September 12, 2025 • 43 mins
Episode Overview
In this episode of the John Kitchens Coach Podcast, John sits down with Steve Zahnd to unpack his journey from running an independent brokerage to leading a three-team merger under Real. They dive into what it takes to lead at scale, why decision-making filters are critical, and how AI is reshaping leadership, communication, and execution.
From lessons learned building SaaS systems to navigating the emotional psychology of mergers, Steve shares how clarity, trust, and technology combine to create exponential growth. Whether you’re leading a team, scaling a brokerage, or just trying to stay ahead of the curve with AI, this episode is packed with insights on balancing fundamentals with innovation.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Steve’s Journey & The Three-Team Merger
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How Steve went from Century 21 to running his own brokerage to merging three major teams
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Why core values and vision alignment were non-negotiable in the merger decision
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Lessons from missing the EXP wave and how that shaped his second chance with Real
Leadership & Decision-Making
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The two filters Steve uses to make big decisions (and avoid blind spots)
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https://johnkitchenscoachpodcast.com/Why letting go of your brand can be the key to leveling up
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How to build trust among partners and stay in your lane
AI & Operational Excellence
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Why Steve loads every meeting, document, and decision into his “AI Brain”
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How AI acts as a strategic thought partner (and where it still falls short)
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Using AI to improve communication, remove emotion, and accelerate speed of execution
Fundamentals & Balance
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Why AI isn’t a replacement for fundamentals but an accelerator
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The role of project managers and integrators in keeping teams on track
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How to capture, validate, and prioritize ideas without losing focus
Resources & Mentions
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CoachKitchens.ai – AI coaching tool designed for real estate leaders
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The Creative Act by Rick Rubin – On faith, creativity, and problem solving
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Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman – Understanding the Visionary/Integrator relationship
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Science of Scaling by Ben Hardy – Setting impossible goals with impossible timelines
Final Takeaway
Growth doesn’t come from chasing shortcuts—it comes from clarity, trust, and execution. As Steve puts it, merging three teams and leading at scale is less about having all the answers and more about asking the right questions, leveraging technology, and trusting the process.
“AI isn’t here to replace leaders—it’s here to make great leaders faster, clearer, and more effective.” – Steve Zahnd
Connect with Us:
- Instagram: @johnkitchenscoach
- LinkedIn: @johnkitchenscoach
- Facebook: @johnkitchenscoach
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a review. Stay tuned for more insights and strategies from the top minds. See you next time! 🔥
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Seven figure success starts whenyou start thinking like a CEO.
Welcome to the JohnKitchens Coach podcast.
Experience is your host, John Kitchens.
Get ready to think bigger andtransform your business into
a path to lasting freedom.
What's happening?
Uh, you know, just lots of good stuff, uh,getting caught up from the long weekend.
(00:23):
How about you?
Yeah, same.
It's been, uh, it's good, youknow, that, uh, obviously when.
You do what we do.
It's, uh, most of the, it, it, wewere having, we were on a walk, um,
with uh, Leanne's youngest daughter.
We were walking the dogs and.
Just Mom, why are youalways on your phone?
Why are you always doing this?
Why are you doing that?
I just, I'm smiling and you know, andshe goes to explain, you know, it's
(00:47):
just, you know, the business and kind ofthe business we're in, it never stops.
You can create boundaries, but however,it's it, and I said, listen, when you
own a business and essentially being areal estate, you own your own business.
You know, that whole, youknow, agent to co mindset.
It's Alzheimer's, it is all the time.
It never, it never stops.
And that's just, that'sthe trade off, right?
(01:07):
And, and so, uh, it was just interestingto, to, to have that conversation,
especially with the kiddos.
But, um, it was good, uh, yesterday.
To to breathe a little bit to get caughtup, right, to spend that little extra
time dialing in the plan for the week,dialing obviously beginning of the month,
dialing in the plan for the month, andjust kind of checking in, just making sure
(01:28):
we're not drifting too far off course.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Absolutely.
So, brother, I, let's, let's unpackyour story a little bit because I
think it is, you know, importantto, to just kind of understand,
you know, your real estate journey.
Um, for, for, you know, kind of thethings that are on my mind that I wanna
pick your brain about as it comes to, youknow, the future and, and the accelerated
(01:53):
growth, exponential growth in, in thereal estate side of things, the teams.
Um, but also wanna get intoconversation around ai.
Um, you know, I just, I,I have not seen anybody.
Operate, um, as quickly as youare operating, incorporating
AI into, into everything.
(02:15):
See it in the team meetings.
I see it in structure,I see it in agendas.
I see it in in workflows.
So I'm, I'm excited to, to jump intothat, but, you know, give a little
context about your background andstory, I think will give a lot more
context to, to the conversation.
Okay, great.
So take it back from the beginning.
Take it back to the beginning.
Yeah, let's go.
All right, let's go.
(02:36):
All right.
Uh, well, back to the beginning.
I got into real estate, uh, seriously.
August, 2010 is when I marked my,uh, first true day in real estate.
Um, essentially, uh, my wife and Ifound out we were having a, a, a child.
So I had to figure outwhat I wanna do for income.
Long story short, we chose the realestate path to, uh, to make that happen.
Um, and yeah, I've been, been incoaching ever since I got started.
(02:59):
Um, so my first coach, Gord Gary,and then, uh, the next coach,
uh, was with, uh, Doug Thompson.
And then, then I started working with youprobably in my fourth year of real estate.
Yeah.
Um, and we worked together for.
For years and, and working together again.
Um, so I'm super excited andhonored to, uh, you know, have
that relationship with you.
So again, a lot of great people in mylife to, to help me get to where I am.
(03:22):
Um, but uh, during that journey,obviously some ups and downs.
Um, century 21 started there.
Uh, went to an independentbrokerage for 10 years.
Uh, ran our own independentbrokerage for 10 years.
Uh, started with part some partnerships.
I, uh, worked with, uh, Blake andNick, who became, uh, partners of mine.
Um, and then, uh, fast forward to today,just went through a, a three team merger.
(03:45):
Um, where, uh, three teamleaders, uh, came together.
Um, so essentially I got to usethe experience I had in like,
creating partnerships and stufflike that to merge three big teams.
And that merger is happening right now.
So, yeah, that's, uh, that's,that's the quick, quick, uh,
quick version of the story.
Quick,
quick, down and dirty.
Yeah.
You know, I think in, in, what's crazyis that we weren't even seeking that.
(04:08):
Angle, right?
We weren't seeking, uh, a merger.
We weren't even looking at that.
And, you know, for, for youkind of, you know, maybe you've
just been so heavy into it.
I don't even know if you'vehad time to reflect on, you
know, how that all came to be.
But, um, obviously, you know,it's a, an overnight thing, right?
Like, you know, it's been happening since,since 2010 when you got into real estate.
(04:32):
But like, like for you, reflectingback on how that all went down.
Um, you know, looking at what was, whatwas done prior to put you in that position
for that to, you know, even come to you.
Yeah, no, I, I, I, uh, did have sometime to reflect on that and I, I do
believe it's, uh, the work that we putin together back in November of 24.
(04:57):
Um, so, you know, we were, before that, wewere, we joined Real, and then the first
demo was we wanted to grow the community.
So in 2020.
Three to 2024.
So May, 2023 to May, 2024 wasessentially our first year.
Uh, within that, uh, first 12, uh, 12, 15months, I did I think 13, 14 events, um,
(05:18):
had over almost a thousand agents come toour events and I was just, uh, trying to.
You know, get, get our name outthere, starting to add value to the
community and, um, and, uh, start toattracting agents through value to,
uh, the real, the real brokerage.
And, uh, yeah, we had some successfor sure and learned a lot of lessons.
But then really when we met inNovember, uh, is when you, uh,
(05:39):
you jumped back in with us.
It's like, okay, well let's, let's,let's talk about the new vision and the
new future and what that looks like.
And really what we wanted to accomplishwas 2005 star real estate experiences and
also build a community of 5,000 realtors.
Um, and then the way we did thatis just by, you know, um, you know,
every month, every day is like, Hey,what can we do better to get there?
And then essentially, as we werejourneying along our, our track, you
(06:01):
know, we, we grew our community throughdelegation mastery, through our home
value hub, uh, technology as well.
We were growing our customerbase and our, and our community.
And then essentially when thisopportunity presented itself, we
were, we, you know, you, you posedthe question to me it's like, well,
is this going to take us closer to ourgoal or further away from our goal?
And, and when you just lookat specifically and just from
(06:22):
a goal perspective, yeah.
Not only does it take us immediatelycloser to our goal, it essentially.
Makes our goal, uh, so small now in, incomparison that we can now have a bigger
vision of the future because of thepotential possibilities of the merger.
So really we, what we did was we usedour decision making filters, like
we always set up, you know, our corevalues, are these guys a core value fit?
(06:42):
Yes or no?
And, and that check the box.
That was the first thing.
And then the secondary questionwe had to ask ourselves is, does
this take us closer, furtheraway to the vision that we have?
And it definitely tookus closer to that vision.
So really when we put it through thosetwo decision making filters, which was.
Easier said than done because like,uh, you also had to like, navigate my
emotional psychology around like, youknow, um, letting go of the brand that
(07:04):
we've been building for the last 10 years.
Uh, even though it's survived as anagricultural division of the company,
it was still a big major, uh, shift.
Um, but yeah, I don't think if we,if we haven't, if we didn't set up
that, that, uh, that strategy andthat, um, that vision for ourselves,
um, I think it would've been.
Who knows exactly if thatopportunity wouldn't even
have presented itself, right?
(07:25):
Because you are, you do attract what youtry to, what you, what you seek when you,
you know,
when you're trying to get to acertain level, you start attracting
those solutions to yourself.
So,
man, it, it is and, and sometimes,you know, we're obviously.
Almost always our own worst enemy.
And you know, we, we put up these, thesefilters and these blinders to where
like, we can't even even put ourself in aposition, you know, for, for opportunity.
(07:50):
And it, it's just really cool once you,you get, you know, fixated on, on, you
know, a clear, you know, vision thatyou're committed to, um, then it's,
then it's the, um, it's the wholeretic reticular activator, right?
And it's the, you know, it's.
It's the, you know, thepurple G wagon, right?
Like, when was the last timeyou saw a purple G wagon?
(08:11):
But you start thinking about it, I,I promise you, you're gonna see one.
And, and so it's, it's just reallythat, you know, you put it up there
and sometimes, sometimes you gotta bebumped over the head with it though.
Um, you know, like even, evenfor us, we were exposed to.
You know, the, the, the cloud-based,you know, platform with, with additional
(08:32):
opportunities early on in, in our path.
I mean, you know, what we were doingin Texas, we, we were fixated on.
That's the path.
And um, sometimes, you know, you, youneed that, you know, light bulb moment
or just getting whacked over the headhard enough to finally pay attention
to be able to, to see, oh wow, theremight be a, there might be a better way.
(08:55):
Um.
