everything, you got
a great location, you put a sign out and you
have no shoes to sell. And that's the equivalent of
what we're experiencing right now without any inventory. How can
you be a good sales person if you have, don't
have anything to sell? Uh So look, can you generate
your own inventory? Like how does this work?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Well, yeah, definitely have to have a, a strategy to
generate inventory. And I think that um one of those
deals where you sit down and uh look at, OK,
what are the different ways that we can, um,
market? Um and then also establish your target audience and
then you have to come up with the different avenues
(12:13):
of being able to do that. And I think that's where,
you know, our um connection came into play for the
most part because the oga system is
what helped me and helping me, right. Now. And that's
part of my marketing strategy or my strategy to generate,
you know, inventory is through, you know, the the
Speaker 1 (12:34):
system, Derek, the winning team, you and the winning team
are everywhere everywhere. Like your visibility, your branding,
um your colors. I I mean, it's, it's everywhere. It's
a strong brand um that comes up on a Google
search comes up in the, you know, search for a
real estate agent in DFW you guys, but how do you,
you know, look the system uh does what it does.
(12:55):
But what, what else are you, you know, you guys
are clearly taking the system and really running with it
because um
today you're, you, you know, when we met, you were
a real estate agent um with an independent brokerage and
today you're running your own brokerage. That journey is something
that I hear every day agents trying to acquire. So you, you, you, you,
you looked at yourself, you said I got a business
(13:17):
I need to invest in building my brand and, and then,
you know, kind of walk us through that journey.
It's offline and it's online, right?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And um well, I have to
say that it kind of started with, you know, the conversation,
the initial conversation that you and I had uh and,
and actually hiring drink water to uh start to do
the uh run the marketing
um for um for me, first of all, as an
individual but it was through that, that, you know, we
(13:49):
started to um have a lot, a lot more visibility
out there in the market. And so, um
with the brokerage becoming a goal that we were shooting
for that, I was shooting for, it just made it
easier to, to, to establish the brand for the winning team.
And we opened up this year. So I went from
(14:11):
managing the different brokers to having my own broker, brokerage
and, and, and drink water. Um Marketing was very instrumental
in helping us to, you know, have some, some visibility
and get ourselves out there. And, and since then, you know,
as you mentioned, you know, we're, we're showing up on Google.
(14:31):
Uh people are becoming familiar with us here in our
immediate area. So we're just looking to branch out before
and then, you know, uh from there, the old system
came into play, you know,
just to even build on top of that. So, uh yeah, it,
it's just been one of those things for me learning
as a new uh broker owner, learning and allowing uh
(14:54):
my marketing company to do its job and then doing
what I need to do to, to help or, or,
or whatever it is to make the whole program succeed.
Uh But yeah, that's, that's where we
are,
Speaker 1 (15:06):
but you had identified your, your expertise, right? So when
you and I met,
you know, sure there's a system out there, you know,
I created, it, talks about niche. But, you know, there
was a lot of conversations between you and I about
your expertise in the marketplace. Um And um you, you're
a veteran. So we, we, we, we talk, we, we
wanna talk about that, we talked about that as one
(15:28):
of your brand. And you and I sat down and
we did this um exercise called uh Byob Build your
own brand. We recently uh did the same thing with
your team,
um which I loved, I love to meet you, meeting
your team. But what we did with you is we
kind of broke down right with your expertise. What's your
value in the market? Um And um you know how
(15:49):
you show up with that expertise. Um And that's something
that we didn't necessarily do just online, right? You are,
identify your expertise and, and you're showing up, tell us
a little bit about, you know, how you show up offline.
What are you involved in? Where are you attaching your brand?
Um We established it online but there's some stuff you're doing.
(16:12):
O offline that is powerful.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah.
Well, you know, in a, in a number of ways,
like right now we, um you mentioned um my military
um connection there. Yeah, we, we are um military relocation,
uh professional, we have that certification.
