October 3, 2025 • 45 mins
Episode Overview
This special episode originally aired on The Leverage Lounge Podcast with Mike Collier, where John Kitchens joined as a guest to unpack what it really takes to transition from agent to CEO.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in the production grind—drowning in deals, chasing status instead of freedom, or struggling to scale without burning out—this conversation is your roadmap to clarity. John shares how to shift from chaos to clarity, why systems equal freedom, and the keystone habits every leader must build to escape production and create a business that serves their life.
From alignment and accountability to talent attraction and the four levers of scalability, this episode is packed with practical insights and timeless leadership lessons.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
Chaos to Clarity
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Why most agents mistake “being busy” for being productive
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How radical honesty creates true clarity about your current reality
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The two-part formula for moving from point A to point B without circling endlessly
Habits & Reflection
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The power of weekly strategic thinking time
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Why half-built bridges kill momentum and how to finally finish what you start
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Keystone habits for staying in CEO mode
Systems = Freedom
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The four levers of growth every business must master: traffic, conversion, fulfillment, and profit
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Why retention matters more than acquisition for long-term scalability
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The #1 most valuable system in your business (hint: it’s about talent)
Leadership & Alignment
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Hiring A-player talent—and why it changes as your business grows
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How to ensure your team is aligned with your vision, values, and purpose
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Why tens don’t stick around eights (and how to level up your leadership)
Exiting Production
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The real signs a team leader is ready to step out of production
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How to evaluate opportunities and passions outside the day-to-day grind
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Why chasing freedom beats chasing status every time
Resources & Mentions
-
The Leverage Lounge Podcast with Mike Collier → LeverageWithMike.com
-
SmartHireVA.com – VA talent placement
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 John Kitchens Coach podcastexperience as your host, John Kitchens.
Get ready to think bigger andtransform your business into
a path to lasting freedom.
Welcome back to the Leverage Loungepodcast, where we decode how real estate
(00:22):
agents, creators, and entrepreneursscale beyond solo entrepreneurship
using smart systems, powerful people.
And purpose driven leverage.
Today's episode is for the agent who feelslike they're drowning in deals, who knows
that they were built to lead but can'tget out of the production grind, or the
(00:42):
team leader who built a business thatthey just simply cannot walk away from.
You don't just need more tools.
You need clarity.
You need systems.
You need to become the CEO.
And today's guest is the guywho helps you do exactly that.
He's the founder of John Kitchen'sCoach, which is a strategic business
coach company to some of the topperforming teams in the country, and
(01:06):
the man behind countless quiet successstories right here in our industry.
Let's welcome to thelounge, Mr. John Kitchens.
What's up, brother?
Wow.
I love it, brother.
That's awesome, man.
Uh, just, uh, honored to be here, get tohang with you and, uh, excited to dive in.
Man, you have so much going on.
I'm just, I'm just appreciativeof you saying yes to being on the
(01:28):
show, being in the lounge with us.
Absolutely.
So let's jump right in.
Let's start with what you callthe chaos to clarity shift.
Yeah.
Now most agents think they'rebeing productive because they're
just reacting all day long.
So can you walk us through like whatdoes it mean to shift from doing
the work to designing the business?
(01:49):
Yeah, and you know, we all find ourselfin ebbs and flows into chaos, but
it's being able to have that level ofawareness to catch ourselves and then
being able to shift out of that, right?
It's kind of the knowledgeand power concept.
So knowledge is just awareness, right?
Once you have that level ofawareness, that's why it's important
to, you know, track and measure.
(02:09):
Things, it's important to, youknow, surround yourself with people
that will tell you what you needto hear, not what you want to hear.
It's that we're putting up themirrors around you because we
all have blind spots, right?
Yeah.
And you know, as we continueto progress, we, we just can't
see certain things and we need.
Structure and systems and tools andpeople around us to point out our flaws
(02:29):
in what we're just not able to see.
That's knowledge, createawareness, and then power.
It really is just choice, right?
When you know that you have a choiceand you always have a choice, you have
a choice and so you, you can chooseto do something about it or choose
not to because that's a choice too.
To do nothing is also a choice, so.
Understanding, you know,really those two things.
But once you have your, you know, beingable to, you know, like Jocko talks about
(02:50):
right where you disengage and step backto where you, you, you take a, a full
view and it's, you know, impossible tosee the picture inside of the frame.
So we've gotta be able to, tostep back and, and, and, and
like, okay, where's the move?
What's going on?
And that's how we beginto move out of chaos.
And we start to establish someclarity of really what's happening.
And for me, clarity is just two things.
(03:11):
You know, radical honesty of.
What current reality truly looks like.
Not what we think it looks like,but what it really looks like.
Not sticking our head in the sand.
Yeah.
