25. My go-to reads for real estate success

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Have you ever felt stuck in your business, knowing you need a boost but not knowing where to find it? That hit me recently, and I realized that sometimes the best solutions are already on our bookshelves. In today’s episode of The Work From Anywhere Agent, I’m sharing the nine books that have repeatedly given me that essential kick in the butt to reignite my passion and focus.

Reflecting on my journey, I’ve noticed that different books resonate at different times, depending on the challenges I face. For instance, "The Ultimate Sales Machine" by Chet Holmes transformed my approach to lead generation, while "Fanatical Prospecting" by Jeb Blount reignited my enthusiasm for reaching out to new clients. These books aren’t just about motivation—they're about practical, actionable strategies.

Today, I delve into each of these must-reads, covering insights from sales techniques to mindset shifts. Whether you’re looking to refine your business strategy with "Ready, Fire, Aim" or tackle those deep-seated money blocks with "The Psychology of Money," there’s something here for every agent needing a nudge towards growth.

Join the conversation in our Facebook group and share which book you’re excited to dive into next. Who knows, you might even find a book club partner! And if you're curious to explore more strategies, don’t miss out on our 7-Day Funnel Challenge.

Tune in and let's keep pushing our boundaries together!

Business Systems for Realtors Facebook group: https://facebook.com/groups/bizsystems.
7-Day Funnel Challenge: https://orbit.realestate/cnfin7days
Explore how you can team up with us at eXp: https://alexarosario.com/exp.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In today's episode, we're talking about the seven
books that I always go back towhenever I need a kick in the
butt in my business.
An important part of knowingwhen you need a kick in the butt
isn't just saying like I needmotivation, right, because that
it's not about that.
What we do need, though, isspecific motivation and specific
strategies and specificreminders around whatever part

(00:20):
of your business or whateverpart of your mindset that needs
polishing.
So, a lot of times when peoplemake book recommendations, if
you're starting to read itaround whatever part of your
business or whatever part ofyour mindset that needs
polishing.
So, a lot of times when peoplemake book recommendations, if
you're starting to read it, butthat's not what you need at that
moment, it's not really goingto resonate deeply with you.
The reason why some booksresonate so deeply with people
at a specific time is becausethat's what they needed at that
time in their life, where youmight be somewhere else, and so,

(00:42):
since we're all real estateagents here, let me get started.
So number one is the UltimateSales Machine.
This book was written by thisguy named Chet Holmes.
He used to work for CharlieMunger and he took a failing
magazine.
He basically took their adsales from like the worst in the
market to being the best in themarket and growing 50% year

(01:04):
over year over year.
And so in the Ultimate SalesMachine, it's very much about
building a systematic salesprocess and then being able to
bring people into that model,and so this book has been really
fundamental for me in terms ofwhen I think about the lead
generation, when I think aboutthe Dream 100, when I think
about the strategy of focusingon attorneys and referral
partners in my business has beena game changer.

(01:26):
So that would be my firstsuggestion, especially if you're
in a place where you're, liketrying to decide where you want
to take your business and youdon't feel like you have
structure or vision around yourlead generation.
Second is Ninja Selling.
This particular book is a newfavorite of mine.
I read it for the first time acouple months ago and what I

(01:47):
loved about it was how practicaland tangible all of it was.
So it really goes into like thespecific strategies around
creating a great clientexperience around your daily
habits, all of that fun stuff.
So definitely recommend that.
I think that is one thateverybody should read.
It really touches on the leadgeneration, but it's more so
about the entire businesspractice of like your day to day

(02:08):
as a real estate agent, andthis is going to be one of those
where there's a lot of like,small, practical things that you
can implement into yourbusiness, where you're like, oh
OK, yeah, I see how that worksand you know we talk a lot about
the systems on the Orbit side,but this gives you kind of the
structure for your systems.
Number three is fanaticalprospecting.
This is one that I go back toprobably once a year or so.

(02:30):
Jeb Blount or Blount, I don'tknow if I'm saying his name
correctly he's written severalbooks around sales, prospecting,
objections, contractnegotiation, and all of them are
great.
They're super easy reads, superengaging, they're fun to
consume and they really get youback on the bandwagon of wanting
to make those calls, wanting totalk to people and wanting to

(02:52):
run through a brick wall, whilealso giving you the practical
strategies around the leadgeneration.
So down into like how do youorganize who you're going to
call for the day?
The other day, during one ofour masterminds, one of our
agents was saying how she hasall these leads and she has all
these clients that are notactually doing anything, and so
then we took it back to thiswhole.
When you generate, you don'thave to tolerate mindset right.