Um And so, uh we are definitely uh capitalizing on
(16:37):
that with as we reach out to, to connect with
uh fellow veterans. Uh veterans in the market to either
buy or sell. And then we also have um achieved
in the, at home with diversity um
uh certification so that, you know, we um present ourselves
(16:58):
as um a, a company that is, you know, cued
in on, on uh recognizing the different cultures that we
have uh in this, in this profession, as well as
the different types of cultures out there
for, you know, a client base. And so we're trying
to make sure that we, you know, present ourselves um
(17:20):
in a way that people, you know, feel like we
can identify with them. And we also understand that, you know,
there are different cultural differences out there that we're, you know,
uh we're aware of them and, and we're um willing
to uh uh for lack of a better term, we
(17:40):
want to make sure we're able to cater to those
differences as much as possible, uh being sensitive to, you know,
uh 11 culture versus the other and not treating all
of them um in the exact same way. Um
and not really recognize and understand that, that, that we
(18:01):
are different in some ways. And so, so we are,
you know, wanting to make sure we show up in
that way and we want the, the military uh to
be one of those areas that we really emphasize as
far as one of our, our niche groups that we
work with over here at the winning team. And so
our goal is to become well trained and
(18:21):
versed in all aspects of working with veterans. At the
same time, you know, remaining continuing to build a culture
that is diverse over the winning team and working with
those different cultures out there in the, in
the market.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Hey Derek. Thank you for your service. By the way,
I wanted to mention that, what branch of military did
you serve? Pleasure
Speaker 2 (18:43):
for 20 plus years. Say it again.
I say I served in the US army for 20
plus years. Wow.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Wow. Did you become a real estate agent? Did you
get licensed as an agent? Right after getting out of
the military or do you have a little pit stop
along the way?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I actually became a realtor towards the end of my
military career. I, I initially actually started out years ago
in the state in the state of Oklahoma early in
my military career. Um But of course, with uh the
way my career went, uh military wise, I wasn't doing
uh real estate on a consistent basis since then, but
I got my first taste of it back then. But
(19:22):
then towards the end of my care,
I knew that this is what I wanted to. So
we got our license here in the State of Texas
and we, we, we started working it towards the end
of our military career. And, and uh so once uh
I retired, it was just an easy transition into doing
uh real estate full time.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You bring up a really good, a good point about
part time. Um So I'm meeting a bunch of agents
that are part time.
How did you make that jump? Because everyone that I
meet this part time says I'm gonna eventually become full time.
Once I get my first transaction, second transaction, get a
few transactions under my belt and then I'll turn this
into a full time gig. This is my plan B.
(20:03):
Um How did you make that jump? You know, what
point did you say? All right, I'm in, I'm in swim.
He's off, I'm in the water.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Well, you know, I think it just starts with, you know, setting,
setting the setting the right goals and then, you know,
uh putting the right action steps in place to achieve
those goals because the thing is, is I knew
that this is where I was headed. And so, uh
with me doing it part time, it's like, ok, I
need to make sure I've set myself up, you know,
(20:34):
to have the necessary resources. Real estate is not, you know,
for the light, light and heart and it's a very
expensive hobby if you're not going to go out and work.
So I made sure I had
resources available to me, monetary uh so that, you know,
I could, once I transitioned from, you know, a continual
(20:56):
paycheck month, every two weeks from the military. Ok. Now,
it's all about me going out and putting in the work,
I made sure that I put back,
you know, the necessary resources to help support, you know,
my uh those obligations that would not go away. Um
And so it was just, you know, I just made
wise decisions to make sure that the transition was a
(21:18):
little easy and, you know, and it, and it became
plan a and it had to work. And so, uh
I think it kind of differs from, you know, from
one person to another.
But my journey was that I knew this is the
direction I was going. So I made sure I put
some things in place to kind of help make my
transition a little bit easier.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
It's all
about the plan, it's all about the transition. If you
don't have a plan, right? There's no road map, there's
no road map for success and it's easy to fall
off when you don't have a plan, right? Because you're
not accountable to anything that
supposed to happen anyway. Um So I, so I love that,
but I know that right now, you know, look people
in the market, they are struggling, they're trying to figure
(21:57):
this gig out. Um They're coming in part time, they're
getting um ex extremely frustrated with the process. But it
definitely what I loved about, about what you said is
you knew from the jump that this was gonna be
a marathon, not a sprint um and you're killing it
right now, you have AAA nice team here in DFW.
Um You're doing your research, what else are you working on?
(22:18):
You know, are you still training? Are you still, you know,
um sharing your knowledge um with the team and, and
external teams?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Uh Yeah, funny you would say that I did, um
uh
uh I do uh as an, as an independent contractor.
I do t train at one of the uh top
uh real estate schools here in uh the state of Texas.