Owning the financial situation.
Owning kind of the customeracquisition side of things.
Owning the people component.
More importantly, owning me.
My component, like how am I showing up?
(03:31):
Am I showing up as a leader that Imust show up for the people that are
depending upon me to really push through.
And then the other thingis, you know, where.
Where the heck are we going?
Like, what is the Dane goal?
What is the destination?
Because, you know, we, we wanna movein as much of a straight line as we
possibly can, moving from point A topoint B, but what happens is that people.
(03:52):
Lose side to point B, andthen they just find themselves
in this circular situation.
Yeah, and the thing is, is whenyou're in a circular situation, the
situation always drives you down.
It drives you down, and we want toget moving to where we want to go.
So it really takes those two components,point A to point B, because then once
(04:12):
we know like, Hey, here's where I'm at.
Like, it's all on the table.
Like I'm, I'm sitting here naked.
Here's, here's everything.
Hey brother, this is whereI'm trying to get to.
This is my destination.
Okay, cool.
Let's put the plan inplace to get you there.
Let's figure out, you know, the paththat you need to take based upon
your capabilities, your skillset.
Your level of commitment, whatare you willing to commit to?
And then we'll design that plan for youthat you can execute on along the way.
(04:37):
And it's just really importantto unpack it that way.
And you know, there's a lot ofpeople that just wanna give you
the advice, but they don't wannastop and ask you the questions.
You know, really what's,what's happening man?
What's going on?
Okay, cool.
Where do you want to go?
What are you trying to accomplish?
And then from there we can reallystrategically problem solve.
I love how you put that as far as.
Getting clear on where the goal is,understanding that agents get kind of
(04:58):
caught in this ether around point A,but never really getting to point B.
And you talk about habitsoften, what's one clarity habit
that every CEO should build?
Yeah, I mean it's, it's theweekly strategic thinking time.
It's, it's the 60 to 90 minutes whereit's just really total reflection.
And you know, for me it's part ofthe Sunday planning process and
(05:20):
it starts just with an assessmentof where we at to our goals.
So never losing sight of the goals.
That that's the, that'sthe critical thing, right?
Mm-hmm.
Really, what, what, whatam I trying to accomplish?
And not losing sight of that.
And sometimes, you know, becauseon the path of growth, you
know, it takes a lot of oxygen.
Oxygen for our business is cash.
So in the pursuit of growth within ourbusiness, it sucks a lot of oxygen.
(05:44):
It sucks a lot of cash.
So you've gotta take a constanttemperature of that on a weekly
basis of seeing where we're at,where we at in relation to our goal.
And then you just start to step back,you know, Hey man, where am I winning?
Right.
Where am I losing?
Where are we falling short?
What's broken?
What's about to break?
And more importantly, man, are therethings that we just need to stop doing?
(06:07):
And we have to, you know,remember Mike, that.
We don't tend to die of starvation,we tend to choke ourselves out
because we try to do too much.
Yeah.
And we try to consume too much.
When we can narrow the focus andgo deeper on that thing, then
that allows us to not build.
You know, Joel's, Joel's half builtBridge concept and real estate agents,
(06:30):
small business entrepreneurs arenotorious for half-built bridges.
They just won't see anything to completionbecause they're looking for the quick.
Path.
Mm-hmm.
And there is no quick path.
The quick path is do the work.
That's the quick path, right?
And stop avoiding the work.
And so I think that's really where youcan have the reflective strategic time
and built it into whatever works for you.
(06:51):
For me, it's usually a90 minute run, walk, jog.
A lot of walk.
Maybe the headphones are in because Iwant people to not mess with me and I
can just kind of tune out some noises.
But there's nothing playing.
It's just me thinking and havingthe conversation with myself.
To me, that's one of the most.
Important times of the week that wecan have to have that reflection.
(07:14):
I love the way you simplify thesethings that we talk about and we kind
of know we should be doing, but it'sa lot like blocking and tackling.
You know, it, it reallyis the simple things.
How do you win games?
Blocking and tackling.
And so when you talk about simplifyingbusiness into four core systems,
that phrase systems equal freedom.
(07:35):
Shows up in almost everything youteach, and so like, can you break down
what these four core systems are andlike how do they create scalability?
The four levers and then thesystems that's gonna drive
those levers for growth.
It comes down to, you know, beingable to create opportunities.
So what is our traffic process?
What are we doing to generateopportunities, repeatable system
(07:56):
to convert those opportunities?
And then what is.
The opportunity to buildlifetime value, right?
That's the fulfillment side of things.
How do we fulfill, and you'll seea lot of people out there that are
great, especially great, you know,online internet marketers are great at
getting, but they're terrible at keeping.
And so they're not focused on thefulfillment lifetime value lever.