Take us back a little bit too, 'causeI, I, I definitely wanna talk, you know,
AI direction with you, but go back and,and, and give some context and some, some
history on the SaaS side of things inthe, in the, in the path that you went
down for, for a, a good run that youwere, um, you know, you were going down.
(09:16):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Um, you know, it's, I, I guessI would've started, man, almost
eight years ago when we starteddeveloping the technology even longer.
Um, where, uh, essentially the, our,our goal was, my, my goal was always to
design systems that could make thingseasier for, for our team members, right?
Like, you know, the numberone thing you wanna do, you
(09:37):
know, is track your business.
'cause you know what youcan track, you can improve.
And I know that's a big, that'sa big pain point for a lot
of people in their business.
So like.
How could we develop systems that trackinghappens automatically so people can stay
focused on what they are really, youknow, good at, which is making com, uh,
making contact, building relationships,and adding value to clients, right?
(09:57):
So if we can, if we can help, um, youknow, our team members focus on that
and we can alleviate all the like.
Analytics and tracking so we canstill have the data, so we can
help our agents, you know, um,pinpoint areas for improvement.
So essentially what we did is like we,we developed a software stack that's,
um, you know, we'd ask questions to, uh,agents, and then agents would just answer
(10:19):
the questions and then the technologywould then do the necessary next steps.
Right?
So, move, you know.
Person from pipeline A topipeline B track a stat.
So it, okay.
It wasn't AI and necessarily in termsof like, you know, I didn't think
for the agents, but we di did buildthe logic technically to essentially
receive inputs from an agent andthen based on the information they
(10:42):
gave us was to move and track thingsaccordingly based on their information.
So it, I guess it was kind of likea smart technology, uh, to, to, to
create simplicity for our users.
Right.
So, yeah, we de we definitely wentfor a super long run with that.
It was, uh, it was definitelyan interesting experience
and learned a lot of lessons.
And then from there, you know, itjust really, um, progressed into,
(11:04):
um, um, you know, just finding thebest tools instead of, you know,
building everything in house.
It's like, how can we find the best toolsthat are currently available, but then.
Create technology or APIs to communicate,you know, technology to technology so we
can, uh, you know, don't have to worryabout developing like the, the baseline,
but we can, uh, essentially, uh, createthe communication between the apps that
(11:27):
were really important to us to thengive us the information that we needed.
So that's kind of the progression of that.
Yeah.
And you know, looking back, I mean, whenyou were going down that path, would you,
would you have done anything different?
Or, you know, everything was,was the way it should be and it
just, you know, we missed here.
We missed there, but if you,you know, obviously always
easier to, to course correct.
(11:48):
Looking back, was there any, anydifferent moves you would've made?
Yeah, no, absolutely.
So like, I mean, uh, I mean, the journeythat I've been on, I mean, I guess, you
know, I am who I am because of the journeyI've been on, so I don't regret anything.
Um, uh, definitely there was somedecisions that were made, like
when the exp opportunity came up.
And, uh, you know, we were so fixated.
(12:10):
I was so fixated on that, uh, Hableplatform that, um, you know, my,
my business partners at the time,um, uh, two of them particularly,
they saw the opportunity in XPwhere I didn't see the opportunity.
Right.
They moved on and, and had a verysuccessful, amazing career with
the exp where I missed that boat.
Right.
So that was like, kind of like thatmoment where you're like, oh man, like.
(12:32):
Was I so blinded by what I thought wasright, that I wasn't willing to listen or
be open-minded to different perspectivesand opportunities and, and that that
my blindness to that specific, uh,attachment to that specific technology,
um, definitely cost me in the long run.
Uh, however, that being said, if I didn'tgo through that experience, I would never
(12:53):
have found out about real, and then sawthat as my second opportunity, right?
It was like my second opportunity tojump into that, uh, exponential growth
kind of, uh, tech, uh, brokerage.
So, yeah, I mean, it all came first.
Funny enough, it came full circlefor me, but, um, but yeah, like, you
know, you, you do get caught in yourown, uh, wind, and that's kind of
where we were at with this merger.
It's like, you know.
(13:14):
Was it, would this be another momentwhere it's like, uh, hey, am I so blinded,
but on what I'm currently doing, thatI don't see the opportunity that's in
front of me to take us to the next level?
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it, it, you know, it's, it's,it's some, it's hard and, you know,
the kind of preparing for, you know,events and things coming up and.
(13:35):
I was reading, um, Eric, um, Ericfrom, um, Huey sent me, um, sent
me Rick Rubin's, uh, the CreativeAct, uh, a, a way of being.
And, um, he put a, put a nicelittle, uh, earmark in here, right?
And I was like, okay, what,what, what message is is he
(13:56):
trying to, trying to send?
And, um, it goes into a chaptercalled Great Expectations.
And the.
Piece in here is, you know, rememberthat the outcome is out of your control.
Um, this isn't a matter ofblind belief in yourself.
It's a matter of exper exuh, experimental faith.
(14:17):
Faith is rewarded perhaps evenmore than talent or ability.
And, um, I posted this on, I, Ithrew it up on the story yesterday.
I was, I was rereading backthrough the chapter again.
So I like to go read a chapter and thenI'll come back and read this chapter.
And he, um.
He said, with unshakeable faith,we work under the assumption that
the problem is already solved.
(14:38):
The answer is out there.
Perhaps it's obvious, we justhaven't come across it yet and
it's just such a great reminder.
Um, we were in, I think, I thinkI might've might've talked to
you, um, 'cause this was allin the merger was going down.
We were in Key West fora long weekend and, um.
Wanted to go to, uh, wantedto go to church on, on Sunday.
(14:58):
So church in Key West.
So you can just, you can imagine that.
And it was everything that youcan imagine it was going to be.
And we stayed in the pocket, right?
We stayed in there long enough because,you know, I, I love getting the stories
and the message, and Leanne loves themusic and she loves the songs and, and
the stories and, but I, I, I love themessage and the story that goes with it.
(15:19):
And, um, he was, he was, uh.
It was delivered it, how it wasdelivered, but I, what I really loved
the message that was taken away from it.
And he talked about, um, blind.
Blind individuals in historythat have done, have done
remarkable things without sight.
And he was talking about, um,a downhill, downhill skier.
(15:41):
A blind downhill skier.
He said, imagine that, right?
You're, you're, you're blind.
You can't see, but you're gonnago down the mountain, right?
You're a skier.
So imagine being blind.
And he's like, well, listen,you have a guide that's with
you and you have to have.
Such strong like response towhat the guide is telling you.
(16:05):
If the guide says turn you turn, youdon't hesitate, you don't question it.
And it was just a good reminder, right?
Like, you know, and listen in readingthat and, and it's like, you know, we talk
about trust, the process, but it's evenmore so of having faith in the process.
And, you know, in that story itwas blind faith in the process.
(16:25):
And I just thought it was just a reallycool story, um, in what we're doing.
We know the process where we justhave to have faith in the process.
And I, it's just really cool kindof what kind of where you're at
and, and going through the journey.
And it is, it is a littlebit of blind faith right.
In, in what it is that you guys aretrying to and will accomplish and
(16:46):
what you guys have already done.
I mean, even if it's.
You know, 12, 18, 24, which I, Ibelieve it's gonna be a lot longer,
but you guys will for sure make a, animmediate impact in, in the market.
And then as that continues tospread, it's gonna be really
a really awesome opportunity.
Hey, quick time outbefore we dive back in.
(17:06):
You've probably seen a bunchof AI tools floating around
lately, but here's the deal.
Most of them weren't built for realestate and none of them are built with
the coaching frameworks I use every singleday with top agents and team leaders.
Coach kitchens.ai is different.
It's like having a full-time coach inyour pocket that is trained to help you
build, grow, and lead in this industry.
(17:29):
It's not just another AI tool,it's your unfair advantage.
Check it out@coachkitchens.ai.
Alright, let's get back to it.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, just to piggyback off that,I mean, doing this is, is going to,
you know, like Jim Rohn, you don't,you don't, uh, chase your goals.
(17:50):
You become your goals, right?
So, um, by going through this, by mergingthree, three teams, uh, together into
one, and, you know, now kind of, uh,being on the forefront of leading, uh,
a $20 million top line revenue company,um, it's pretty exciting that, uh, you
know, it's, it's a lot different than,you know, leading your own million dollar.
(18:11):
Um, you know.
Team or individual agent production,like you're, you're, you're managing
new systems, new people, new tools.
You're, the knowledge has toincrease your, your problem
solving has to sharpen, right?
Like, there's so many things,so many benefits that come in.
So if it's totally flossed, whichI doubt it will, um, I'm gonna come
out the other side more preparedand equipped to take on the next
(18:31):
challenge, which is pretty exciting.
So,
yeah.
And it, it is, and you, and younailed it right there, right?
The tech and, and.
The new systems, right?
Because the systems have to bebuilt in order to support the goal.
And obviously now resetting thismassive, you know, goal that we're
wanting and really following the,you know, Ben, Ben Hardy's, you know,
(18:53):
science of scaling, you know, impossiblegoal with an impossible timeline.
Forces you to raise the floor and,you know, you gotta create the systems
and structure utilizing, you know,technology to be able to, to help
you support, to be able to get there.
And, you know, just like I had mentionedwhen we, um, jumped into this conversation
(19:15):
was, you know, I, I've got a, we'vegot a lot, I see a lot of people out
there really embracing, you know, AI.
Different, different tools, differentapps, but the way that you guys
have been able to incorporate it andutilize it almost in everything that
you're doing is really cool to see.
(19:36):
So like what is, what is kind of yourapproach, your, your methodology,
philosophy, or whatever it is, of howyou're incorporating and utilizing
AI in everything that you're doing?
That's a good question.
I think, uh, I think to answer that,um, you know, we always talk about,
you know, if you, if you think youknow everything, you're, you're
(19:58):
very, you're very defeated, right?
So like, I don't go into anysituation where I think, uh.
I always know the answers or solutions,and I, and I think, you know, like
your, yours and my relationship is veryvaluable because I get to speak to a high
level strategic mind about my business.
And I can like ping ideas off you.
We can chat.
I, if you train your AI model properly,you know, if I, I, so essentially
(20:20):
I upload every single meeting,uh, that's ever happened and now I
actually bought a new AI subscription.
Where, um, it's called ai@bensoncrew.ca.
And then essentially I've invited allmy team members in there and the, the
goal is anytime you have a meeting wherea decision's made or anything's kind
of being driven down the field, youupload that into our AI Google Drive.
I call it AI Brain.
(20:41):
And then it, all thedocuments go into there.
So once you connect your Google Driveto that new, uh, superpower AI system,
it, you can deeply search your own.
Google Drive.
So like, if you're feeding it all theinformation of your, of your company,
your vision, your strategy, yourmeeting notes, your progress, um,
it now has full context of exactlyeverything you're doing in your business.
(21:03):
And then I just instruct my AImodel to be like, Hey, you know,
you're my, you're my, you're.
Right hand person, executive level,strategic mind that, uh, is, is helping
me bounce ideas off so we can identifythe next key steps and, you know, uh,
you see kind of like what the bottlenecksmight be that we need to approach and
like problems that we need to solve.
