April 29, 2025 • 10 mins
Have you ever started a new project with excitement, only to realize halfway through that you’re not even sure what “success” means for you? This morning, I found myself re-examining the way I set expectations—not just for big goals, but for every experiment and new lead generation method I launch.
Lately, I’ve noticed how transformative it can be to get super specific about your expected outcomes. For me, it started with a wild challenge: 30 open houses in 30 days. I didn’t just want “more leads”—I wanted three new names per event and, by the end, a crystal clear sense of what was working (and why). Reflecting back, those moments taught me that vague goals are often why we feel stuck or uncertain about when to pivot.
In today’s episode of The Work From Anywhere Agent, I’m sharing my simple, honest model for deciding when to make a change in your business. We’ll talk about creating powerful baselines, checking your real estate strategies for effectiveness, and—crucially—how to be kind to yourself when things don’t pan out as planned. If you ever question whether you’re missing something or if you’re just a tweak or two away from real momentum, this one’s for you.
Curious to swap stories, compare notes, or just get support for that next experiment? Drop into our Business Systems for Realtors Facebook group to join the conversation. I’d love to hear what you’re working on, what’s working—and what you’ve realized it’s time to pivot from.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alexa (00:00):
Today we're talking about when to pivot right, like we
think about the market shifts,we think about growing a
business, we think about allthese things and it comes down
to sometimes things just don'twork out the way that we intend
for them to, and so, as we'regoing into this, I started
building this sort of mentalmodel, if you will, that I go
through every single time that Ineed to decide whether or not
(00:21):
it's time to pivot.
So whenever I start a newproject, a new experiment, a new
anything, I always start withwhat is my expected outcome.
This is really importantbecause a lot of times, agents
come into something and I see itall the time with agents who
are looking to use Orbit, agentswho want to take on a new lead
generation method, whatever itis.
We look at like what is theexpected expected outcome, and
(00:42):
not just saying like I want moreleads, but focusing on when I
go into this new method, I'mlooking for this many leads.
So, for example, when I firstgot into the business, somebody
told me I should go do openhouses and I'm like, okay, I'm
going to do that.
And so what I did was this iscrazy at this point and I don't
think I would ever do this again, but it was a great experiment
(01:03):
is I did 30 open houses in 30days, and so they weren't huge,
epic open houses, but I decidedthat when I was going to do this
, my goal was to get anywherefrom two to four names added to
my database for those 30 days,and so there were some Saturdays
and Sundays that I did two openhouses.
I would do an 11 o'clock and Iwould do like a two o'clock, or
(01:24):
I would do a 10 o'clock and aone o'clock and they'd be two
one hour open houses.
And what I found in doing thatwas a couple of things.
First, I really got good atbeing able to have conversations
off the cuff with buyers andbecause of the facts that I
started doing open houses in thesame areas, people started to
recognize that I was doing a lotof open houses.
(01:45):
And I have to tell you somebodyjust reached out who has been
on my drip campaign for almostnine years at this point and he
has a $1.3 million property thathe's looking to sell, and he
reached out to me because I methim at one of those open houses,
continued to nurture him,continued to keep him in the
database.
He's been on my Real Scoutnurture campaign and he just
(02:05):
basically reached out and saidhey, I'm moving to central
Florida and I need to sell myhouse, and so I have a listing
appointment set with him onFriday.
Now that's not the only one,but what I found is that
experiment got me so good athaving conversations with people
that that was sort of anunexpected outcome.
(02:25):
Right when I went into it, myexpected outcome was 30 open
houses in 30 days.
I needed two to four people, soreally the goal was three,
right, but if I had two somedayand four other days, I was okay
with that right.
So and we're talking about Idid a lot of twilight open
houses from like five to 7pm orsix to 8pm, so that I could make
(02:46):
sure I got those open houses inRight.
And so I'm using this as anexample.
Right, this model works foranything.
Then, the intention here is thatwhatever you go into, you have
to be so incredibly clear aboutwhat your expected outcome is,
because if you're not clearabout what success looks like,
you're never going to know ifyou're actually being successful
(03:07):
.
And I know that sounds soobvious and so basic, but so
many people start new things andthey're like well, I just hope
it works, okay.
But how will you know if itworks?
You know what?