(08:18):
And then you look at, okay,well how am I maximizing profit?
Right?
Retention?
My business model is agents, right?
When you get in the team game andyou've got more than a dozen agents.
You are no longer servicingbuyers and sellers.
You're servicing agents, right?
Your new clients become agents and.
You know, we can be moreprofitable if we keep our agents
(08:40):
a little bit longer, right?
Focus on the lifetime value, andthere's certain things to be able to
pull that retention lever as well.
So when you start to look there,it's like, okay, well what are the
systems that have to be in place tosupport the goals in those aspects?
When you think about, you know,systems and consistency, the
plumbing and the framework foryour business is you've gotta make
(09:02):
sure you start and come back again.
You gotta start with the goal.
Because my infrastructure and my systemsare gonna be a little bit different
depending upon what the goal is, right?
And that's the biggest thingis, is where we have to start.
But once we have that, we have to lookat, okay, what is our value to the market?
What is our value proposition?
So how do we go aboutcreating value, right?
(09:26):
And being able to deliver andcapture that value to the market.
It's your business model,you know, the goal.
What is your business model?
Business model is just that.
How do you create, how do youdeliver, and how do you capture value?
And when you exchange value, that'swhen you're able to monetize on that.
So do you reverse engineer that then?
(09:47):
Do you start with, I mean, obviously youstart with the goal in mind, but the goal
is always, yes, I need more customers,so I need to do lead generation, right?
Customer acquisition, but Ialso, as you talked about,
need to be able to fulfill it.
And then I have the long-term value play.
And so where do you start?
Because if you just start generatingcustomers, which a lot of agents
just go out and start buyingleads, they don't really know what.
(10:08):
Systems to prioritize first, and soI hear you talking about the gold.
You start with the end in mind andthen you work your way backwards.
For
me, it's, you almost have to, right,because it's a level of commitment.
If you don't, that's when it, sometimesit's just a hobby and you're kind of
interested in the thing, and then you getinto the thing and you realize how hard
(10:31):
the thing is, and then you like bouncearound and go do something else, right?
Yeah.
You abandon it because you haven'ttaken the time to get clear on, is this
something I'm willing to commit to?
You don't commit and figure it out.
You figure out what it is youwant, reverse engineer what it's
gonna take for that to be true.
And then is that somethingI'm willing to commit to?
And so that's where youalways have to start.
(10:53):
If not, you're going to just beinterested and where we're at in, in
today's climate, in the marketplace.
There is no room forjust interested people.
Like the barrier is commitment.
You want to get ahead,you gotta be obsessed.
And so that's just kindof where do you fall?
And that's the gut check.
That's the reality.
Kicking in the teeth, you know,the conversation in the mirror that
(11:15):
like, I'm willing to commit to this.
And so we start there and once youhave, you know, the goal, the value.
Is it a value?
Will people pay forthis in the marketplace?
Then we can start to build theplan in order to extract, you
know, create, deliver, and pull thevalue to get this machine moving.
But then the component is, well,what resources and team do I need for
(11:40):
us to be able to execute this plan?
This value equation in pursuitof the goals that we're going to.
So you start with the end in mind, youcome bounce back to the team, and then
you make sure that you have the teamin order to be able to go that way.
So you're like, well, what's the coresystem that you need to have in place?
To me, the number one isthe hiring system like.
(12:00):
Your most valuable system thatyou have in your business is the
ability to find and attract talent.
That is the most importantsystem in your business.
How do you attract a talent givenwhere you're at, that you're
able to afford at this point,and a talent changes as the game?
(12:26):
Gets a little more intense.
Great.
A talent.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A player talent, mm-hmm.
Is defined as somebody that gets the jobdone 90% of the time in a given pay range.
They are obviously a core value fit.
They have the capabilities andskillset, they have a execution mindset.
They get things done.
Now when you're half a million in GCI toA million in GCIA player talent, but then
(12:53):
you make the jump to 3 million in GCI.
That player might not be a playertalent anymore because they might not
have the capacity to grow with you.
That's why you've alwaysgotta be looking for talent.
Always.
And you know, the thing that wehave to remember though, it doesn't
matter if you have the greatesthiring system and you are bringing
(13:18):
in, you know, 10 level talent.
If you're not at a 10 level talent.
They're gone.
And if you're building a teamof twos and threes, tens don't
wanna hang around twos and threes.
That's so true.
And if you're an eight, a 10 won't stay.
So the most important thing inyour business is the talent system.
(13:40):
But the most critical thing is whatis the system that you are doing to
become the best version of yourself?
Like you said, what are those habits and.
You wanna take the shortcut, justgo get the miracle Morning with Hal
Elrod and understand the savers.
I mean, you want the, just the quickdown and dirty easiest framework that
(14:00):
will change your life in days is justimplement the savers for 30 days and tell
me, you know, if your life's not better.