So it's just a, it is just a reallygood way to like incorporate everything
(21:25):
you're doing and loading it all upinto one central system and then
training that, uh, system to knoweverything about your business.
So when you wanna have a conversationwith it about, hey, what.
What are the key next steps?
What am I missing?
What are the top priorities in thecompany right now that you know?
And then how do, how do you thinkwe can problem solve this together?
So it's like a, it's like, um, astrategic partner in your business
(21:45):
if you, if you treat it properly.
So that's kind of how I see that.
And I, I got started earlier with it.
Like I, uh, tried to develop my ownAI exec layer and then, um, and then
I was trying to find ways to problemsolve it and like to scale it up.
But, uh, I, I ended up just buying thenext level, uh, uh, AI software that,
uh, could, um, sync all conversations andhave a mind and memory and chat should
(22:06):
be two five with their increased memory.
Um, was a huge unlocking of make,making sure that, uh, everything is.
Still concise.
It's definitely still bottlenecks.
It's not a full replacement where like,you know, it, it just knows everything.
There's still limitations to it,uh, still, which is, I guess,
good and bad at the same time.
You know, that humanelement's not eliminated yet.
So, uh, that's good.
(22:27):
Yeah, and I think, you know, just,just the conversations, especially
around, you know, when you're, whenyou're talking to other thought
leaders and, and strategic thinkers,it just, you know, it takes, it takes.
Pain.
It takes real world experience.
It takes things to, to help you shapeand navigate the way you think and,
(22:49):
and you know, all the mental modelsand you know, a lot of that stuff.
You have to learn to know whatprompt, what question, to really,
really pull out what it is you're,you're really trying to, trying to
solve whatever you're trying to do.
And then when it, whenever it givesyou, then you gotta, you know, do
you have the ability to, to like.
You know, is this, is this true?
(23:10):
Right?
Is this, is this actually gonna work?
Like, let me, let me run some, somescenarios and, and different things.
So that's where I, I've seen it as,like you said, that that thought
partner that will challenge, butthere's, there's certain things that,
you know, if you haven't had a lot of.
Real world experience or, or witnesseda lot of of experience or ha had the
(23:33):
per, you know, the personal developmentrequired to be able to navigate
and, and ask the right questions.
It can maybe steer you downa wrong path real fast.
A hundred percent.
Like, uh, the, sometimes the, the bestpart about it is like you, uh, you're,
you're thinking through trying to solvea problem and then it validates that,
uh, the problem that you want, the wayyou wanted to solve it was the right way.
(23:55):
Because like, you know, it'llgive you alternate options.
Like, Hey, this is what I'm thinking.
This is what I wanna do.
It has all the context ofeverything that we have done.
And it's like, here'ssome alternate options.
And then you push it and challengeit and it challenge you back.
And then you're like, okay, no, likethis is the way that I want to do it.
And I, I think this is the right way.
And then, um.
So like, it's not always right, it'sactually more wrong than it is Right.
Sometimes.
So, um, if you didn't have theexperience and know-how, and like,
(24:18):
you know, it, it could definitelylead you down the wrong path.
For sure.
For sure.
I mean, a lot of confirmation bias, right?
Like it Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Telling you.
It is a great idea.
I tell the AI all the time, and I evenput it into the master prompt, right?
So you can actually, in the settings,you can like train the, the, the ai and,
(24:38):
and it's like the, it's like you cannotbe a yes, you can't be a yes man, you
know, you're not, uh, just don't tellme what I need, what I want to hear.
Just tell me what I needto hear kind of thing.
So just like our, this is thesame with our clients, right?
You gotta tell them what they,uh, need to hear, not wanna hear.
So same thing, um, don't just, uh,get confirmation bias, but it, it's.
It's getting better, but again, it's nota perfect system, not a perfect solution.
(25:00):
It's more to kind of validate andhelp you like move faster, right?
Yeah.
So one thing that it's definitely helpedme with is like, uh, communication, right?
Because I get, I receive communications.
And then for me to articulate.
'cause like, you know, you, you're, youknow, I was just watching another video
that most of our brain and, and decisionmaking is still technically emotional.
Very small sliver of it's logical.
(25:21):
So if I'm, if I'm responding withan emotional mind and I have a high
emotion, um, sometimes the way mycommunication comes across isn't
exactly how I want to come across.
So for me, what it definitelyhelps me with is like, Hey,
this is what I want to say.
Yeah.
Like, how
do I, how do I structure and, and organizethis in a way that's someone else?
Um, gets the, gets the information andremoves the emotion out of it, right?
(25:44):
So, um, I use it all the time when, uh,my team gives me, um, I. So, for example,
the other day, one of my, uh, operationalleaders sent me a message, um, about,
uh, how they wanted to lead their team.
And then I immediately saw it as a,uh, were were, some of their thinking
was potentially flawed, um, becausethey were thinking like, as a, as
a, they gave me analogy of, of beinga chef in a kitchen and the, what
(26:06):
she, what she described as being asous chef, not, not the master chef.
Right.
So I, I tried to like.
You know, respond back and how Iwould've responded, but then it
kind of looked like it was a, nota, not a personal attack, but like.
Not that I'm taking her, um,opinions into consideration.
So I, I run it through bt, it'slike, Hey, how do I communicate
this more masterfully?
(26:26):
So my point gets across so it sees, sothey could see it as a, uh, positive
feedback to reinforce what they'rethinking, but to also help 'em grow.
Um, versus just like a, an emailthat I type out that I, where I hope
they understand what I'm thinking.
You know what I mean?
Like, yeah.
I, I think for, for, for thatperspective, it really helps me
communicate a lot clearer and a lot,uh, more factual to help someone, you
(26:48):
know, validate what they're thinking,but then help them see multiple layers
of growth on top of what they'rethinking might have been limited on.
If that
makes sense.
Yeah.
No, I love that.
Right.
You know, and, and I mean, that's partof our job as leaders is, you know.
Effective communication.
And have you inside your master prompt,have you put like all of your, your
working genius, your disc, all ofthe personality profiles, do you have
(27:11):
all of that built in there as well?
No, uh, mostly what Ihave is what our roles and
responsibility is for each person.
So when someone logs in and theytell them who they are, then
it knows who it's working with.
And then also what I have donein the past is like, Hey, this
is what everyone's role is.
Here's like the four leader, you, youhelped me, uh, create the four leadership
(27:31):
questions and we essentially, uh, askedthe, the questions to everyone about
their leadership and what their roles are.
And then we uploaded that.
And then based on that, we were ableto kind of reorganize the org chart to
put people in their strong positions.
Um, so yeah, like I'veused it for all that stuff.
And then when I get.
That when I get that information,I'll update the master prompt.
Right.
With uh, with the updated org structure.
(27:52):
Obviously clearly.
'cause it's, it's not me.
It's not really mine, it's the teams.
Uh, I have my own personal one that I use.
Right.
But then I have the team one,which I'm really just trying to
train it to know, um, hey, hereare strategic milestones, right?
2 billion in sales inthe next three years.
Um, you know, we want to getto 2000 in the community.
So like.
(28:12):
And then I give it the B hg. So BAGand, and, uh, targets along the way.
Uh, and then everyone'srole in responsibility.
So then that way it kind of knows wherewe're trying to push and trying to go.
That's kind of how I've done it.
Yeah.
I'd be real curious.
I, I know.
Um, I haven't loaded allof my stuff in there.
It's, it's definitely I've got a, um.
Get that in there with,with the team as well.
(28:32):
Right?
Because we use a lot of the working geniusin who to include into what conversations
and how to communicate and what notto push back on and what not to say.
Just because it'll be triggers so like.
I'm a, I'm a wd so my head's 30,000foot in the, in the clouds, but then
I come down in that next phase withmy discernment and I poke holes.
(28:53):
So I know my weakness is that I'llcome up with a bunch of great ideas,
but I'll talk myself out of it.
Right?
I'll be like, no, that doesn't work.
That won't work.
That's, that's a bad idea.
That's a bad idea.
But there's also triggers for,for discernment people, right?
Like when you question them,it's a trigger for them.
So, you know, knowing how toeffectively, obviously I'm aware of
(29:14):
it, so it, it, you know, it, it's,I can, I can move out of it fast.
But I think, you know, you havingthat in there to be able to, you
know, help you communicate betterwith, with the understanding.
I, I just see, I mean,it's limitless, right?
Of, of, of what you're able to, tounlock and what you're able to do.
But you said the key word forme, what I've seen, um, just in,
(29:37):
just in my experience through.
Strategic thinking, thinking throughprojects, thinking through, you
know, challenges and bottlenecksis the speed in which you can work
through, you can work through things.
Um, I was, I was joking with,I was joking with kinder.
I mean, we would leave ideas upon the whiteboard for months.
(29:58):
That can be cleared in,in half an hour, right?
Mm-hmm.
And it's, um, I think, I think speed,um, being able to, to execute at that.
Um, unpack a little bit here with this.
Um, we, we, we kind of skated over it alittle bit, but, uh, I would love kind of
your, your take, um, on balancing, right?
(30:22):
You know, ai, the new tech.
With also staying groundedin the fundamentals, right?
How, how are you looking?
And then how are youtrying to stay balanced?
And then also you as a leadercommunicating that to the rest
of the team to be like, listen,it's not, or it's, and right.
How do you embrace the new,new technology with, you know,
(30:44):
fundamentals in this business?
Um, yeah, I just need a littlebit more clarity on that question.
So how do I embrace new technologywhile Well, how do you balance real?
How do you balance, how do you balance it?
Yeah.
Right?
How do you, how do you like not losesight where you gravitate over to all
the tech or avoid the tech and just staygrounded in the fundamentals, but how do
(31:04):
you embrace, you know, balancing the two?
Yeah, I, I guess my question would be isfundamentals of like the day-to-day real
estate business or fundamentals for theleadership team, because those, 'cause I,
I'm not really involved in the day-to-dayof a, of real estate activities anymore.
More, more day-to-day fundamentals oflike operating the leadership team.
Yeah.
Let's, let's, let's unpack it forthe leadership side of things,
especially like team leaders.
You know, thinking about you beforeyou know now the merger, now you
(31:27):
know, you've got your specific roleas well as Scott, and Scott and Ryan.
But you know, as you're, you'retrying to, to balance your,
your, your new, your new vital.
Right.
Your new vitals.
Yeah.
The, the vital fundamentals.
The vital metrics, the thingsthat you're now responsible for.
How do you, how do you, youknow, maintain that balance?
Yeah, I, I guess the way I'mmaintaining the balance is just constant
(31:50):
communication, um, with the team.
I, I think that's the foundational piecethat, uh, like whether, and, and if
that's what you're getting at, um, yeah,like essentially what what I'm doing is
like, you know, we have our leadershipmeetings every Friday, and then we have
our check-ins every Wednesday, and thenwe have our leadership chat on Slack,
so, you know, all the key prioritiesthat we're identifying on Friday.
(32:10):
You know, I'm not justrelying on AI to like.
Tell us what to do and then, and thendo it all for us, because that's,
it's not a good execution expert.