If the goal is 10 leads, okay,well.
If you get 11 leads, that'ssuccessful, right.
If you get nine leads, okay,well then maybe you just need to
let it run a little bit longer.
So a lot of these things wherewe think that things are not
(03:28):
working.
It comes down to the fact thatwe either, a had no clear
expectation of what we werelooking for or, b we had
unrealistic expectations of whatthings were going to look like.
So the first thing is likesetting that expected outcome.
Then, as you go through and youdo the activity, at the end of
your experiment so typically Ido this for a set time period
(03:50):
seven days, 21 days, 30 days, 60days, 90 days, whatever that
timeframe is I make sure that ona weekly basis, I stay
consistent to that one or twoactivities to make sure that I
can really focus on whatever thegoal is right.
So at the end of it, I'm goingto look back and say what was
the result?
Did I hit the result?
Okay, great.
(04:10):
If I hit the result, then Iknow that it worked and that's
something I'm going to keepdoing If I fell short of the
results.
The very first thing that I goback and look at is the
activities.
Right, if I knew, going intoagain, using the 30 open houses
of 30 days and so looking at,okay, well, if I add three
people to my database everysingle time I do an open house
(04:31):
in 30 days, I should have 90names in my database, okay, so
of those 90 names, I expectedthat about 10% of them were
going to end up purchasingproperty within the next 18
months or so, and so myimmediate goal was 90 names in
the database, and then I had tomake sure I kept nurturing them,
right?
But if I didn't hit that 90names, then I have to look at
(04:52):
the activity.
Number one did I not do enoughopen houses?
Number two did I not promotethem?
All of those things, right.
And so, by the way, I ended upblowing past that number.
That was a challenge that mycoach made me do, because at the
time I didn't have anybody inmy pipeline and so from that I
got so good at just theconversations with buyers and
(05:12):
talking to the neighbors and allof that sort of stuff.
So it ended up blowing pastthat goal and understanding that
, going in with a plan, I knewexactly how I was going to be
successful, and it didn't feeloverwhelming because I knew
exactly what I needed to doevery single time and it was
realistic.
So often we come into thingswith unrealistic expectations.
(05:34):
I'm going to be the exception,right, I'm going to have 20
people come to every open housethat I do.
Okay, well, that's notrealistic, because we all know
that there's open houses thatnobody comes to sometimes, right
?
So you sit there for two hoursand maybe you have one weird
creepy neighbor that comes overand they don't sign in, and so
now you have zero, right?
(05:54):
So then sometimes you have 10people, and so those are things
that you can't really predict.
But if you can set a baselineexpectation, you can check in
throughout the process,Throughout those 30 days.
You can check in after fiveopen houses and say, how am I
doing?
Okay, well, if I'm not hittingthe number, then I need to
change something, right, and sothat is really where it comes
(06:15):
down to is being able to pivotfaster.
But it starts with knowing whatthe expected outcome is actually
going to be and then when youget to the end of whatever your
challenge is so, and I'm goingto keep and then, when you get
to the end of whatever yourchallenge is, so and I'm going
to keep reiterating this thatexpected outcome needs to come
with a deadline In the next 30days, in the next 60 days, in
the next 90 days, in the nextfive or three or seven days,
(06:37):
whatever that number ends upbeing.
We need to just be clear aboutwhat exactly it is right.
So, expected outcome deadlineGet to the deadline and you're
like great, you know, I hit itor I missed it.
If you miss it, then you goback to the activity first.
If you did the activity but youstill missed the result, then
something else is broken.
Whether it's the marketing orthe scripting or your follow-up
(06:58):
sequences, there's something inthere that's broken.
And so we get really, reallygranular about how we're sort of
critiquing our expected outcomeor plan.
From there.
Then we can start making tweaks, then we start making changes.
Right, we go, okay, well,either A, this worked and now I
want to do more of it, insteadof just saying, okay, well,
(07:20):
let's just keep doing it.
Then we say can we actuallymake this convert better?
Can we actually get more peopleinto our open houses.
And so you start making these1% improvements and truly, this
is how you stay motivated whenthings get really tough, because
you're focusing on this onething at a time and you know
that it's going to get youcloser to your goals.
(07:41):
But you have to have a baselineto work off of, and so we're
like, okay, well, I'm not goingto do anything until I know that
it's going to work.