Couldn't agree more.
I couldn't agree
more.
That's actually one.
I actually teach thatclass to agents as well.
You know, I teach a class so importanton the savers based on that book,
especially, you know, the one fourReal Estate Agents, the Miracle
(14:21):
Morning four Real Estate Agents.
You've said, John, that you can have theright people and the right systems, and
I think you're still saying this, right?
You can have the right people and theright systems, but if they're not aligned.
You're still stuck.
So I wanna talk about alignment now.
How do you help leaders diagnosewhen they've hired the right
people, but into the wrong roles?
(14:41):
Yeah, you know, it's getting real clear.
Obviously everything has to start with thevision and you have to be real clear on
what your core values are, your shouldsand should nots, uh, your decision making
filters, because when you know thosevalues, the things that we stand for.
(15:01):
That's the most importantpiece to be able to hire.
Hire people that are core value.
Surround yourself with peoplethat are core value alignment and.
Character and trust, right?
High character, high trust individuals.
Those are non-negotiables.
Your core values are non-negotiables.
Growth a player talent.
We get results.
We own the outcome.
100 zero results focused.
(15:23):
You know, whatever else those values mightbe for you, but you gotta know, right?
And you gotta hire fire, train coach,lead to them because the people you
surround yourself and the things you do.
Is what your culture is.
It's what you do is reallywhat your culture is all about.
It's how you behave, it's how you show up.
It's how you entertain.
I mean, you know this better than anybody.
So that's like one of themost critical components.
(15:46):
And being able to cast a massive vision,a big vision, because you know the
other component is your purpose, really.
That's just what it is.
I mean, why do.
We do.
You know, my purpose ismy why statement, right?
Going through sinex, cynics, startwith why Know your why, build your why.
And really what it is, is what are youthe best in the world at you can do so
that you can do the thing that givesyou the most amount of fulfillment?
(16:06):
What fulfills you?
So when you bring people in andwhat, from an alignment perspective,
do they align to the values?
Do they believe in the purpose?
Are they there and what theirgoals are, and based upon, that's
gonna give you fulfillment.
If they achieve their goals and thenthey're bought into whatever that.
Big, crazy, hairy, audaciousgoal, stretch goal, impossible
(16:26):
goal, whatever you wanna call it.
It's all the same.
But what is that goal andare they bought into it?
And do they believe they can accomplishtheir dreams by being a part of
what it is you're trying to do?
If not, without a vision, the villagewill perish and they will leave,
and it's just a matter of time.
So that's super importantfrom an alignment perspective.
(16:48):
But when you really startto uncover from them.
What makes them tick?
You know, in your hiring process,you gotta have some process, right?
There's gotta be some hoopsthey've gotta jump through.
But when you do your due diligenceon them, just as simple as just
go pay attention to their socialmedia content for a while.
It's gonna tell youeverything you need to know.
(17:10):
You can look at the resume, youcan look at their work history,
you know what attributes they have.
You can flush that out through,you know, test, test drive them
before they start with you.
There's all kinds ofthings you can do, but.
That's really what you're looking for.
But when you get an opportunity andyou bring 'em on board and they're
high character, high trust, they bringsome attributes, some skills needed
to the table, run 'em through as manypersonality profiles as you need.
(17:33):
We always have talked about the disc.
For me, the disc is justan energy management tool.
I just know where your energy levels are.
Okay.
You're a high C. Okay, great.
I know if I put you in a situation,you need X amount of recovery.
If you're a high D, and I need youon doing a task that's mundane C
level task, but you're a high D.
Okay?
I know you're gonna be frustrated.
It's gonna, you're gonna need, we'regonna need to navigate a little bit.
(17:53):
It's just an energy management tool.
There's all kinds out there.
We've taken 'em all.
The, the go-to though is gonnabe the working genius, and I
just, the more I spend time withit, the more I I look at it.
It's building a team that youcan put into their genius.
That's the biggest thing, right?
If you can build a team around people'sgenius and what they love to do and what
(18:15):
their skillset is, they're gonna thrive.
I think that's super, super importantto really nail down, you know, what
conversations to bring 'em into.
You know, what conversations tokeep 'em out of, and so it's just.
Understanding how tocommunicate and connect faster.
That to me is really important.
Had angel.
Come into the team.
She's been with me for almost over fouryears, going on five years, and she came
(18:37):
in social media side of things, but she'sa freaking English major and she loves
to write and her writing style, whatever.
I mean, she loves, you know, taking time.
She's, she's not fast, you know, justrunning gun on the content side of things.
So we just use that to our advantage.
We know kind of her style and where,where she can layer in, you know, the most
value, but also something that energizesher that she doesn't get frustrated with.