So like we, we, yeah.
So I use AI to like bounce ideasoff, help me with communication
and create clarity and, um, youknow, um, be more an effective
leadership where I might, you know.
Be able to self-assess myself a littlebit more, but then I still have to bring
(32:31):
that back to the real world becausenot everyone's as plugged in as I am.
So, um, you know, most of the, eventhe leadership team is not using
the AI as, as a, as much as I am.
I think I use it probably 10 times morethan everyone else still, but, uh, so
that still gives me the opportunityto bring it back to more traditional
style execution where we're, you know.
Meeting on, on Fridays, setting thenew priorities for the next week,
(32:54):
checking in midweek, but then alsomaking sure communication's super high.
Um, and then fundamentally on a,on a leadership scale, like we
still need to build out the orgorg chart to like plug holes.
So, you know, you and I and uh, and theteam, we were looking at our next key
hires before we even made this merger, andone of those was a project manager, right?
Mm-hmm.
So the reason the projectmanager was really important
(33:15):
and vital, especially now.
Um, is because you know, all those ideasthat you had on the whiteboard, right?
If like, we actually had alegitimate project manager, so
it's like that's her job literally.
Uh, monitor the Slack channelof the leadership team.
Jump on every single, um,strategic leadership meeting.
So that's like, uh, the departmentheads, and then also jump in on
(33:36):
every department heads meeting.
So VP of sales.
So jump in with Nick Blake and Ryan.
Talk about all the prioritiesyou got for the sales team.
Jump in with Tanner.
See what's all the priors inthe marketing team, right.
Um, Jo drop in with me and we talk aboutfinance and strategy, like what are
all those things that we're working on?
And then someone is specificallyis their only job is to capture all
those ideas, work on organizing themand making sure that everyone has an
(33:58):
accountability, like who's accountableto the task and when is it executed by?
And that, that has beena game changer, right?
So it's just, um, yeah.
Because now you're removing yourself as aleader of that meeting, or, you know, for
me anyways, being the leader of the, uh,strategic, um, uh, strategic leadership.
Or I wanna make sure I check inwith everyone and hold 'em, uh,
not hold 'em responsible, but moveany, remove any obstacles that are
(34:21):
in their way to get things done.
Um, now I'm not like spending, youknow, an hour after the meeting,
like, okay, who said they weredoing what and organizing it.
I can get back to what I need to do,which is execute on my priorities.
And then, um, and, and the team isjust getting super clear on what they
need to execute for their priorities.
So that's kind of like.
How I keep it, you know?
Yeah.
Balanced, right?
It's not just, it's, youcan't just run it with ai.
(34:43):
So yeah, people are still very important,
very, very important.
And what a, what acritical component, right?
Because when you look at any,any, any endeavor, there's
only three things that matter.
You got the idea person, peoplethat are bringing the ideas, you
got the execution of the ideas.
But you gotta have somebodyto manage the ideas.
(35:03):
And by definition, if you're doingall three, then you're a solopreneur.
And it was, had the sameconversation with, with with
Durbin here, and I was like.
Bro who brings all the ideas.
He goes, me.
I said, and he was just, he waslike, he was just overwhelmed, right?
He was at capacity, he wasbeyond capacity, and you,
(35:25):
you could just see, right?
It was just wearing on him.
And I was like, bro, there'sonly three types of people.
Like, we gotta make an adjustment here.
I said, who?
Who's bringing the ideas?
Me?
Who's executing the ideas?
Me?
Who's managing the ideas?
Me?
I said, do you see the problem?
I said, you are the number one teamat EXP in the state of Pennsylvania,
and you are a solopreneur.
(35:47):
Let that sink in for a second.
And, you know, it was that level ofawareness then, then started making
changes and getting things off his plate.
The project management side of things,you do not need to, if you're, if
you are, especially the, the ideaand you're responsible for ideas,
responsible for relationships.
So it's, it's just a,just a critical piece.
(36:08):
And, you know, obviously, you know,starting out, we, we try to, you
know, navigate for what we can, right?
We want a players based uponthe price range, the salary cap.
This, you know, the size of the business,but where you guys are at, you, you needed
to make a, a, you know, a world classhire for, for the size that you did.
And, you know, she's, she's been a gamechanger right outta the gate, right?
(36:29):
Mm-hmm.
To be able to, to help managethose, those priorities.
I think another thing that, uh, issuper awesome about this role is that,
you know, everyone's got ideas, right?
Everyone's got ideas and, and, um, whathappens when you don't get that idea out?
It just stays in your, in your brain.
You're like, okay, who doI need to give this to?
Or you start working on it.
So like someone fired a question about,um, hey, uh, vertically integrating the,
(36:51):
uh, sign install system into our business.
Right?
And like right now we have thethree main priorities, which is,
uh, operational optimization, youknow, follow up boss integration of
the three teams so we can get thelead gen, uh, properly distributed.
Mm-hmm.
And then, uh, the third onewas, uh, brand launch, right?
So those were the three key priorities.
And then, you know, someone threw the,uh, a wrench into the, into the leadership
chat about like, Hey, like, you know,what's going on with sign signin installs?
(37:15):
And, and want, and wanted tomake it a, a big priority.
And I was like, Hey, why don't wejust, and I just tag, add Sasha,
toss that into the backlog, and thenI just said, Hey, when the time is
right, um, let's look at this as a,from a strategic perspective and see
if it, if it makes sense to integrateit or check out under other vendors.
So the beauty about about that is, youknow, that person now feels confident
(37:36):
that they're, they were heard.
Because they need to be validatedthat, that, that was heard.
'cause that, that puts out the fire, keepsthe whole operational team still okay.
They threw this wrench into the,into the middle instead of the
whole operation team going like,okay, we gotta solve this problem.
'cause you know, them, they're,if, if a, if a high level person in
the company's throw something intothe middle, they'll, they'll try to
get after to make everyone happy.
(37:57):
But by doing this, it's like,essentially it does a couple things.
It, it, it validates that person thatthey were heard and that it's gonna
get taken care of at the right time.
And then it's also kept the, the,uh, the execution team on focus to
make sure that they're not taking theball off their existing priorities,
because that wasn't more importantthan what we were currently working on.
Right.
So that, that's the, that'sthe thing is like, Hey, we
(38:19):
only have this much capacity.
If these five things comingup, the number one question is,
well, is this more important?
Then what we're working on rightnow, and if it is why, and if it's
not, then let's, let's slot itfor a time where we can solve it.
Otherwise, we're just, we're justgonna be chasing our tails all day.
And that's obviously a mistake weused to make in the past, right?
Where it's like, oh,shiny object, new thing.
Okay, let's try to solve it right away.
And then nothing gets done because we,uh, you know, instead of focusing on
(38:42):
just buttoning up the top priority, wejust opened up five new priorities while
trying to button up the top priority.
If that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It is.
And, and, um.
Uh, does, is she utilizing like,like the ice format, um, the,
the scoring tracker for ideas?
The Yeah.
You know, the impact and,and you can grade it, right?
So like, you, you want to encourageyour team to bring ideas to the
(39:05):
table and it's like, okay, let's,let's, let's grade it right?
You know, um, you know,what's the impact, what's the
confidence, and what's the ease?
And also, but what growthlever does it pull?
So is it gonna help us with traffic?
Is it gonna help us with conversion?
Is it gonna help us with lifetime value?
Or in that case, that's a, that, that'sprobably a profit equation, right?
(39:27):
Like, is this gonna make us moreprofitable to bring it in house?
Great.
Well, if we need to focus on some profitlevers, we can go into, you know, hey
Sasha, pull up all of our profit ideas.
Right?
That's gonna pull the profit leverand you know, but being able to have
that project manager, 'cause it getsoverwhelming, especially if you're in
production like most team leaders, andespecially team leaders that are in
(39:49):
production, but team leaders that arelike 40 to 45 to 50% of production, right?
Mm-hmm.
You really can't get anything done.
Um, and so I think it's, it's just reallystepping back, like you said, just being
more strategic around, you know, whatever,whatever the goal, you know, really is.
(40:10):
Yeah.
And I guess if you're 60% of yourproduction volume, like that's a really
profitable business model, right?
Because you're generating most ofthe revenue, so you're not splitting
that revenue with other people.
So, you know, you just have tobe disciplined enough or willing.
To make the investment and, uh, 'causesometimes people will, will, uh,
it's like, okay, well I'll just workharder and then I'll make more money.
Mm-hmm.
(40:30):
Um, but it's like, okay, well if youcould be more strategic with it, if
you're, if you're taking 80 to 90% ofyour commissions, you know, don't, don't
keep it all for yourself and buy Bentley,you know, invest, you know, 10,000 a
month in some and some killers to, uh,help you take things off your plate and,
and, uh, move the, move the ball forward.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is.
It's a, it, it, it, it really is a,a, you know, when you, when you can
(40:53):
get the actual framework to the game,it makes the game so much more fun.
Just, just like with myself, likewith uh, Scott, you know, um, you
know, I've never dropped, uh, ahundred thousand dollars on, on a
flyer drop on just one flyer drop.
It's like, okay, we're gonna, we'regonna spend a hundred thousand dollars
this month on dropping flyers and we'regonna make the phone ring like crazy.
He's like, okay, I'venever done that before.
But I'm trusting him that,uh, he's able to do that.
(41:16):
And, and that's the coolthing about, you know.
Being in partnership withdifferent people that had different
experiences and, and are mm-hmm.
And have a different superpower than you.
So he sees, he, he knowswhat that's gonna bring.
I don't, so, but if we trust each other,you know, it's be to trust Steven Covey.
You know, if you don't trust yourleader, if you don't trust the people
you're working with, you probablyshouldn't be working with him.
But, uh, no, I'm, I'm reallyexcited to, um, you know, bring
(41:37):
what I can bring to the table.
You know, let's let,instead of trying to like.
Step in Scott's Lane and, and so, oh,that's not how I've done it before.
So therefore we're notgonna do it that way.
It's like, he's gonna let mecook in my lane, I'm gonna
let him cook it in his lane.
We're gonna let Ryan Cook in his lane.
And that way, um, that'sthe whole point of it.
So we can all like, do moretogether versus mm-hmm.
You know, just continue tobottleneck everything through
(41:58):
one, one decision making tree.
Yeah.
That's, um.
Yeah, that, that's cool.
But Sasha too is, um, you know, oneof the key requirements was a Clickup
expert, so she knows how to do, uh,uh, project management at a high level.
And then also, um, you know, she'salso an EOS expert, so, um, Gina
Wickman, so Rocket Fuel and EOS.
So she's, she's got those things.
(42:18):
So like now you have someone in theorganization that can, you know, speak
the same language as like the leaderthat's trying to get things done with,
and now we can prioritize and, andexecute, which I'm pretty excited about.
It's, uh, I, I feel likewe're extremely organized now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She, she's really, you know, not,not only project manager, but she's,
she's really in that integratorlane, which, um, hundred percent,
you know, can, can really help.
(42:40):
Speed things up for sure.
Yeah, brother, I appreciateyou carving out the time.