And so, yeah, I am uh continuing my training and
uh training new agents, new, actually new uh and existing
(22:51):
agents um in, in, in the real estate market and
just continue to educate them
and teach them about this business and how to do
this business. Um because, you know, when, when they come
through uh the real estate school, they've been taught, you know,
really the legalities and how to do the business from
a perspective of staying, staying out of court. But uh
(23:12):
learning how to actually work this business. I kind of
put some little tips in here and there as I'm
training them. But yeah, we're definitely continuing to train and
that's what we do. That's our heart as
well to train and educate and help these um new
agents uh come into the uh system uh to be successful. So,
yeah. Um
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Wow, that's, that's great. So that, that, you know, always
try always learning yourself, always sharing. Um You mentioned something
about community and communities and um you uh have shared
with me on several occasions, you've been Googled, Googled and
when you've been Googled, um some of those folks have
(23:50):
shared with you why in a Google search, uh they
chose you. So can you share with um you know,
because this goes back to organic, right? This goes back
to making connections um having a plan targeting um folks that,
you know, will like and trust you and then um
providing the best service so you can share with us
a couple of things about being Googled.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
But,
well, yeah, absolutely. Um I've had a few people, men,
you know, a few clients, men, you know, that they
googled me and whatnot and uh and one in particular
I'll talk about one in particular. She just kinda looked
at me, I think, uh she went on my Facebook
page as well. Uh, and just to see what kind of,
(24:33):
um person I am and she noticed, you know, a
few of the different organizations that I am affiliated with.
Uh one being, you know, my church home, which is
a mega church here in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Love those mega churches in Dallas. You guys got the
so many mega church like big Texas, there was big
churches in Texas. Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, yeah, so she saw my affiliation,
my church affiliation. Um also that I am in a
leadership position in my church as well. So I do
lead a
uh a team in the organization as well. And so,
uh just really checking out, check this realtor person out
(25:15):
before reaching out to me. And, you know, the, the
client really just shared that information that that's where they
started at. They went online and went on Google, and consequently,
they decided to reach out, you know, through by way
of our website. Uh Thanks to uh our
wonderful marketing company, drink water for that. That's why
Speaker 1 (25:35):
you guys got an older system website that it looks good.
I love it, love it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
We
do, we do, we love it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Um And so she found you and she leaned in.
Um So that's what it's about,
Speaker 2 (25:44):
right?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Um The, the um your presence. Um I tell people
all the time, you know, and by the way, was
this anybody in your sphere that, you know, on your
personal page or was this somebody who found you did
not know the winning team does not know Derek Bradley
from a can.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Got no idea who this person was prior to her.
Googling me, searching me out and reaching out. Uh she
was not from my uh sphere of influence. Uh There
was no kind of uh association or acquaintance as at,
at all. So she was just totally, totally brand new person,
Speaker 1 (26:21):
right? And, and we tend to like, wanna talk to
the people we know because that's where our comfort comfort spot. Right.
We've talked to our friends and our moms and our
sisters and our relatives and high school, you know, uh, friends,
college friends all day long. Right. We love that. You know,
we're on our business pa, on our, on our personal
pages talking all day long and the money, the money
(26:42):
is on the business page. People who don't know you
that have way more money than those who know you, right?
And they're ready to buy, they're ready to come in and,
and talk and, and lay down some, some ducks to,
to buy in your area. Um And so one of
the things that um I always teach is you got
to have that business page, Derek and the winning team
has a business page. I think he's got two Google Pages.
(27:03):
He got one for himself. He got one for each
team member, one for the brokerage, right? You, you know
the power of Google coming up. And so, and you
and you guys are, are, are winning. Um I love
partnering with, with you. I, I love, you know what,
where you've shown all of us, we can go. Um
You
enlisted service member, you could have done anything with your time.
You chose real estate, you went part time, you moved,
(27:25):
you leveled that up and you had a plan, you
had a process and that is just wonderful. And so
if you know, continue teaching, sharing and learning um with
this team and being visible, we love it and thank
you so much for being on the show today. Um
I really appreciate your time. If I could be anywhere,
I'd be on this call with you, sir. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Thank you.