(19:00):
Their financial needs are met.
There has to be purpose beyond justdoing the job, and if you can tap into
their purpose and their purpose alignsto what you're trying to accomplish.
That energy never drains andthey, they can run forever.
Hey, I have a quick question.
Do you know exactly where youare in your business and at
(19:23):
what stage is keeping you stuck?
If not, download the eight stagesof the real estate business.
It's the most powerful tool we'veever created, and it shows you how
to stop surviving and start scaling.
You can grab the blueprintat the eight stages.
That's the, the number eight stages.comand get clarity on your next move.
(19:45):
Alright, let's get back at it.
I was gonna ask you about accountability,but you nailed it because, you
know, I've heard it said that wecan't hold people accountable.
There's no such thing as holdingother people accountable.
There's a such thing asself-accountability, right?
And we can manage to that.
I should not have you trying toaccomplish the goals that I've
set for you, but I can hold you.
(20:07):
Honest to the goals thatyou've set for yourself.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And so I think a lot of team leaders,they come in with these goals for the
agent trying to cast their goals ontothe agents that are joining their team.
But it really comes down to muchlike you said, like what kind
of fire is in them and is it theright fit for the right role?
And it may be or it may not be, butyou, we need to know that before we
(20:28):
really get in business with them.
Let's talk about whatmost agents secretly want.
Which is getting out of productionwithout watching this whole thing
burn to the ground, you know?
Yeah.
Like what are the signs foryou, team leaders out here?
I got you.
What are the signs that a teamleader is ready to exit production?
(20:49):
Yeah.
I mean, a lot of different reasons.
The thing that I have seen overthe last 20 years of this is.
They get excited about pursuinganother opportunity or a bigger
opportunity that would, you know,unlock more of their passion.
Things that they're really excited about.
(21:10):
For example, you know, kinder wantedoutta production to chase this
opportunity that was actually gonna bea book called Coachable that ended up.
Turning into another opportunityto where we were selling, you know,
the first over the web technologyand we were selling websites, right?
That led into long, roundaboutway that led into coaching.
(21:33):
Mm-hmm.
And so he just needed space and time topursue another passion, another endeavor,
something that he believed was gonna bea bigger opportunity than what we were
trying to build in Lotton, Oklahoma.
And so that was.
An example, right?
You look at STAs, right?
STAs sick, another example, right?
He had an opportunity todevelop and build a call center.
(21:55):
He had a great ISA in Matt Mil, andthey had an opportunity to go sell
products for, for Jay and Mike.
So they're like, Hey, we got the resource.
We can do it.
We can expand.
Let's hire ISAs and we'regonna be a call center.
We're gonna sell your products.
And then he ends up selling jetwax products and selling other
products and doing other things,and then coaching and training.
So he had.
You know, another reasonto get outta production.
(22:18):
I think the other thing too iswe start bringing in, here we are
in the leverage lounge, right?
So bringing some leveragein with boots on ground.
And if you think about it on the agentside of things, and this is what I
would always push back at team leadersor people that think they want to
get into coaching real estate agents.
Yeah.
Listen,
in a coaching dynamic, are yougoing to make off of coaching?
(22:41):
A new agent, how much can you charge 'em?
A couple hundred bucks
maybe?
So let's say your average commissionis 10,000 commission check.
I mean, you gotta have how many?
$200 coaching clients.
300 coaching clients.
Well, I'll charge 'em a thousand.
Lemme tell you, if they ain'tmaking 5, 6, 7, 800,000 GCI,
they ain't paying you a thousand.
And if they do, you won'thave 'em for long, right?
(23:02):
I mean,
you won't have 'em for long.
So the reality of it is that if youhave a passion for helping new agents.
Built a team because if it is a $10,000commission and you go 50 50 with new
agents and they close six deals theirfirst year, do the math, how much
(23:27):
money did you just make off of them?
30,000. They're 30 grand.
Listen, you ain't making much moredoing anything else if helping
an agent that's on your team.
30,000 a year.
Right?
So I think that's where a lot of folks,they don't look at the math, they
don't look at the acquisition cost,they don't look at the lifetime value.
(23:49):
And remember the math equation.
What does it cost you toacquire this opportunity?
And for most, think about this,for most team leaders, it doesn't
cost them any money other thanmaybe three, four hours of time.
Let's say five hours of time.
Okay, Mike, let's runthrough this scenario, okay?
Okay.
Five hours of time.
Just simple math.
(24:09):
Their time is worth athousand dollars an hour.
Let's just, let's just throw it out there.
Five hours.
$5,000 of time invested inrecruiting an agent to their team.
Well, we just gave the example.
They just made 30,000 inone year off of their agent.
That's 5,000 acquisition.
30,000 lifetime value.