I know you got your, you got your handsfull with the, with the launch and, uh,
being able to jump in here and definitelyalways a, a wealth of, uh, of knowledge
and being able, you know, to guide,especially at the forefront, you've always
been at the front of the bell curve withpushing, you know, um, the optimization.
(43:03):
Like you said, of the systems, of theoperational side of things, heavy,
you know, leaning on, on tech and thattech stack to, to help you execute at
a high, at the highest level possible.
Appreciate it.
Well, it's uh, a lot to dowith, uh, your guidance as well.
So obviously, uh, it's notall, it's not all on me, so.
Well, I appreciate you brother, guys.
Make sure, stay plugged in with,uh, with Steve and the Benson crew.
(43:27):
They are, uh, down a very, uh,exciting, very exciting path.
Very exciting journey and lookingforward to, uh, things to come.
Brother, appreciate you.
All right.
Appreciate it.
Thanks.
See ya.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you're done guessing and ready tolead like a real CEO O with a custom
strategy, real accountability andproven systems, check out my executive
(43:51):
one-on-one coaching@johnkitchens.coach.
Fill out the application and bookyour one-on-one call with me.
Be sure to hit follow soyou never miss an episode.
Catch you on the next one.
Seven figure success starts whenyou start thinking like a CEO.
Welcome to the JohnKitchens Coach podcast.
Experience is your host, John Kitchens.
Get ready to think bigger andtransform your business into
a path to lasting freedom.
What's happening?
Uh, you know, just lots of good stuff, uh,getting caught up from the long weekend.
(00:23):
How about you?
Yeah, same.
It's been, uh, it's good, youknow, that, uh, obviously when.
You do what we do.
It's, uh, most of the, it, it, wewere having, we were on a walk, um,
with uh, Leanne's youngest daughter.
We were walking the dogs and.
Just Mom, why are youalways on your phone?
Why are you always doing this?
Why are you doing that?
I just, I'm smiling and you know, andshe goes to explain, you know, it's
(00:47):
just, you know, the business and kind ofthe business we're in, it never stops.
You can create boundaries, but however,it's it, and I said, listen, when you
own a business and essentially being areal estate, you own your own business.
You know, that whole, youknow, agent to co mindset.
It's Alzheimer's, it is all the time.
It never, it never stops.
And that's just, that'sthe trade off, right?
(01:07):
And, and so, uh, it was just interestingto, to, to have that conversation,
especially with the kiddos.
But, um, it was good, uh, yesterday.
To to breathe a little bit to get caughtup, right, to spend that little extra
time dialing in the plan for the week,dialing obviously beginning of the month,
dialing in the plan for the month, andjust kind of checking in, just making sure
(01:28):
we're not drifting too far off course.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Absolutely.
So, brother, I, let's, let's unpackyour story a little bit because I
think it is, you know, importantto, to just kind of understand,
you know, your real estate journey.
Um, for, for, you know, kind of thethings that are on my mind that I wanna
pick your brain about as it comes to, youknow, the future and, and the accelerated
(01:53):
growth, exponential growth in, in thereal estate side of things, the teams.
Um, but also wanna get intoconversation around ai.
Um, you know, I just, I,I have not seen anybody.
Operate, um, as quickly as youare operating, incorporating
AI into, into everything.
(02:15):
See it in the team meetings.
I see it in structure,I see it in agendas.
I see it in in workflows.
So I'm, I'm excited to, to jump intothat, but, you know, give a little
context about your background andstory, I think will give a lot more
context to, to the conversation.
Okay, great.
So take it back from the beginning.
Take it back to the beginning.
Yeah, let's go.
All right, let's go.
(02:36):
All right.
Uh, well, back to the beginning.
I got into real estate, uh, seriously.
August, 2010 is when I marked my,uh, first true day in real estate.
Um, essentially, uh, my wife and Ifound out we were having a, a, a child.
So I had to figure outwhat I wanna do for income.
Long story short, we chose the realestate path to, uh, to make that happen.
Um, and yeah, I've been, been incoaching ever since I got started.
(02:59):
Um, so my first coach, Gord Gary,and then, uh, the next coach,
uh, was with, uh, Doug Thompson.
And then, then I started working with youprobably in my fourth year of real estate.
Yeah.
Um, and we worked together for.
For years and, and working together again.
Um, so I'm super excited andhonored to, uh, you know, have
that relationship with you.
So again, a lot of great people in mylife to, to help me get to where I am.
(03:22):
Um, but uh, during that journey,obviously some ups and downs.
Um, century 21 started there.
Uh, went to an independentbrokerage for 10 years.
Uh, ran our own independentbrokerage for 10 years.
Uh, started with part some partnerships.
I, uh, worked with, uh, Blake andNick, who became, uh, partners of mine.
Um, and then, uh, fast forward to today,just went through a, a three team merger.
(03:45):
Um, where, uh, three teamleaders, uh, came together.
Um, so essentially I got to usethe experience I had in like,
creating partnerships and stufflike that to merge three big teams.
And that merger is happening right now.
So, yeah, that's, uh, that's,that's the quick, quick, uh,
quick version of the story.
Quick,
quick, down and dirty.
Yeah.
You know, I think in, in, what's crazyis that we weren't even seeking that.
(04:08):
Angle, right?
We weren't seeking, uh, a merger.
We weren't even looking at that.
And, you know, for, for youkind of, you know, maybe you've
just been so heavy into it.
I don't even know if you'vehad time to reflect on, you
know, how that all came to be.
But, um, obviously, you know,it's a, an overnight thing, right?
Like, you know, it's been happening since,since 2010 when you got into real estate.
(04:32):
But like, like for you, reflectingback on how that all went down.
Um, you know, looking at what was, whatwas done prior to put you in that position
for that to, you know, even come to you.
Yeah, no, I, I, I, uh, did have sometime to reflect on that and I, I do
believe it's, uh, the work that we putin together back in November of 24.
(04:57):
Um, so, you know, we were, before that, wewere, we joined Real, and then the first
demo was we wanted to grow the community.
So in 2020.
Three to 2024.
So May, 2023 to May, 2024 wasessentially our first year.
Uh, within that, uh, first 12, uh, 12, 15months, I did I think 13, 14 events, um,
(05:18):
had over almost a thousand agents come toour events and I was just, uh, trying to.
You know, get, get our name outthere, starting to add value to the
community and, um, and, uh, start toattracting agents through value to,
uh, the real, the real brokerage.
And, uh, yeah, we had some successfor sure and learned a lot of lessons.
But then really when we met inNovember, uh, is when you, uh,
(05:39):
you jumped back in with us.
It's like, okay, well let's, let's,let's talk about the new vision and the
new future and what that looks like.
And really what we wanted to accomplishwas 2005 star real estate experiences and
also build a community of 5,000 realtors.
Um, and then the way we did thatis just by, you know, um, you know,
every month, every day is like, Hey,what can we do better to get there?
And then essentially, as we werejourneying along our, our track, you
(06:01):
know, we, we grew our community throughdelegation mastery, through our home
value hub, uh, technology as well.
We were growing our customerbase and our, and our community.
And then essentially when thisopportunity presented itself, we
were, we, you know, you, you posedthe question to me it's like, well,
is this going to take us closer to ourgoal or further away from our goal?
And, and when you just lookat specifically and just from
(06:22):
a goal perspective, yeah.
Not only does it take us immediatelycloser to our goal, it essentially.
Makes our goal, uh, so small now in, incomparison that we can now have a bigger
vision of the future because of thepotential possibilities of the merger.
So really we, what we did was we usedour decision making filters, like
we always set up, you know, our corevalues, are these guys a core value fit?
(06:42):
Yes or no?
And, and that check the box.
That was the first thing.
And then the secondary questionwe had to ask ourselves is, does
this take us closer, furtheraway to the vision that we have?
And it definitely tookus closer to that vision.
So really when we put it through thosetwo decision making filters, which was.
Easier said than done because like,uh, you also had to like, navigate my
emotional psychology around like, youknow, um, letting go of the brand that
(07:04):
we've been building for the last 10 years.
Uh, even though it's survived as anagricultural division of the company,
it was still a big major, uh, shift.
Um, but yeah, I don't think if we,if we haven't, if we didn't set up
that, that, uh, that strategy andthat, um, that vision for ourselves,
um, I think it would've been.
Who knows exactly if thatopportunity wouldn't even
have presented itself, right?
(07:25):
Because you are, you do attract what youtry to, what you, what you seek when you,
you know,
when you're trying to get to acertain level, you start attracting
those solutions to yourself.
So,
man, it, it is and, and sometimes,you know, we're obviously.
Almost always our own worst enemy.
And you know, we, we put up these, thesefilters and these blinders to where
like, we can't even even put ourself in aposition, you know, for, for opportunity.
(07:50):
And it, it's just really cool once you,you get, you know, fixated on, on, you
know, a clear, you know, vision thatyou're committed to, um, then it's,
then it's the, um, it's the wholeretic reticular activator, right?
And it's the, you know, it's.
It's the, you know, thepurple G wagon, right?
Like, when was the last timeyou saw a purple G wagon?
(08:11):
But you start thinking about it, I,I promise you, you're gonna see one.
And, and so it's, it's just reallythat, you know, you put it up there
and sometimes, sometimes you gotta bebumped over the head with it though.
Um, you know, like even, evenfor us, we were exposed to.
You know, the, the, the cloud-based,you know, platform with, with additional
(08:32):
opportunities early on in, in our path.
I mean, you know, what we were doingin Texas, we, we were fixated on.
That's the path.
And um, sometimes, you know, you, youneed that, you know, light bulb moment
or just getting whacked over the headhard enough to finally pay attention
to be able to, to see, oh wow, theremight be a, there might be a better way.
(08:55):
Um.
Take us back a little bit too, 'causeI, I, I definitely wanna talk, you know,
AI direction with you, but go back and,and, and give some context and some, some
history on the SaaS side of things inthe, in the, in the path that you went
down for, for a, a good run that youwere, um, you know, you were going down.
(09:16):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Um, you know, it's, I, I guessI would've started, man, almost
eight years ago when we starteddeveloping the technology even longer.
Um, where, uh, essentially the, our,our goal was, my, my goal was always to
design systems that could make thingseasier for, for our team members, right?
Like, you know, the numberone thing you wanna do, you
(09:37):
know, is track your business.
'cause you know what youcan track, you can improve.
And I know that's a big, that'sa big pain point for a lot
of people in their business.
So like.
How could we develop systems that trackinghappens automatically so people can stay
focused on what they are really, youknow, good at, which is making com, uh,
making contact, building relationships,and adding value to clients, right?
(09:57):
So if we can, if we can help, um, youknow, our team members focus on that
and we can alleviate all the like.
Analytics and tracking so we canstill have the data, so we can
help our agents, you know, um,pinpoint areas for improvement.
So essentially what we did is like we,we developed a software stack that's,
um, you know, we'd ask questions to, uh,agents, and then agents would just answer
(10:19):
the questions and then the technologywould then do the necessary next steps.
Right?
So, move, you know.