Well, you're not going to knowif it's going to work until you
actually start doing theactivities to start building a
baseline.
And then, as you start gettingto the end of your experiment,
now it's time for a newexperiment, and that's where
(08:01):
that improvement comes in.
Or that's where it's time to goback and say, hey, listen, I
have to be really honest withmyself.
I can't be mad at myself fornot getting the results that I
wanted when I didn't actually dothe work.
Ok, well, that's a work ethicthing, and so, if anything, if
we want to be really honest,that's an integrity thing too,
because if we said that we'regoing to do something and we
(08:22):
said that this is what we wanted, and then we just didn't do the
activities, we really have tohave a hard look at ourselves in
the mirror and say, like, ok,well, where am I holding myself
back, right?
(08:44):
And so when I start calling outintegrity, this is where a lot
of people, their nervous systemsare going to start freaking out
and they're going to be like,no, I'm someone who has
integrity, and I'm not sayingthat you don't.
What I'm saying is there'ssomething inside of you that's
holding you back from whateverthat activity is.
And so then that's where theemotional and spiritual and
trauma work comes in, to say,like, why am I fighting this so
much when I know this is goodfor me?
Like, why am I so resistant todoing this one thing?
And that is where the workreally lies, right?
So this process of pivoting isabout being so brutally honest
(09:08):
with ourselves, but doing it ina way that's not critical, in a
way that's empowering right, andnot trying to accomplish the
whole world at one time, reallyfocusing on, like, the one thing
, what is the one experimentthat I want to do?
Having the really clearexpected outcome, having the
really clear timeline Once weget to the end, making sure,
obviously, that we're fulfillingthe activities that we said we
(09:29):
were going to do.
We tweak and we pivot along theway to stay on track for that
one commitment and then, at theend of that commitment, then we
go back, we reflect and we lookat our progress.
How did we do?
If we hit it, then great,continue and now start a new
experiment.
That's how you stay motivated.
If you fell short of it, then A,like I said, go back into the
(09:52):
activity piece.
If we fell short of theactivity, we got some work to do
there.
If we did the activity butstill didn't get the result,
then we know that there is asystems issue or a leverage
issue, and that's where we getinto this.
And so I hope that this washelpful today.
I hope that when you're goingthrough and you're thinking
about this, that voice in theback of your head does not come
(10:12):
across as trying to insult youor criticize you, but instead
says okay, listen, the negativethoughts, the negative comments
are not helpful, but what ishelpful is getting clarity and
deciding that we're going tostart the experiment.
So, with that in mind, pleasemake sure that you join us in
our Facebook discussion, in theBusiness Systems for Realtors
Facebook group, and I will seeyou in the next episode.
Today we're talking about when to pivot right, like we
think about the market shifts,we think about growing a
business, we think about allthese things and it comes down
to sometimes things just don'twork out the way that we intend
for them to, and so, as we'regoing into this, I started
building this sort of mentalmodel, if you will, that I go
through every single time that Ineed to decide whether or not
(00:21):
it's time to pivot.
So whenever I start a newproject, a new experiment, a new
anything, I always start withwhat is my expected outcome.
This is really importantbecause a lot of times, agents
come into something and I see itall the time with agents who
are looking to use Orbit, agentswho want to take on a new lead
generation method, whatever itis.
We look at like what is theexpected expected outcome, and
(00:42):
not just saying like I want moreleads, but focusing on when I
go into this new method, I'mlooking for this many leads.
So, for example, when I firstgot into the business, somebody
told me I should go do openhouses and I'm like, okay, I'm
going to do that.
And so what I did was this iscrazy at this point and I don't
think I would ever do this again, but it was a great experiment
(01:03):
is I did 30 open houses in 30days, and so they weren't huge,
epic open houses, but I decidedthat when I was going to do this
, my goal was to get anywherefrom two to four names added to
my database for those 30 days,and so there were some Saturdays
and Sundays that I did two openhouses.
I would do an 11 o'clock and Iwould do like a two o'clock, or
(01:24):
I would do a 10 o'clock and aone o'clock and they'd be two
one hour open houses.
And what I found in doing thatwas a couple of things.