(24:29):
What is that?
Multiple six times.
Yeah.
But how long do agents typicallystay with team leaders?
Two years, three years.
Two years.
Yeah.
We'll go two years.
That's 60,000 on a 5,000acquisition for 60,000.
What else would, would you trade $5,000for 60,000 over a two year period?
(24:50):
All day long?
All day long?
You would do it all day long.
And I think that's where a lot ofpeople get delusional with it and
they're like, listen, oh, I hate this.
These agents, I hate this team.
It's like, listen, I mean,how are you looking at it?
What's the goal?
What are you trying to accomplish?
And so when you look at the math.
That's why, you know, I always push backat, Hey man, I just wanna be a coach.
I wanna coach 'em.
I'm just like, well, what type ofagents are you looking to coach?
(25:11):
What are you gonna coach 'em on?
What's the skillset that, like, whatare you trying to help them accomplish?
What's the outcome?
Yeah.
And I'm like, dude, you're just betteroff just opening, starting a team.
Just run a team dynamic.
You're gonna make more off ofthem than you could possibly ever
make off of them in coaching.
That's one of the things I appreciateabout your coaching approach too,
is that like you do what you know.
Yeah.
And you're good at what you do.
(25:32):
Not everybody's coach.
You're not saying, oh yeah, you want meto show you how to get some listings?
You want me to go out here andshow you how to, I know door
knock or open house mastery?
No, you're the systems guy, right?
Write things in the right order.
Here's what, here's where yourmindset needs to be in order
to get to that next place.
Helping people prepare emotionally forthat shift in identity wherever, wherever
it is that they're trying to go to.
(25:53):
And I think that's a very important point.
Like you just mentioned.
If a team leader's out here is like, well.
Or any agent who's just saying, you know,well, I just wanna coach agents, like
I said, what are you coaching them on?
What are you coaching them to?
What package are you bringing?
Yeah.
Because you probably gonna bebetter able to help them if you've
kind of niched down whatever itis that you want to coach them on.
(26:13):
Mm-hmm.
That's more appealing than this general.
You know, untangibleintangible coach idea,
right?
And it doesn't, Mike, itdoesn't necessarily come to
you just like that, right?
It's a lot of trial and error.
It's dipping your toe in.
You're like, eh, I don't like that, man.
That just doesn't feel right.
Like, I mean, it's like, you know, you andI go in to get fitted for a suit, right?
We take one off the rack and you'relike, eh, man, it looks good on the rack.
(26:35):
It looks good on the mannequin, man,it just doesn't feel good, right?
So, you know, you just gotta kind ofsometimes try things on and see, but.
You know, when you know,it just feels right.
It's just, it's just good.
It's just like, you know, you'rereally, truly making a difference.
You're helping people.
So it's really getting really clearon that side of the things and
really back to what we keep saying.
(26:56):
What's the dang goal, man?
What are you trying to accomplish?
And from there, then you can reallynavigate the waters a lot more
strategically and and a lot less painful.
So let's talk about your journey, John,before we get too deep into this, because
as we're talking about transition, we'retalking about getting clear on what it
is that you're the best in the world at,and how you can provide value to clients.
(27:16):
Obviously, if we're talkingagents, most agents we're talking
customers, buyers and sellers.
But then you're talking from a coachingstandpoint, we're talking agents.
And so, but you've madethat transition at some.
Point, and then you foundthe right fitting suit.
Mm-hmm.
Talk a little bit about your journey.
How did you get started?
Well, before coaching?
What were you doing before this where someof our listeners are don't know you, and
then how did you get to where you are now?
You know, you're a product ofyour environment and you know,
(27:38):
my dad was in the public schoolsystem for almost 50 years and he
had to coach everything, right.
Just to make ends meet.
And being in Lotton, Oklahoma,you know, that meant.
Coaching football, coachingbasketball, coaching golf.
And then, oh, by the way, we take careof the facilities during the summertime.
So it was nonstop.
And you know, for me to spend timewith my dad, hop in the truck and you
(27:59):
know, hang out in the locker room, Iwas on the hardwood and you know, out.
Falling off the back of golf carts andthen, you know, learning how to drive when
I was eight years old because I neededto move the truck down the field so he
could move the irrigation system, right.
Oh wow.
Just those type of things towhere you just, you truly become
a product of your environment.
And so sitting in the locker room,listening to the coaches, you
know, talk game talk strategy whilethey're playing poker and talking
(28:21):
through different athletes andhow do we handle this situation?
And so it was just one of those thingsthat just kind of gets hardwired into you.
And you know, I knew, I knew early on, Imean, I loved the coaching dynamic side
of things, but I wasn't gonna coach.
The public school system.
I saw my dad's paychecks and Iwas like, man, this ain't for me.