Welcome to real estate leads uncovered the podcast that delves
into the dynamic world of lead generation in the real
estate industry. Hey, I'm your host, Lisa Carter. And I'm
excited to guide you through the challenges, the strategies and
success stories that revolve around one of the most crucial
aspects of real estate generating leads
(00:21):
live from the hottest real estate market in America, Tampa Bay, Florida.
This is the real estate leads podcast with the CEO
and founder of the Olga system. Your host, Lisa Carter.
We have a great show for you today. We got
a candid conversation with a dynamic individual out of the DFW,
(00:42):
one of the hottest real estate markets in the southwest.
And I'm so glad to present to you today, Derek
Bradley Derek's gone from agent to broker and is here
to have a con candid conversation with us about how
he got that done.
You and I go way back, way back to the pandemic. Yes,
we do. And I couldn't think of anybody more exciting
(01:04):
to launch this journey that we're having here spreading the
gospel about organic building organic movement when it comes to
a sales professional in the real estate industry. And so
the journey that you have had,
I want you to just um talk about that because
I'm inspired by you. Um And I know that a
bunch of folks um listening in will be inspired ab
(01:27):
about your, your journey. Um So when you and I
met you were in management at a brokerage doing training,
um I identified you as somebody who knew exactly what
they were talking about and had a unique
way of getting others to listen to you. Um So
let's talk about the pandemic because that must have, that
must have upset your whole world because you're doing face
(01:49):
to face training for the organization. So just talk about,
you know, how long you've been doing this and then,
you know, what was your experience? You know, how did
you get the word out and train people when you
couldn't be near and dear to them?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we, we at the time that you
and I met, you're exactly right. I was um in
management at a different brokerage and uh I was the
uh training uh management uh person and developer uh for
the company. So not only did I conduct training my
(02:24):
own on my own. Um
uh Myself, I also brought in other professionals to do
training as well such as yourself. And so uh yeah,
the pandemic just kind of really shook up the entire
world uh And especially over there in the world. Of
real estate when you're talking about the type of business
(02:45):
that it is and having to be,
uh, in constant contact with people.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Well, look, there's a special, there's a, there's a special
place in heaven for, um, anyone who does training. Um, um,
you know, because, um, you, you probably can identify those, um,
that you're training, which ones are gonna follow through and
which ones, um, are gonna definitely slack off real estate
(03:10):
and real estate, um, training.
Um, look, there's 1.5 million real estate agents in the
country in the, in the United States. Um, and so
tell us a little bit about, you know, in terms
of training, you can, you identify like who's gonna follow
through and who's not.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, absolutely. I mean, you know, the thing is, is,
you know, you, you have to show up when, when
it comes to training, you know, as a real tour,
you know, if you're going to stand out or end up,
you know, being the best in accomplishing your goals, you
have to show up for training, you have to continue
to work on educating yourself and staying abreast of what's
(03:52):
going on. Uh, even in the real estate market and
all of that came through in our training that we
can do
with the company. And so those agents who were consistent
in showing up, you know, for training are the ones
that we, you know, most saw, um, been, been the
top producers or at least those who were having some
(04:14):
success in the business.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So you see a direct correlation between training, attending trainings
and workshops um to um leveling up your business, you
see a direct correlation with that.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely. I mean, you, you, you cannot um you cannot
succeed in this business without knowing this business. And that's,
that was our goal to give them practical training that
they could go out and apply the same day?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Cool, cool. Is there anything like um over training? Do
you find yourself where you're, you know, seeing that, you know,
I've experienced where people, you know, there's learners um and
you can talk to us a little bit about that, right?
Everybody has a different learning style.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, you have, you have that person who um needs
to sit in the classroom um needs to have the
um the visual part of training for sure. Uh I'm
an audio and visual kind of person, learning learning person.
But uh the thing is um when it comes to
um
(05:22):
being able to come and, and attend training, it's, it's
one thing to be there and it's another thing to
go out and apply again. Yeah, you can overtrain if
all you're doing is attending training and never going out
and putting it into action if you're never implementing anything.
And then yeah, it, it doesn't do you any good
to just continue to show up just to be showing up.
(05:44):
So I think that, uh, the most important thing is
to walk away from it and identify what can I
apply today, you know, to help me, you know, uh,
move a little bit further down the road towards my goals.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Well, well, listen, we're, we're sitting, we're talking today to, uh,
Derek Bradley from the winning team,
um, realty group and he's a, a learner. He's a sharer.