First, I really got good atbeing able to have conversations
off the cuff with buyers andbecause of the facts that I
started doing open houses in thesame areas, people started to
recognize that I was doing a lotof open houses.
(01:45):
And I have to tell you somebodyjust reached out who has been
on my drip campaign for almostnine years at this point and he
has a $1.3 million property thathe's looking to sell, and he
reached out to me because I methim at one of those open houses,
continued to nurture him,continued to keep him in the
database.
He's been on my Real Scoutnurture campaign and he just
(02:05):
basically reached out and saidhey, I'm moving to central
Florida and I need to sell myhouse, and so I have a listing
appointment set with him onFriday.
Now that's not the only one,but what I found is that
experiment got me so good athaving conversations with people
that that was sort of anunexpected outcome.
(02:25):
Right when I went into it, myexpected outcome was 30 open
houses in 30 days.
I needed two to four people, soreally the goal was three,
right, but if I had two somedayand four other days, I was okay
with that right.
So and we're talking about Idid a lot of twilight open
houses from like five to 7pm orsix to 8pm, so that I could make
(02:46):
sure I got those open houses inRight.
And so I'm using this as anexample.
Right, this model works foranything.
Then, the intention here is thatwhatever you go into, you have
to be so incredibly clear aboutwhat your expected outcome is,
because if you're not clearabout what success looks like,
you're never going to know ifyou're actually being successful
(03:07):
.
And I know that sounds soobvious and so basic, but so
many people start new things andthey're like well, I just hope
it works, okay.
But how will you know if itworks?
You know what?
If the goal is 10 leads, okay,well.
If you get 11 leads, that'ssuccessful, right.
If you get nine leads, okay,well then maybe you just need to
let it run a little bit longer.
So a lot of these things wherewe think that things are not
(03:28):
working.
It comes down to the fact thatwe either, a had no clear
expectation of what we werelooking for or, b we had
unrealistic expectations of whatthings were going to look like.
So the first thing is likesetting that expected outcome.
Then, as you go through and youdo the activity, at the end of
your experiment so typically Ido this for a set time period
(03:50):
seven days, 21 days, 30 days, 60days, 90 days, whatever that
timeframe is I make sure that ona weekly basis, I stay
consistent to that one or twoactivities to make sure that I
can really focus on whatever thegoal is right.
So at the end of it, I'm goingto look back and say what was
the result?
Did I hit the result?
Okay, great.
(04:10):
If I hit the result, then Iknow that it worked and that's
something I'm going to keepdoing If I fell short of the
results.
The very first thing that I goback and look at is the
activities.
Right, if I knew, going intoagain, using the 30 open houses
of 30 days and so looking at,okay, well, if I add three
people to my database everysingle time I do an open house
(04:31):
in 30 days, I should have 90names in my database, okay, so
of those 90 names, I expectedthat about 10% of them were
going to end up purchasingproperty within the next 18
months or so, and so myimmediate goal was 90 names in
the database, and then I had tomake sure I kept nurturing them,
right?
But if I didn't hit that 90names, then I have to look at
(04:52):
the activity.
Number one did I not do enoughopen houses?
Number two did I not promotethem?
All of those things, right.
And so, by the way, I ended upblowing past that number.
That was a challenge that mycoach made me do, because at the
time I didn't have anybody inmy pipeline and so from that I
got so good at just theconversations with buyers and
(05:12):
talking to the neighbors and allof that sort of stuff.
So it ended up blowing pastthat goal and understanding that
, going in with a plan, I knewexactly how I was going to be
successful, and it didn't feeloverwhelming because I knew
exactly what I needed to doevery single time and it was
realistic.
So often we come into thingswith unrealistic expectations.
(05:34):
I'm going to be the exception,right, I'm going to have 20
people come to every open housethat I do.
Okay, well, that's notrealistic, because we all know
that there's open houses thatnobody comes to sometimes, right
?
So you sit there for two hoursand maybe you have one weird
creepy neighbor that comes overand they don't sign in, and so
now you have zero, right?
(05:54):
So then sometimes you have 10people, and so those are things
that you can't really predict.
But if you can set a baselineexpectation, you can check in
throughout the process,Throughout those 30 days.
You can check in after fiveopen houses and say, how am I
doing?