There's no way.
And you know, I went to school toplay golf, ended up on the drinking
(28:42):
team instead of the golf team.
And my aunt was like, what are you doing?
Like, have you looked in the mirrorlike you got long hair and you ride
a Harley, you're supposed to beclean cutting at the golf course.
Like, what?
What are you doing?
She's like, get to California.
So she ended up getting me a job.
At Ridge Mark Golf and CountryClub in Hollister, California.
And at the time it was at the peak.
(29:02):
It was, it was at the boom, late nineties.
And we know what was happening onthe golf scene about that time.
Right.
There was a, a forcecoming and it changed.
Yeah, it changed everything.
And so, you know, with Tiger coming onthe scene and, and just golf was at.
The peak and being in, youknow, central California, 45
minutes from, from Monterey.
(29:23):
Oh wow.
An hour south of San Jose.
So right there in kind of the, in
the cradle, the
epicenter of it.
In the cradle of it.
And so we had 36 holes.
Uh, semi-private golf resort meantwe had members and we had public.
So what quickly, not going toschool thinking I'm just going out
to get a job, quickly, became myeducation and all because I had one.
(29:46):
Of those incredible bosses, Kathy Wake andKathy had just, when I started, she was
just named LPGA teaching Pro of the Year.
So she was like, she had a lot ofspotlights, a lot of things going on her
because how she ran the show and how shetook care of business and, and it was,
it was really just a remarkable timingfor me to walk into that situation.
(30:08):
And she really took me under wing.
She's like, listen man,you know how to play golf.
You're out there, you'reteaching, you know how to teach.
You got your style, um, butyou don't know really much.
You don't really knowshit about anything else.
Starting to understand howto deal with the public, how
do you deal with the members?
You know, she let me, one season going in,she let me literally fall on the sword.
(30:29):
She knew I was gonna fail,but she didn't tell me that.
This was right before Tigerbecame number one in the world.
David Duvall was number one in the world,and he was sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger.
So she let me lay out the shop.
Tommy Hilfiger collection, biggest flop.
We couldn't even give some ofthe clothes away, Mike, but
she, it was a lesson, right?
She was letting me learn a lesson.
Letting me run tournaments is the firsttime that I ever, you know, we got 200,
(30:50):
we got 200 people getting ready to goon our tournament and she has me doing
the introduction on the microphone.
I am scared to death, right?
Yeah.
Like, like, what do I say?
This is a hospital tournament.
This is one of the biggesttournaments in all of Silicon Valley.
And so just little lessons like that.
She made me go spend time in thekitchen, get to know the guys behind
the scenes, the waiters, the busboy,the chefs overtime in lodging,
(31:11):
you know, how do they handle that?
What's the turnaround times?
It's time in the bar over with the goingplaying golf with the GM just for like
three and a half years of just like.
Pouring into me and like always right?
We, we tend to getsucked back to hometown.
And I, I did, I gotsucked back to Oklahoma.
A couple childhood buddies thatI grew up with, best friends,
they were serial entrepreneurs.
(31:32):
Truth be told, he sold me.
He's the, he's the greatest salesman.
He's a better salesman than Michael Reese.
And he sold me to come back in.
And, uh, go on the road.
We were doing, um, construction.
We were doing the, the rough frame fora lot of the franchise restaurants, the
chilies, the bone dad's, the Applebee's.
We would come do the rough frameand then we'd come do the punch out.
So we would there go do anotherjob, come back, punch it out, go
do, just kind of bouncing aroundthe country, find out later.
(31:54):
He was just tired of being on theroad and he didn't trust his business
partner, so he needed somebody hecould trust on the road to kind of
keep an eye on his business partner.
But ended up meeting my, my twooldest kids' mother, and ended up.
Pregnant with Colton.
So I was like, dude, I gotta,I, I'm off the road, man.
Yeah.
I'm, uh, I'm, I'm coming, I'mcoming back and I'm staying here.
I'm not going back on the road.
And it was fine.
We had started a lawnand landscape company.
(32:15):
We had then partnered with a gentlemanthat had a signed fabrication and neon
company and started to peel those off.
Right?
We started to, to unload those businesses.
So getting to go through that dynamic of.
Flipping businesses, essentiallyselling off businesses.
And we started a waste management company.
We landed a, a contractat a Republic Paperboard.
They made, you know, uh, sheetrock and we got the trash contract.
(32:38):
We didn't know one pieceof equipment, Mike.
So we land the contract, we haveto go get trucks, we have to go get
dumpsters, we have to go get everything.
13 months later, we sold itto, uh, waste connections.
We didn't have nothingto do, and this was 2003.
We get the bright idea that, you know, Heyman, we love the bar around the corner.
The bar around the corner is for sale.
We should buy the bar around the corner.