He support, he's offers support and guidance as a broker
um to his team. Um and to others in, in
the uh Dallas Fort Worth area. Tell us a little
bit about the environment right now in the Dallas Fort
(06:18):
Worth area. Uh When it comes to, you know, the
challenges that real estate agents and brokers are having.
Uh what's the biggest challenge in the DFW area today
for a real estate professional.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Uh The challenge right now is, you know, and I'll
give it to you from two different perspectives in what
we deal with in the real estate. And you got
your buyers and you have your sellers from a buyer's perspective.
You know, the challenge to the realtor is to be
able to um
demonstrate to the buyer while now is still a good
time to uh purchase a home in spite of what's
(06:51):
going on with interest rates and also to be constructive
in how you um help a buyer achieve that goal. Because,
you know, uh there are, there are a number of
ways to have a successful home purchase in this market
right now where the
buyer is not overwhelmed by a house note. And so
(07:11):
from a seller's perspective, the challenge for us as agent
is to go out there and acquire these listings. And
so we have to uh from both sides of that spectrum.
I heard a speaker say in this day and time,
you need to only run the plays that you know,
are going to be successful. So,
(07:32):
or to put a sports analogy on it, you know,
you only run into plays right now that are going, that,
you know, will, will work because of the way the
market is right now. So in one sense, we have
buyers who are straddling the fence and scared to pull
the trigger. And then in another sense, you have uh
not enough inventory, you know, uh in, in the, in
(07:52):
the boxes of, uh
uh of the market. But yeah, I think those are
the major challenges that we're facing up front.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I'm glad you, I'm glad you brought up a sports
analogy because I'm, I'm a sports mom. Um, I got
three boys and I've, I've done it all like lacrosse.
You know, my kids were the only brown boys on the,
on the field during lacrosse, right? It's like,
mhm. Brown boys play lacrosse. Yes, they do. Uh, and,
and anyway, um, we had basketball and football and so
you mentioned, um, you know, plays on the field and
(08:23):
and one of the things that I always talk about
with targeting a niche is if you sit on. So
what did you play? You play? Did you play sports?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Uh, I play a little basketball and baseball just a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So if you're in the basketball court and you're taking
100 shots or is it better to take the 100
shots from the same position, um, to guarantee that you'll, um,
that you'll score or, or, or should you move around
and take those 100 shots from different positions on the court?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Definitely from the same position because once you get locked
in on that same position, I mean, it's, it's a,
it's a no brainer at that point when you, you know,
you know, from the release, uh, that it's going in,
you know, for the most part, you can just feel
that release
Speaker 1 (09:09):
and
I knew you played basketball because you're pretty, you're pretty tall,
you're pretty tall guy. So the shooting from the same,
same position is the same thing. Um, that real estate agents, um,
should be doing any sales professional, right? That's a niche.
You're standing in one spot, you're taking 100 shots and
you're bound, um, to hear the swoosh, right. Um, so
(09:29):
I love that you, you talk about the, the playing field,
but the other part about the playing field or the
court is a pretty crowded right now.
A lot of agents came in trying to get that
money trying to get that pandemic money. Um, have you seen, um,
a lot of competition with, um, agents that you and
(09:52):
brokers that, you know, that are originally from the DFW area,
born and raised there or migrated to the DFW area
years ago? And now, um, where are you seeing the,
the agents come from? I'm here in California. Um,
is a, is a place where they're coming in droves
to Texas, um to start new lives and a lot
of them want to be real estate agents.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, there's definitely some of that going on as well
as you know, uh just people in general migrating from
these areas to um Texas. I I do want to
elaborate on, on one of the statements you just said
and that was about, you know, the market, you know,
the court court being a little crowded. Uh and that
is the case, you know, uh when we started off
(10:34):
this conversation, you mentioned the pandemic and, you know, things
kind of got hot uh towards it in the pandemic
and the market just
loaded. And so in the market, current market that we're
in now, we're starting to see. Yeah, the court is
still a little crowded. However, some of some of the
players in the court on the court are starting to
experience some fatigue because of the way the market is
(10:55):
right now and the challenges that we're facing. So we're
expecting that that will continue that trend will continue that
some uh will continue to fall off, but only the
strong will, you know, survive and continue to thrive in
the market.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So the fatigue is real, right? And so I uh
I talk to agents across the country on a daily basis.