(03:13):
If you're holding onto leadsthat are not doing anything,
it's because you stopped leadgenerating and you stopped
filling your pipeline, so you'reattached to these leads that
are never actually going totransact and so you have to go
back to finding new business,and so that's where fanatical
prospecting comes into play.
Next up is never eat alone.
This was one that blew my mindwide open, because for the first

(03:34):
probably five or six years ofmy career, I did a lot of
networking, but I never feltlike it turned into revenue fast
enough, and so never eat alonegives you a practical framework
around your approach ofnetworking and really how to
turn, like sphere relationships,into actual revenue.
It's super easy read,definitely engaging.
Highly recommend it, especiallyif networking is a big part of

(03:58):
your business.
The next couple are more soaround business strategy and
mindset, and I have to tell youI've read a lot of books in
these categories, but these arethe three that I go back to and
reference and talk about themost.
So number one is built to sell.
Now, if you've been around herefor a while, you've heard my

(04:18):
vision of really building a realestate practice that becomes a
sellable asset.
Now, I don't know if I'm evergoing to decide to sell my
business, but I know that I wantthe option to if I wanted to.
I know that doctors and lawyersand financial advisors and
accountants all built businessesthat they can sell when they
decide to retire and I want tohave that option one day.

(04:39):
And so built to sell isliterally around building a
business that becomes sellable.
It's told in a novel styleformat, but it completely
changed the way that I thoughtabout building my real estate
business Because, realistically,how often do you hear about
real estate agents who selltheir practices Like almost
never?
Next up is zero to one.
This is one that is sointeresting because what I find

(05:03):
when I read this one is I didn'treally know what to expect.
But this concept of zero to oneis basically focused around
building monopolies.
So if you think about Amazon orGoogle or those types of
platforms, what the book talksabout is how monopolies don't
like to be considered monopoliesbecause that invites like
government intervention thatinvites criticism, government

(05:23):
intervention that invitescriticism and scrutiny and all
these other things, so theydon't consider themselves
monopolies.
And then it goes into, at amore practical level, how
salespeople the best salespeoplenever call themselves
salespeople.
They call themselves lawyersand doctors and politicians and
all these other things, and Ithink this book really became

(05:44):
the foundation for my ghostselling strategy, the focus
around really making sure thatwhen I'm communicating about my
brand, when I'm talking topeople, I'm not triggering that
sales defensiveness, and I thinkthis book was really the
foundation of that for me.
Next up is Ready Fire Aim.
This is one that will make youthink bigger than you've

(06:04):
probably ever thought before.
This is written by a guy whobasically what he does is he
helps companies go from zero to10 million, 10 million to 50
million, 50 million to 100million plus, and so he talks
about the different challengesthat you'll run into at each of
the different phases of yourbusiness.
And when I say 10 and 50 and100 million, I'm not talking
about volume sold, I'm talkingabout revenue into the business,

(06:27):
right, and so, as you startthinking about growing really
big business, this is one thatyou absolutely have to read.
I know that I said there wereseven, but there's two more that
I feel like I would be doing adisservice if I didn't throw
them in here.
So I'm going to give you twobonuses.
So the first one is sevenlevels of communication.
This is one that a lot of realestate agents have heard about.
It's written by a realtor andit's written in novel format.

(06:50):
It kind of aligns with nevereat alone, but more at a
practical level for a realestate agent.
And so if networking andrelationship building is your
priority definitely never eatalone and seven levels of
Communication those two willgive you such a powerful
foundation for building yourbusiness around networking and

(07:10):
relationships.
And the last one has literallynothing to do with business but
everything to do with yourmindset.
This one is called thePsychology of Money, and I have
to tell you that I haveidentified so many money blocks
in my own brain that this bookreally kind of broke some of
those open for me and set me ona path of healing some of those.

(07:33):
And the Psychology of Moneyisn't necessarily practical
around.
Here's exactly what you need todo to invest in your future and
all these other things, but itreally does give you a framework
and gives you permission to sayyou know what?
It's okay that I don't have itfigured all out.
Here's kind of the plan thatI'm going to start developing,
and so if you find that you havea money block, like you're

(07:54):
blocking your own blessings, ifyou will, because of these deep
rooted fears or pains aroundmoney, psychology of Money is a
great one to read.
So those are the nine booksthat I always go back to
whenever I need a kick in thebutt, and so, as always, please
join our daily discussion in ouragent Facebook group.
I want to hear which of thesebooks are you going to go read

(08:16):
next, and hopefully maybe you'llfind someone to do a book club
with.
I think that would be a lot offun.
So until then, I will see youin the next episode.