Person from pipeline A topipeline B track a stat.
So it, okay.
It wasn't AI and necessarily in termsof like, you know, I didn't think
for the agents, but we di did buildthe logic technically to essentially
receive inputs from an agent andthen based on the information they
(10:42):
gave us was to move and track thingsaccordingly based on their information.
So it, I guess it was kind of likea smart technology, uh, to, to, to
create simplicity for our users.
Right.
So, yeah, we de we definitely wentfor a super long run with that.
It was, uh, it was definitelyan interesting experience
and learned a lot of lessons.
And then from there, you know, itjust really, um, progressed into,
(11:04):
um, um, you know, just finding thebest tools instead of, you know,
building everything in house.
It's like, how can we find the best toolsthat are currently available, but then.
Create technology or APIs to communicate,you know, technology to technology so we
can, uh, you know, don't have to worryabout developing like the, the baseline,
but we can, uh, essentially, uh, createthe communication between the apps that
(11:27):
were really important to us to thengive us the information that we needed.
So that's kind of the progression of that.
Yeah.
And you know, looking back, I mean, whenyou were going down that path, would you,
would you have done anything different?
Or, you know, everything was,was the way it should be and it
just, you know, we missed here.
We missed there, but if you,you know, obviously always
easier to, to course correct.
(11:48):
Looking back, was there any, anydifferent moves you would've made?
Yeah, no, absolutely.
So like, I mean, uh, I mean, the journeythat I've been on, I mean, I guess, you
know, I am who I am because of the journeyI've been on, so I don't regret anything.
Um, uh, definitely there was somedecisions that were made, like
when the exp opportunity came up.
And, uh, you know, we were so fixated.
(12:10):
I was so fixated on that, uh, Hableplatform that, um, you know, my,
my business partners at the time,um, uh, two of them particularly,
they saw the opportunity in XPwhere I didn't see the opportunity.
Right.
They moved on and, and had a verysuccessful, amazing career with
the exp where I missed that boat.
Right.
So that was like, kind of like thatmoment where you're like, oh man, like.
(12:32):
Was I so blinded by what I thought wasright, that I wasn't willing to listen or
be open-minded to different perspectivesand opportunities and, and that that
my blindness to that specific, uh,attachment to that specific technology,
um, definitely cost me in the long run.
Uh, however, that being said, if I didn'tgo through that experience, I would never
(12:53):
have found out about real, and then sawthat as my second opportunity, right?
It was like my second opportunity tojump into that, uh, exponential growth
kind of, uh, tech, uh, brokerage.
So, yeah, I mean, it all came first.
Funny enough, it came full circlefor me, but, um, but yeah, like, you
know, you, you do get caught in yourown, uh, wind, and that's kind of
where we were at with this merger.
It's like, you know.
(13:14):
Was it, would this be another momentwhere it's like, uh, hey, am I so blinded,
but on what I'm currently doing, thatI don't see the opportunity that's in
front of me to take us to the next level?
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it, it, you know, it's, it's,it's some, it's hard and, you know,
the kind of preparing for, you know,events and things coming up and.
(13:35):
I was reading, um, Eric, um, Ericfrom, um, Huey sent me, um, sent
me Rick Rubin's, uh, the CreativeAct, uh, a, a way of being.
And, um, he put a, put a nicelittle, uh, earmark in here, right?
And I was like, okay, what,what, what message is is he
(13:56):
trying to, trying to send?
And, um, it goes into a chaptercalled Great Expectations.
And the.
Piece in here is, you know, rememberthat the outcome is out of your control.
Um, this isn't a matter ofblind belief in yourself.
It's a matter of exper exuh, experimental faith.
(14:17):
Faith is rewarded perhaps evenmore than talent or ability.
And, um, I posted this on, I, Ithrew it up on the story yesterday.
I was, I was rereading backthrough the chapter again.
So I like to go read a chapter and thenI'll come back and read this chapter.
And he, um.
He said, with unshakeable faith,we work under the assumption that
the problem is already solved.
(14:38):
The answer is out there.
Perhaps it's obvious, we justhaven't come across it yet and
it's just such a great reminder.
Um, we were in, I think, I thinkI might've might've talked to
you, um, 'cause this was allin the merger was going down.
We were in Key West fora long weekend and, um.
Wanted to go to, uh, wantedto go to church on, on Sunday.
(14:58):
So church in Key West.
So you can just, you can imagine that.
And it was everything that youcan imagine it was going to be.
And we stayed in the pocket, right?
We stayed in there long enough because,you know, I, I love getting the stories
and the message, and Leanne loves themusic and she loves the songs and, and
the stories and, but I, I, I love themessage and the story that goes with it.
(15:19):
And, um, he was, he was, uh.
It was delivered it, how it wasdelivered, but I, what I really loved
the message that was taken away from it.
And he talked about, um, blind.
Blind individuals in historythat have done, have done
remarkable things without sight.
And he was talking about, um,a downhill, downhill skier.
(15:41):
A blind downhill skier.
He said, imagine that, right?
You're, you're, you're blind.
You can't see, but you're gonnago down the mountain, right?
You're a skier.
So imagine being blind.
And he's like, well, listen,you have a guide that's with
you and you have to have.
Such strong like response towhat the guide is telling you.
(16:05):
If the guide says turn you turn, youdon't hesitate, you don't question it.
And it was just a good reminder, right?
Like, you know, and listen in readingthat and, and it's like, you know, we talk
about trust, the process, but it's evenmore so of having faith in the process.
And, you know, in that story itwas blind faith in the process.
(16:25):
And I just thought it was just a reallycool story, um, in what we're doing.
We know the process where we justhave to have faith in the process.
And I, it's just really cool kindof what kind of where you're at
and, and going through the journey.
And it is, it is a littlebit of blind faith right.
In, in what it is that you guys aretrying to and will accomplish and
(16:46):
what you guys have already done.
I mean, even if it's.
You know, 12, 18, 24, which I, Ibelieve it's gonna be a lot longer,
but you guys will for sure make a, animmediate impact in, in the market.
And then as that continues tospread, it's gonna be really
a really awesome opportunity.
Hey, quick time outbefore we dive back in.
(17:06):
You've probably seen a bunchof AI tools floating around
lately, but here's the deal.
Most of them weren't built for realestate and none of them are built with
the coaching frameworks I use every singleday with top agents and team leaders.
Coach kitchens.ai is different.
It's like having a full-time coach inyour pocket that is trained to help you
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(17:29):
It's not just another AI tool,it's your unfair advantage.
Check it out@coachkitchens.ai.
Alright, let's get back to it.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, just to piggyback off that,I mean, doing this is, is going to,
you know, like Jim Rohn, you don't,you don't, uh, chase your goals.
(17:50):
You become your goals, right?
So, um, by going through this, by mergingthree, three teams, uh, together into
one, and, you know, now kind of, uh,being on the forefront of leading, uh,
a $20 million top line revenue company,um, it's pretty exciting that, uh, you
know, it's, it's a lot different than,you know, leading your own million dollar.
(18:11):
Um, you know.
Team or individual agent production,like you're, you're, you're managing
new systems, new people, new tools.
You're, the knowledge has toincrease your, your problem
solving has to sharpen, right?
Like, there's so many things,so many benefits that come in.
So if it's totally flossed, whichI doubt it will, um, I'm gonna come
out the other side more preparedand equipped to take on the next
(18:31):
challenge, which is pretty exciting.
So,
yeah.
And it, it is, and you, and younailed it right there, right?
The tech and, and.
The new systems, right?
Because the systems have to bebuilt in order to support the goal.
And obviously now resetting thismassive, you know, goal that we're
wanting and really following the,you know, Ben, Ben Hardy's, you know,
(18:53):
science of scaling, you know, impossiblegoal with an impossible timeline.
Forces you to raise the floor and,you know, you gotta create the systems
and structure utilizing, you know,technology to be able to, to help
you support, to be able to get there.
And, you know, just like I had mentionedwhen we, um, jumped into this conversation
(19:15):
was, you know, I, I've got a, we'vegot a lot, I see a lot of people out
there really embracing, you know, AI.
Different, different tools, differentapps, but the way that you guys
have been able to incorporate it andutilize it almost in everything that
you're doing is really cool to see.
(19:36):
So like what is, what is kind of yourapproach, your, your methodology,
philosophy, or whatever it is, of howyou're incorporating and utilizing
AI in everything that you're doing?
That's a good question.
I think, uh, I think to answer that,um, you know, we always talk about,
you know, if you, if you think youknow everything, you're, you're
(19:58):
very, you're very defeated, right?
So like, I don't go into anysituation where I think, uh.
I always know the answers or solutions,and I, and I think, you know, like
your, yours and my relationship is veryvaluable because I get to speak to a high
level strategic mind about my business.
And I can like ping ideas off you.
We can chat.
I, if you train your AI model properly,you know, if I, I, so essentially
(20:20):
I upload every single meeting,uh, that's ever happened and now I
actually bought a new AI subscription.
Where, um, it's called ai@bensoncrew.ca.
And then essentially I've invited allmy team members in there and the, the
goal is anytime you have a meeting wherea decision's made or anything's kind
of being driven down the field, youupload that into our AI Google Drive.
I call it AI Brain.
(20:41):
And then it, all thedocuments go into there.
So once you connect your Google Driveto that new, uh, superpower AI system,
it, you can deeply search your own.
Google Drive.
So like, if you're feeding it all theinformation of your, of your company,
your vision, your strategy, yourmeeting notes, your progress, um,
it now has full context of exactlyeverything you're doing in your business.
(21:03):
And then I just instruct my AImodel to be like, Hey, you know,
you're my, you're my, you're.
Right hand person, executive level,strategic mind that, uh, is, is helping
me bounce ideas off so we can identifythe next key steps and, you know, uh,
you see kind of like what the bottlenecksmight be that we need to approach and
like problems that we need to solve.
So it's just a, it is just a reallygood way to like incorporate everything
(21:25):
you're doing and loading it all upinto one central system and then
training that, uh, system to knoweverything about your business.
So when you wanna have a conversationwith it about, hey, what.
What are the key next steps?
What am I missing?
What are the top priorities in thecompany right now that you know?
And then how do, how do you thinkwe can problem solve this together?
So it's like a, it's like, um, astrategic partner in your business
(21:45):
if you, if you treat it properly.
So that's kind of how I see that.
And I, I got started earlier with it.
Like I, uh, tried to develop my ownAI exec layer and then, um, and then
I was trying to find ways to problemsolve it and like to scale it up.
But, uh, I, I ended up just buying thenext level, uh, uh, AI software that,
uh, could, um, sync all conversations andhave a mind and memory and chat should
(22:06):
be two five with their increased memory.
Um, was a huge unlocking of make,making sure that, uh, everything is.
Still concise.
It's definitely still bottlenecks.
It's not a full replacement where like,you know, it, it just knows everything.
There's still limitations to it,uh, still, which is, I guess,
good and bad at the same time.
You know, that humanelement's not eliminated yet.
So, uh, that's good.