Um I hear tears and fears and everything in between
serious straight up. Um So I, you know, and I,
I feel for everybody because I always, for folks outside
of the industry, I always say it's like this, you
(11:28):
have a shoe store, you set up everything, you got
a great location, you put a sign out and you
have no shoes to sell. And that's the equivalent of
what we're experiencing right now without any inventory. How can
you be a good sales person if you have, don't
have anything to sell? Uh So look, can you generate
your own inventory? Like how does this work?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Well, yeah, definitely have to have a, a strategy to
generate inventory. And I think that um one of those
deals where you sit down and uh look at, OK,
what are the different ways that we can, um,
market? Um and then also establish your target audience and
then you have to come up with the different avenues
(12:13):
of being able to do that. And I think that's where,
you know, our um connection came into play for the
most part because the oga system is
what helped me and helping me, right. Now. And that's
part of my marketing strategy or my strategy to generate,
you know, inventory is through, you know, the the
Speaker 1 (12:34):
system, Derek, the winning team, you and the winning team
are everywhere everywhere. Like your visibility, your branding,
um your colors. I I mean, it's, it's everywhere. It's
a strong brand um that comes up on a Google
search comes up in the, you know, search for a
real estate agent in DFW you guys, but how do you,
you know, look the system uh does what it does.
(12:55):
But what, what else are you, you know, you guys
are clearly taking the system and really running with it
because um
today you're, you, you know, when we met, you were
a real estate agent um with an independent brokerage and
today you're running your own brokerage. That journey is something
that I hear every day agents trying to acquire. So you, you, you, you,
you looked at yourself, you said I got a business
(13:17):
I need to invest in building my brand and, and then,
you know, kind of walk us through that journey.
It's offline and it's online, right?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And um well, I have to
say that it kind of started with, you know, the conversation,
the initial conversation that you and I had uh and,
and actually hiring drink water to uh start to do
the uh run the marketing
um for um for me, first of all, as an
individual but it was through that, that, you know, we
(13:49):
started to um have a lot, a lot more visibility
out there in the market. And so, um
with the brokerage becoming a goal that we were shooting
for that, I was shooting for, it just made it
easier to, to, to establish the brand for the winning team.
And we opened up this year. So I went from
(14:11):
managing the different brokers to having my own broker, brokerage
and, and, and drink water. Um Marketing was very instrumental
in helping us to, you know, have some, some visibility
and get ourselves out there. And, and since then, you know,
as you mentioned, you know, we're, we're showing up on Google.
(14:31):
Uh people are becoming familiar with us here in our
immediate area. So we're just looking to branch out before
and then, you know, uh from there, the old system
came into play, you know,
just to even build on top of that. So, uh yeah, it,
it's just been one of those things for me learning
as a new uh broker owner, learning and allowing uh
(14:54):
my marketing company to do its job and then doing
what I need to do to, to help or, or,
or whatever it is to make the whole program succeed.
Uh But yeah, that's, that's where we
are,
Speaker 1 (15:06):
but you had identified your, your expertise, right? So when
you and I met,
you know, sure there's a system out there, you know,
I created, it, talks about niche. But, you know, there
was a lot of conversations between you and I about
your expertise in the marketplace. Um And um you, you're
a veteran. So we, we, we, we talk, we, we
wanna talk about that, we talked about that as one
(15:28):
of your brand. And you and I sat down and
we did this um exercise called uh Byob Build your
own brand. We recently uh did the same thing with
your team,
um which I loved, I love to meet you, meeting
your team. But what we did with you is we
kind of broke down right with your expertise. What's your
value in the market? Um And um you know how
(15:49):
you show up with that expertise. Um And that's something
that we didn't necessarily do just online, right? You are,
identify your expertise and, and you're showing up, tell us
a little bit about, you know, how you show up offline.
What are you involved in? Where are you attaching your brand?
Um We established it online but there's some stuff you're doing.
(16:12):
O offline that is powerful.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah.
Well, you know, in a, in a number of ways,
like right now we, um you mentioned um my military
um connection there. Yeah, we, we are um military relocation,
uh professional, we have that certification.