Okay, well, if I'm not hittingthe number, then I need to
change something, right, and sothat is really where it comes
(06:15):
down to is being able to pivotfaster.
But it starts with knowing whatthe expected outcome is actually
going to be and then when youget to the end of whatever your
challenge is so, and I'm goingto keep and then, when you get
to the end of whatever yourchallenge is, so and I'm going
to keep reiterating this thatexpected outcome needs to come
with a deadline In the next 30days, in the next 60 days, in
the next 90 days, in the nextfive or three or seven days,
(06:37):
whatever that number ends upbeing.
We need to just be clear aboutwhat exactly it is right.
So, expected outcome deadlineGet to the deadline and you're
like great, you know, I hit itor I missed it.
If you miss it, then you goback to the activity first.
If you did the activity but youstill missed the result, then
something else is broken.
Whether it's the marketing orthe scripting or your follow-up
(06:58):
sequences, there's something inthere that's broken.
And so we get really, reallygranular about how we're sort of
critiquing our expected outcomeor plan.
From there.
Then we can start making tweaks, then we start making changes.
Right, we go, okay, well,either A, this worked and now I
want to do more of it, insteadof just saying, okay, well,
(07:20):
let's just keep doing it.
Then we say can we actuallymake this convert better?
Can we actually get more peopleinto our open houses.
And so you start making these1% improvements and truly, this
is how you stay motivated whenthings get really tough, because
you're focusing on this onething at a time and you know
that it's going to get youcloser to your goals.
(07:41):
But you have to have a baselineto work off of, and so we're
like, okay, well, I'm not goingto do anything until I know that
it's going to work.
Well, you're not going to knowif it's going to work until you
actually start doing theactivities to start building a
baseline.
And then, as you start gettingto the end of your experiment,
now it's time for a newexperiment, and that's where
(08:01):
that improvement comes in.
Or that's where it's time to goback and say, hey, listen, I
have to be really honest withmyself.
I can't be mad at myself fornot getting the results that I
wanted when I didn't actually dothe work.
Ok, well, that's a work ethicthing, and so, if anything, if
we want to be really honest,that's an integrity thing too,
because if we said that we'regoing to do something and we
(08:22):
said that this is what we wanted, and then we just didn't do the
activities, we really have tohave a hard look at ourselves in
the mirror and say, like, ok,well, where am I holding myself
back, right?
(08:44):
And so when I start calling outintegrity, this is where a lot
of people, their nervous systemsare going to start freaking out
and they're going to be like,no, I'm someone who has
integrity, and I'm not sayingthat you don't.
What I'm saying is there'ssomething inside of you that's
holding you back from whateverthat activity is.
And so then that's where theemotional and spiritual and
trauma work comes in, to say,like, why am I fighting this so
much when I know this is goodfor me?
Like, why am I so resistant todoing this one thing?
And that is where the workreally lies, right?
So this process of pivoting isabout being so brutally honest
(09:08):
with ourselves, but doing it ina way that's not critical, in a
way that's empowering right, andnot trying to accomplish the
whole world at one time, reallyfocusing on, like, the one thing
, what is the one experimentthat I want to do?
Having the really clearexpected outcome, having the
really clear timeline Once weget to the end, making sure,
obviously, that we're fulfillingthe activities that we said we
(09:29):
were going to do.
We tweak and we pivot along theway to stay on track for that
one commitment and then, at theend of that commitment, then we
go back, we reflect and we lookat our progress.
How did we do?
If we hit it, then great,continue and now start a new
experiment.
That's how you stay motivated.
If you fell short of it, then A,like I said, go back into the
(09:52):
activity piece.
If we fell short of theactivity, we got some work to do
there.
If we did the activity butstill didn't get the result,
then we know that there is asystems issue or a leverage
issue, and that's where we getinto this.
And so I hope that this washelpful today.
I hope that when you're goingthrough and you're thinking
about this, that voice in theback of your head does not come
(10:12):
across as trying to insult youor criticize you, but instead
says okay, listen, the negativethoughts, the negative comments
are not helpful, but what ishelpful is getting clarity and
deciding that we're going tostart the experiment.
So, with that in mind, pleasemake sure that you join us in
our Facebook discussion, in theBusiness Systems for Realtors
Facebook group, and I will seeyou in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.