(22:27):
Yeah, and I think, you know, just,just the conversations, especially
around, you know, when you're, whenyou're talking to other thought
leaders and, and strategic thinkers,it just, you know, it takes, it takes.
Pain.
It takes real world experience.
It takes things to, to help you shapeand navigate the way you think and,
(22:49):
and you know, all the mental modelsand you know, a lot of that stuff.
You have to learn to know whatprompt, what question, to really,
really pull out what it is you're,you're really trying to, trying to
solve whatever you're trying to do.
And then when it, whenever it givesyou, then you gotta, you know, do
you have the ability to, to like.
You know, is this, is this true?
(23:10):
Right?
Is this, is this actually gonna work?
Like, let me, let me run some, somescenarios and, and different things.
So that's where I, I've seen it as,like you said, that that thought
partner that will challenge, butthere's, there's certain things that,
you know, if you haven't had a lot of.
Real world experience or, or witnesseda lot of of experience or ha had the
(23:33):
per, you know, the personal developmentrequired to be able to navigate
and, and ask the right questions.
It can maybe steer you downa wrong path real fast.
A hundred percent.
Like, uh, the, sometimes the, the bestpart about it is like you, uh, you're,
you're thinking through trying to solvea problem and then it validates that,
uh, the problem that you want, the wayyou wanted to solve it was the right way.
(23:55):
Because like, you know, it'llgive you alternate options.
Like, Hey, this is what I'm thinking.
This is what I wanna do.
It has all the context ofeverything that we have done.
And it's like, here'ssome alternate options.
And then you push it and challengeit and it challenge you back.
And then you're like, okay, no, likethis is the way that I want to do it.
And I, I think this is the right way.
And then, um.
So like, it's not always right, it'sactually more wrong than it is Right.
Sometimes.
So, um, if you didn't have theexperience and know-how, and like,
(24:18):
you know, it, it could definitelylead you down the wrong path.
For sure.
For sure.
I mean, a lot of confirmation bias, right?
Like it Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Telling you.
It is a great idea.
I tell the AI all the time, and I evenput it into the master prompt, right?
So you can actually, in the settings,you can like train the, the, the ai and,
(24:38):
and it's like the, it's like you cannotbe a yes, you can't be a yes man, you
know, you're not, uh, just don't tellme what I need, what I want to hear.
Just tell me what I needto hear kind of thing.
So just like our, this is thesame with our clients, right?
You gotta tell them what they,uh, need to hear, not wanna hear.
So same thing, um, don't just, uh,get confirmation bias, but it, it's.
It's getting better, but again, it's nota perfect system, not a perfect solution.
(25:00):
It's more to kind of validate andhelp you like move faster, right?
Yeah.
So one thing that it's definitely helpedme with is like, uh, communication, right?
Because I get, I receive communications.
And then for me to articulate.
'cause like, you know, you, you're, youknow, I was just watching another video
that most of our brain and, and decisionmaking is still technically emotional.
Very small sliver of it's logical.
(25:21):
So if I'm, if I'm responding withan emotional mind and I have a high
emotion, um, sometimes the way mycommunication comes across isn't
exactly how I want to come across.
So for me, what it definitelyhelps me with is like, Hey,
this is what I want to say.
Yeah.
Like, how
do I, how do I structure and, and organizethis in a way that's someone else?
Um, gets the, gets the information andremoves the emotion out of it, right?
(25:44):
So, um, I use it all the time when, uh,my team gives me, um, I. So, for example,
the other day, one of my, uh, operationalleaders sent me a message, um, about,
uh, how they wanted to lead their team.
And then I immediately saw it as a,uh, were were, some of their thinking
was potentially flawed, um, becausethey were thinking like, as a, as
a, they gave me analogy of, of beinga chef in a kitchen and the, what
(26:06):
she, what she described as being asous chef, not, not the master chef.
Right.
So I, I tried to like.
You know, respond back and how Iwould've responded, but then it
kind of looked like it was a, nota, not a personal attack, but like.
Not that I'm taking her, um,opinions into consideration.
So I, I run it through bt, it'slike, Hey, how do I communicate
this more masterfully?
(26:26):
So my point gets across so it sees, sothey could see it as a, uh, positive
feedback to reinforce what they'rethinking, but to also help 'em grow.
Um, versus just like a, an emailthat I type out that I, where I hope
they understand what I'm thinking.
You know what I mean?
Like, yeah.
I, I think for, for, for thatperspective, it really helps me
communicate a lot clearer and a lot,uh, more factual to help someone, you
(26:48):
know, validate what they're thinking,but then help them see multiple layers
of growth on top of what they'rethinking might have been limited on.
If that
makes sense.
Yeah.
No, I love that.
Right.
You know, and, and I mean, that's partof our job as leaders is, you know.
Effective communication.
And have you inside your master prompt,have you put like all of your, your
working genius, your disc, all ofthe personality profiles, do you have
(27:11):
all of that built in there as well?
No, uh, mostly what Ihave is what our roles and
responsibility is for each person.
So when someone logs in and theytell them who they are, then
it knows who it's working with.
And then also what I have donein the past is like, Hey, this
is what everyone's role is.
Here's like the four leader, you, youhelped me, uh, create the four leadership
(27:31):
questions and we essentially, uh, askedthe, the questions to everyone about
their leadership and what their roles are.
And then we uploaded that.
And then based on that, we were ableto kind of reorganize the org chart to
put people in their strong positions.
Um, so yeah, like I'veused it for all that stuff.
And then when I get.
That when I get that information,I'll update the master prompt.
Right.
With uh, with the updated org structure.
(27:52):
Obviously clearly.
'cause it's, it's not me.
It's not really mine, it's the teams.
Uh, I have my own personal one that I use.
Right.
But then I have the team one,which I'm really just trying to
train it to know, um, hey, hereare strategic milestones, right?
2 billion in sales inthe next three years.
Um, you know, we want to getto 2000 in the community.
So like.
(28:12):
And then I give it the B hg. So BAGand, and, uh, targets along the way.
Uh, and then everyone'srole in responsibility.
So then that way it kind of knows wherewe're trying to push and trying to go.
That's kind of how I've done it.
Yeah.
I'd be real curious.
I, I know.
Um, I haven't loaded allof my stuff in there.
It's, it's definitely I've got a, um.
Get that in there with,with the team as well.
(28:32):
Right?
Because we use a lot of the working geniusin who to include into what conversations
and how to communicate and what notto push back on and what not to say.
Just because it'll be triggers so like.
I'm a, I'm a wd so my head's 30,000foot in the, in the clouds, but then
I come down in that next phase withmy discernment and I poke holes.
(28:53):
So I know my weakness is that I'llcome up with a bunch of great ideas,
but I'll talk myself out of it.
Right?
I'll be like, no, that doesn't work.
That won't work.
That's, that's a bad idea.
That's a bad idea.
But there's also triggers for,for discernment people, right?
Like when you question them,it's a trigger for them.
So, you know, knowing how toeffectively, obviously I'm aware of
(29:14):
it, so it, it, you know, it, it's,I can, I can move out of it fast.
But I think, you know, you havingthat in there to be able to, you
know, help you communicate betterwith, with the understanding.
I, I just see, I mean,it's limitless, right?
Of, of, of what you're able to, tounlock and what you're able to do.
But you said the key word forme, what I've seen, um, just in,
(29:37):
just in my experience through.
Strategic thinking, thinking throughprojects, thinking through, you
know, challenges and bottlenecksis the speed in which you can work
through, you can work through things.
Um, I was, I was joking with,I was joking with kinder.
I mean, we would leave ideas upon the whiteboard for months.
(29:58):
That can be cleared in,in half an hour, right?
Mm-hmm.
And it's, um, I think, I think speed,um, being able to, to execute at that.
Um, unpack a little bit here with this.
Um, we, we, we kind of skated over it alittle bit, but, uh, I would love kind of
your, your take, um, on balancing, right?
(30:22):
You know, ai, the new tech.
With also staying groundedin the fundamentals, right?
How, how are you looking?
And then how are youtrying to stay balanced?
And then also you as a leadercommunicating that to the rest
of the team to be like, listen,it's not, or it's, and right.
How do you embrace the new,new technology with, you know,
(30:44):
fundamentals in this business?
Um, yeah, I just need a littlebit more clarity on that question.
So how do I embrace new technologywhile Well, how do you balance real?
How do you balance, how do you balance it?
Yeah.
Right?
How do you, how do you like not losesight where you gravitate over to all
the tech or avoid the tech and just staygrounded in the fundamentals, but how do
(31:04):
you embrace, you know, balancing the two?
Yeah, I, I guess my question would be isfundamentals of like the day-to-day real
estate business or fundamentals for theleadership team, because those, 'cause I,
I'm not really involved in the day-to-dayof a, of real estate activities anymore.
More, more day-to-day fundamentals oflike operating the leadership team.
Yeah.
Let's, let's, let's unpack it forthe leadership side of things,
especially like team leaders.
You know, thinking about you beforeyou know now the merger, now you
(31:27):
know, you've got your specific roleas well as Scott, and Scott and Ryan.
But you know, as you're, you'retrying to, to balance your,
your, your new, your new vital.
Right.
Your new vitals.
Yeah.
The, the vital fundamentals.
The vital metrics, the thingsthat you're now responsible for.
How do you, how do you, youknow, maintain that balance?
Yeah, I, I guess the way I'mmaintaining the balance is just constant
(31:50):
communication, um, with the team.
I, I think that's the foundational piecethat, uh, like whether, and, and if
that's what you're getting at, um, yeah,like essentially what what I'm doing is
like, you know, we have our leadershipmeetings every Friday, and then we have
our check-ins every Wednesday, and thenwe have our leadership chat on Slack,
so, you know, all the key prioritiesthat we're identifying on Friday.
(32:10):
You know, I'm not justrelying on AI to like.
Tell us what to do and then, and thendo it all for us, because that's,
it's not a good execution expert.
So like we, we, yeah.
So I use AI to like bounce ideasoff, help me with communication
and create clarity and, um, youknow, um, be more an effective
leadership where I might, you know.
Be able to self-assess myself a littlebit more, but then I still have to bring
(32:31):
that back to the real world becausenot everyone's as plugged in as I am.
So, um, you know, most of the, eventhe leadership team is not using
the AI as, as a, as much as I am.
I think I use it probably 10 times morethan everyone else still, but, uh, so
that still gives me the opportunityto bring it back to more traditional
style execution where we're, you know.
Meeting on, on Fridays, setting thenew priorities for the next week,
(32:54):
checking in midweek, but then alsomaking sure communication's super high.
Um, and then fundamentally on a,on a leadership scale, like we
still need to build out the orgorg chart to like plug holes.
So, you know, you and I and uh, and theteam, we were looking at our next key
hires before we even made this merger, andone of those was a project manager, right?
Mm-hmm.
So the reason the projectmanager was really important
(33:15):
and vital, especially now.
Um, is because you know, all those ideasthat you had on the whiteboard, right?
If like, we actually had alegitimate project manager, so
it's like that's her job literally.
Uh, monitor the Slack channelof the leadership team.