Um And so, uh we are definitely uh capitalizing on
(16:37):
that with as we reach out to, to connect with
uh fellow veterans. Uh veterans in the market to either
buy or sell. And then we also have um achieved
in the, at home with diversity um
uh certification so that, you know, we um present ourselves
(16:58):
as um a, a company that is, you know, cued
in on, on uh recognizing the different cultures that we
have uh in this, in this profession, as well as
the different types of cultures out there
for, you know, a client base. And so we're trying
to make sure that we, you know, present ourselves um
(17:20):
in a way that people, you know, feel like we
can identify with them. And we also understand that, you know,
there are different cultural differences out there that we're, you know,
uh we're aware of them and, and we're um willing
to uh uh for lack of a better term, we
(17:40):
want to make sure we're able to cater to those
differences as much as possible, uh being sensitive to, you know,
uh 11 culture versus the other and not treating all
of them um in the exact same way. Um
and not really recognize and understand that, that, that we
(18:01):
are different in some ways. And so, so we are,
you know, wanting to make sure we show up in
that way and we want the, the military uh to
be one of those areas that we really emphasize as
far as one of our, our niche groups that we
work with over here at the winning team. And so
our goal is to become well trained and
(18:21):
versed in all aspects of working with veterans. At the
same time, you know, remaining continuing to build a culture
that is diverse over the winning team and working with
those different cultures out there in the, in
the market.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Hey Derek. Thank you for your service. By the way,
I wanted to mention that, what branch of military did
you serve? Pleasure
Speaker 2 (18:43):
for 20 plus years. Say it again.
I say I served in the US army for 20
plus years. Wow.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Wow. Did you become a real estate agent? Did you
get licensed as an agent? Right after getting out of
the military or do you have a little pit stop
along the way?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I actually became a realtor towards the end of my
military career. I, I initially actually started out years ago
in the state in the state of Oklahoma early in
my military career. Um But of course, with uh the
way my career went, uh military wise, I wasn't doing
uh real estate on a consistent basis since then, but
I got my first taste of it back then. But
(19:22):
then towards the end of my care,
I knew that this is what I wanted to. So
we got our license here in the State of Texas
and we, we, we started working it towards the end
of our military career. And, and uh so once uh
I retired, it was just an easy transition into doing
uh real estate full time.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You bring up a really good, a good point about
part time. Um So I'm meeting a bunch of agents
that are part time.
How did you make that jump? Because everyone that I
meet this part time says I'm gonna eventually become full time.
Once I get my first transaction, second transaction, get a
few transactions under my belt and then I'll turn this
into a full time gig. This is my plan B.
(20:03):
Um How did you make that jump? You know, what
point did you say? All right, I'm in, I'm in swim.
He's off, I'm in the water.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Well, you know, I think it just starts with, you know, setting,
setting the setting the right goals and then, you know,
uh putting the right action steps in place to achieve
those goals because the thing is, is I knew
that this is where I was headed. And so, uh
with me doing it part time, it's like, ok, I
need to make sure I've set myself up, you know,
(20:34):
to have the necessary resources. Real estate is not, you know,
for the light, light and heart and it's a very
expensive hobby if you're not going to go out and work.
So I made sure I had
resources available to me, monetary uh so that, you know,
I could, once I transitioned from, you know, a continual
(20:56):
paycheck month, every two weeks from the military. Ok. Now,
it's all about me going out and putting in the work,
I made sure that I put back,
you know, the necessary resources to help support, you know,
my uh those obligations that would not go away. Um
And so it was just, you know, I just made
wise decisions to make sure that the transition was a
(21:18):
little easy and, you know, and it, and it became
plan a and it had to work. And so, uh
I think it kind of differs from, you know, from
one person to another.
But my journey was that I knew this is the
direction I was going. So I made sure I put
some things in place to kind of help make my
transition a little bit easier.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
It's all
about the plan, it's all about the transition. If you
don't have a plan, right? There's no road map, there's
no road map for success and it's easy to fall
off when you don't have a plan, right? Because you're
not accountable to anything that
supposed to happen anyway. Um So I, so I love that,
but I know that right now, you know, look people
in the market, they are struggling, they're trying to figure
(21:57):
this gig out. Um They're coming in part time, they're
getting um ex extremely frustrated with the process. But it
definitely what I loved about, about what you said is
you knew from the jump that this was gonna be
a marathon, not a sprint um and you're killing it
right now, you have AAA nice team here in DFW.
Um You're doing your research, what else are you working on?