Jump on every single, um,strategic leadership meeting.
So that's like, uh, the departmentheads, and then also jump in on
(33:36):
every department heads meeting.
So VP of sales.
So jump in with Nick Blake and Ryan.
Talk about all the prioritiesyou got for the sales team.
Jump in with Tanner.
See what's all the priors inthe marketing team, right.
Um, Jo drop in with me and we talk aboutfinance and strategy, like what are
all those things that we're working on?
And then someone is specificallyis their only job is to capture all
those ideas, work on organizing themand making sure that everyone has an
(33:58):
accountability, like who's accountableto the task and when is it executed by?
And that, that has beena game changer, right?
So it's just, um, yeah.
Because now you're removing yourself as aleader of that meeting, or, you know, for
me anyways, being the leader of the, uh,strategic, um, uh, strategic leadership.
Or I wanna make sure I check inwith everyone and hold 'em, uh,
not hold 'em responsible, but moveany, remove any obstacles that are
(34:21):
in their way to get things done.
Um, now I'm not like spending, youknow, an hour after the meeting,
like, okay, who said they weredoing what and organizing it.
I can get back to what I need to do,which is execute on my priorities.
And then, um, and, and the team isjust getting super clear on what they
need to execute for their priorities.
So that's kind of like.
How I keep it, you know?
Yeah.
Balanced, right?
It's not just, it's, youcan't just run it with ai.
(34:43):
So yeah, people are still very important,
very, very important.
And what a, what acritical component, right?
Because when you look at any,any, any endeavor, there's
only three things that matter.
You got the idea person, peoplethat are bringing the ideas, you
got the execution of the ideas.
But you gotta have somebodyto manage the ideas.
(35:03):
And by definition, if you're doingall three, then you're a solopreneur.
And it was, had the sameconversation with, with with
Durbin here, and I was like.
Bro who brings all the ideas.
He goes, me.
I said, and he was just, he waslike, he was just overwhelmed, right?
He was at capacity, he wasbeyond capacity, and you,
(35:25):
you could just see, right?
It was just wearing on him.
And I was like, bro, there'sonly three types of people.
Like, we gotta make an adjustment here.
I said, who?
Who's bringing the ideas?
Me?
Who's executing the ideas?
Me?
Who's managing the ideas?
Me?
I said, do you see the problem?
I said, you are the number one teamat EXP in the state of Pennsylvania,
and you are a solopreneur.
(35:47):
Let that sink in for a second.
And, you know, it was that level ofawareness then, then started making
changes and getting things off his plate.
The project management side of things,you do not need to, if you're, if
you are, especially the, the ideaand you're responsible for ideas,
responsible for relationships.
So it's, it's just a,just a critical piece.
(36:08):
And, you know, obviously, you know,starting out, we, we try to, you
know, navigate for what we can, right?
We want a players based uponthe price range, the salary cap.
This, you know, the size of the business,but where you guys are at, you, you needed
to make a, a, you know, a world classhire for, for the size that you did.
And, you know, she's, she's been a gamechanger right outta the gate, right?
(36:29):
Mm-hmm.
To be able to, to help managethose, those priorities.
I think another thing that, uh, issuper awesome about this role is that,
you know, everyone's got ideas, right?
Everyone's got ideas and, and, um, whathappens when you don't get that idea out?
It just stays in your, in your brain.
You're like, okay, who doI need to give this to?
Or you start working on it.
So like someone fired a question about,um, hey, uh, vertically integrating the,
(36:51):
uh, sign install system into our business.
Right?
And like right now we have thethree main priorities, which is,
uh, operational optimization, youknow, follow up boss integration of
the three teams so we can get thelead gen, uh, properly distributed.
Mm-hmm.
And then, uh, the third onewas, uh, brand launch, right?
So those were the three key priorities.
And then, you know, someone threw the,uh, a wrench into the, into the leadership
chat about like, Hey, like, you know,what's going on with sign signin installs?
(37:15):
And, and want, and wanted tomake it a, a big priority.
And I was like, Hey, why don't wejust, and I just tag, add Sasha,
toss that into the backlog, and thenI just said, Hey, when the time is
right, um, let's look at this as a,from a strategic perspective and see
if it, if it makes sense to integrateit or check out under other vendors.
So the beauty about about that is, youknow, that person now feels confident
(37:36):
that they're, they were heard.
Because they need to be validatedthat, that, that was heard.
'cause that, that puts out the fire, keepsthe whole operational team still okay.
They threw this wrench into the,into the middle instead of the
whole operation team going like,okay, we gotta solve this problem.
'cause you know, them, they're,if, if a, if a high level person in
the company's throw something intothe middle, they'll, they'll try to
get after to make everyone happy.
(37:57):
But by doing this, it's like,essentially it does a couple things.
It, it, it validates that person thatthey were heard and that it's gonna
get taken care of at the right time.
And then it's also kept the, the,uh, the execution team on focus to
make sure that they're not taking theball off their existing priorities,
because that wasn't more importantthan what we were currently working on.
Right.
So that, that's the, that'sthe thing is like, Hey, we
(38:19):
only have this much capacity.
If these five things comingup, the number one question is,
well, is this more important?
Then what we're working on rightnow, and if it is why, and if it's
not, then let's, let's slot itfor a time where we can solve it.
Otherwise, we're just, we're justgonna be chasing our tails all day.
And that's obviously a mistake weused to make in the past, right?
Where it's like, oh,shiny object, new thing.
Okay, let's try to solve it right away.
And then nothing gets done because we,uh, you know, instead of focusing on
(38:42):
just buttoning up the top priority, wejust opened up five new priorities while
trying to button up the top priority.
If that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It is.
And, and, um.
Uh, does, is she utilizing like,like the ice format, um, the,
the scoring tracker for ideas?
The Yeah.
You know, the impact and,and you can grade it, right?
So like, you, you want to encourageyour team to bring ideas to the
(39:05):
table and it's like, okay, let's,let's, let's grade it right?
You know, um, you know,what's the impact, what's the
confidence, and what's the ease?
And also, but what growthlever does it pull?
So is it gonna help us with traffic?
Is it gonna help us with conversion?
Is it gonna help us with lifetime value?
Or in that case, that's a, that, that'sprobably a profit equation, right?
(39:27):
Like, is this gonna make us moreprofitable to bring it in house?
Great.
Well, if we need to focus on some profitlevers, we can go into, you know, hey
Sasha, pull up all of our profit ideas.
Right?
That's gonna pull the profit leverand you know, but being able to have
that project manager, 'cause it getsoverwhelming, especially if you're in
production like most team leaders, andespecially team leaders that are in
(39:49):
production, but team leaders that arelike 40 to 45 to 50% of production, right?
Mm-hmm.
You really can't get anything done.
Um, and so I think it's, it's just reallystepping back, like you said, just being
more strategic around, you know, whatever,whatever the goal, you know, really is.
(40:10):
Yeah.
And I guess if you're 60% of yourproduction volume, like that's a really
profitable business model, right?
Because you're generating most ofthe revenue, so you're not splitting
that revenue with other people.
So, you know, you just have tobe disciplined enough or willing.
To make the investment and, uh, 'causesometimes people will, will, uh,
it's like, okay, well I'll just workharder and then I'll make more money.
Mm-hmm.
(40:30):
Um, but it's like, okay, well if youcould be more strategic with it, if
you're, if you're taking 80 to 90% ofyour commissions, you know, don't, don't
keep it all for yourself and buy Bentley,you know, invest, you know, 10,000 a
month in some and some killers to, uh,help you take things off your plate and,
and, uh, move the, move the ball forward.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is.
It's a, it, it, it, it really is a,a, you know, when you, when you can
(40:53):
get the actual framework to the game,it makes the game so much more fun.
Just, just like with myself, likewith uh, Scott, you know, um, you
know, I've never dropped, uh, ahundred thousand dollars on, on a
flyer drop on just one flyer drop.
It's like, okay, we're gonna, we'regonna spend a hundred thousand dollars
this month on dropping flyers and we'regonna make the phone ring like crazy.
He's like, okay, I'venever done that before.
But I'm trusting him that,uh, he's able to do that.
(41:16):
And, and that's the coolthing about, you know.
Being in partnership withdifferent people that had different
experiences and, and are mm-hmm.
And have a different superpower than you.
So he sees, he, he knowswhat that's gonna bring.
I don't, so, but if we trust each other,you know, it's be to trust Steven Covey.
You know, if you don't trust yourleader, if you don't trust the people
you're working with, you probablyshouldn't be working with him.
But, uh, no, I'm, I'm reallyexcited to, um, you know, bring
(41:37):
what I can bring to the table.
You know, let's let,instead of trying to like.
Step in Scott's Lane and, and so, oh,that's not how I've done it before.
So therefore we're notgonna do it that way.
It's like, he's gonna let mecook in my lane, I'm gonna
let him cook it in his lane.
We're gonna let Ryan Cook in his lane.
And that way, um, that'sthe whole point of it.
So we can all like, do moretogether versus mm-hmm.
You know, just continue tobottleneck everything through
(41:58):
one, one decision making tree.
Yeah.
That's, um.
Yeah, that, that's cool.
But Sasha too is, um, you know, oneof the key requirements was a Clickup
expert, so she knows how to do, uh,uh, project management at a high level.
And then also, um, you know, she'salso an EOS expert, so, um, Gina
Wickman, so Rocket Fuel and EOS.
So she's, she's got those things.
(42:18):
So like now you have someone in theorganization that can, you know, speak
the same language as like the leaderthat's trying to get things done with,
and now we can prioritize and, andexecute, which I'm pretty excited about.
It's, uh, I, I feel likewe're extremely organized now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She, she's really, you know, not,not only project manager, but she's,
she's really in that integratorlane, which, um, hundred percent,
you know, can, can really help.
(42:40):
Speed things up for sure.
Yeah, brother, I appreciateyou carving out the time.
I know you got your, you got your handsfull with the, with the launch and, uh,
being able to jump in here and definitelyalways a, a wealth of, uh, of knowledge
and being able, you know, to guide,especially at the forefront, you've always
been at the front of the bell curve withpushing, you know, um, the optimization.
(43:03):
Like you said, of the systems, of theoperational side of things, heavy,
you know, leaning on, on tech and thattech stack to, to help you execute at
a high, at the highest level possible.
Appreciate it.
Well, it's uh, a lot to dowith, uh, your guidance as well.
So obviously, uh, it's notall, it's not all on me, so.
Well, I appreciate you brother, guys.
Make sure, stay plugged in with,uh, with Steve and the Benson crew.
(43:27):
They are, uh, down a very, uh,exciting, very exciting path.
Very exciting journey and lookingforward to, uh, things to come.
Brother, appreciate you.
All right.
Appreciate it.
Thanks.
See ya.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you're done guessing and ready tolead like a real CEO O with a custom
strategy, real accountability andproven systems, check out my executive
(43:51):
one-on-one coaching@johnkitchens.coach.
Fill out the application and bookyour one-on-one call with me.
Be sure to hit follow soyou never miss an episode.
Catch you on the next one.
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