(22:18):
You know, are you still training? Are you still, you know,
um sharing your knowledge um with the team and, and
external teams?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Uh Yeah, funny you would say that I did, um
uh
uh I do uh as an, as an independent contractor.
I do t train at one of the uh top
uh real estate schools here in uh the state of Texas.
And so, yeah, I am uh continuing my training and
uh training new agents, new, actually new uh and existing
(22:51):
agents um in, in, in the real estate market and
just continue to educate them
and teach them about this business and how to do
this business. Um because, you know, when, when they come
through uh the real estate school, they've been taught, you know,
really the legalities and how to do the business from
a perspective of staying, staying out of court. But uh
(23:12):
learning how to actually work this business. I kind of
put some little tips in here and there as I'm
training them. But yeah, we're definitely continuing to train and
that's what we do. That's our heart as
well to train and educate and help these um new
agents uh come into the uh system uh to be successful. So,
yeah. Um
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Wow, that's, that's great. So that, that, you know, always
try always learning yourself, always sharing. Um You mentioned something
about community and communities and um you uh have shared
with me on several occasions, you've been Googled, Googled and
when you've been Googled, um some of those folks have
(23:50):
shared with you why in a Google search, uh they
chose you. So can you share with um you know,
because this goes back to organic, right? This goes back
to making connections um having a plan targeting um folks that,
you know, will like and trust you and then um
providing the best service so you can share with us
a couple of things about being Googled.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
But,
well, yeah, absolutely. Um I've had a few people, men,
you know, a few clients, men, you know, that they
googled me and whatnot and uh and one in particular
I'll talk about one in particular. She just kinda looked
at me, I think, uh she went on my Facebook
page as well. Uh, and just to see what kind of,
(24:33):
um person I am and she noticed, you know, a
few of the different organizations that I am affiliated with.
Uh one being, you know, my church home, which is
a mega church here in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Love those mega churches in Dallas. You guys got the
so many mega church like big Texas, there was big
churches in Texas. Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, yeah, so she saw my affiliation,
my church affiliation. Um also that I am in a
leadership position in my church as well. So I do
lead a
uh a team in the organization as well. And so,
uh just really checking out, check this realtor person out
(25:15):
before reaching out to me. And, you know, the, the
client really just shared that information that that's where they
started at. They went online and went on Google, and consequently,
they decided to reach out, you know, through by way
of our website. Uh Thanks to uh our
wonderful marketing company, drink water for that. That's why
Speaker 1 (25:35):
you guys got an older system website that it looks good.
I love it, love it.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
We
do, we do, we love it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Um And so she found you and she leaned in.
Um So that's what it's about,
Speaker 2 (25:44):
right?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Um The, the um your presence. Um I tell people
all the time, you know, and by the way, was
this anybody in your sphere that, you know, on your
personal page or was this somebody who found you did
not know the winning team does not know Derek Bradley
from a can.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Got no idea who this person was prior to her.
Googling me, searching me out and reaching out. Uh she
was not from my uh sphere of influence. Uh There
was no kind of uh association or acquaintance as at,
at all. So she was just totally, totally brand new person,
Speaker 1 (26:21):
right? And, and we tend to like, wanna talk to
the people we know because that's where our comfort comfort spot. Right.
We've talked to our friends and our moms and our
sisters and our relatives and high school, you know, uh, friends,
college friends all day long. Right. We love that. You know,
we're on our business pa, on our, on our personal
pages talking all day long and the money, the money
(26:42):
is on the business page. People who don't know you
that have way more money than those who know you, right?
And they're ready to buy, they're ready to come in and,
and talk and, and lay down some, some ducks to,
to buy in your area. Um And so one of
the things that um I always teach is you got
to have that business page, Derek and the winning team
has a business page. I think he's got two Google Pages.
(27:03):
He got one for himself. He got one for each
team member, one for the brokerage, right? You, you know
the power of Google coming up. And so, and you
and you guys are, are, are winning. Um I love
partnering with, with you. I, I love, you know what,
where you've shown all of us, we can go. Um
You
enlisted service member, you could have done anything with your time.
You chose real estate, you went part time, you moved,
(27:25):
you leveled that up and you had a plan, you
had a process and that is just wonderful. And so
if you know, continue teaching, sharing and learning um with
this team and being visible, we love it and thank
you so much for being on the show today. Um
I really appreciate your time. If I could be anywhere,
I'd be on this call with you, sir. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Thank you.
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Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.