Dumbest idea ever.
(32:58):
Yeah.
And, you know, 128 straight days fordropping the kids off, walking in.
And I could immediately walk in andI knew how the night before went.
Got to a point, you know, walk behindthe bar and, and pour, you know, a double
crown on the rocks to start your day.
You knew you.
It is time for a change.
Mr. Michael Reese caught win.
That I was about to jump ship andhe made the connection to kinder.
(33:19):
What's crazy is that I had never metkinder, and we're talking in the entire
county is a hundred thousand people.
Yeah.
And I had never met kinder, however,I knew him because you couldn't turn
on the radio, you couldn't drive downthe street without seeing billboards.
Signs, hearing him on the radio.
(33:41):
He's in the newspaper.
You couldn't go anywhere without it.
He had branded himself so well that Ialready knew him and I had never met him.
Wow.
And that was an immediate lessonwalking into that environment.
That was in October of, of oh four.
And you know, for me, walking intoan already successful team closed
out 340 transactions that year.
(34:02):
The next year we went to four 30.
Then that third year we hit 5 21,and 5 21 was over 20% market share.
So that just put thingsinto perspective, right?
So we had over 20% marketshare in our market.
When I walked in, it was like a go fast.
Boat motor on the back of a rowboat iswhat it was like all it was off the rails.
It was really off the rails.
(34:22):
So he brought me in to do what Ido and really it's if you wanted
like, okay, well what did you do?
It was like if you've read Rocket Fueland you understand the visionary and
integrator, I was the integrator beforeintegrator was even an integrator.
That's where, you know, Jay andthe coaching side of things would
say, man, you just need to jk.
You gotta get a jk, right?
And then obviously, you know,meeting, same thing, right?
(34:42):
You need a Joel, you need that operation,you need that integrator to really
balance and keep the things on the tracks.
With the visionary, that's all gas, right?
A kinder, as we know,is all gas, no breaks.
You gotta have somebody thatcan, uh, counterbalance that out
and especially be the buffer tothe rest of the organization.
And it was fantastic, man.
It was, uh, it was an awesomeride, you know, learned a lot,
(35:03):
learned a lot what not to do.
Um, and it's just funnylooking back, Mike.
20 years.
I did a lot of reflection.
If I was to coach us now,coach these 2 27, 20 8-year-old
knuckleheads, how would I coach us?
I would coach us on chasingfreedom and not chase status.
You know, that year that we did 5 21, wewere top of the world for Calwell Banker.
(35:23):
We were Coldwell Banker atthe time, and um, over 20%
market share, we got throttled.
By a top 10 re max team onthe planet in our same market.
They did almost 700 transactions toour 5 21 US combined had 50% market
share between our two teams that year.
And we chased them.
(35:43):
We chased status.
We tried to be number one, wewanted to beat them so bad,
and that was the wrong goal.
Mm-hmm.
And I can tell you whenyou chase the wrong goal.
It can set you back decades, not years.
So it's super, super important to getclear because what happens when you set
the wrong goal is you build the wrong,you know, systems, infrastructure.
You build the wrong and, and ultimatelywhat happens is that you get to the
(36:06):
top of the ladder and you realize that.
Your ladder's up against the wrong wall.
So it's super important to takea little time and get clear.
Is that goal and is that really the goal?
And what does that really look like?
And the goal better be, begetting you closer to freedom than
moving you further away from it.
When you chase status and youstay in status too long, like I
said, man, it'll set you back.
Not years.
(36:26):
It'll set you back decades.
That's good.
Yeah.
Chasing the status can make you awhole bunch of money, but like I said,
you get to the top of that ladder andyou realize you're on the wrong wall.
Mm-hmm.
And then you start thinking aboutthe things that actually matter.
And now you've built a. Basically built ajail for yourself and now you gotta figure
out how you get out of this thing, right?
There's no escape from what youjust built, and some people end
up burning it down, or they tryto sell it off or whatever else.
You can make a lot of money, but whenyou're chasing status, you spend a
(36:49):
lot of money, it's the wrong goal.
It's like, yeah, we wanna hit gas, wewanna hit our marks, we wanna make a
dent in the marketplace and make a dent,you know, in what we're trying to do.
But.
When we're chasing freedom, we think aboutmoney a little bit differently, and I
think that's the biggest get that I wouldgo back and coach us on would've been
that distinction of, you know, it's okay.
(37:10):
Number one could be on thepath, but that's not the goal.
The goal is freedom.
Freedom is always the goal.
I think that's one of the reasons why Ieven created the Leverage Lounge podcast.
I am on a mission to help business ownersand creators and entrepreneurs to think
differently about what leverage lookslike, what freedom truly means, right?
So, you know, working hard and justhustling harder is not ever the answer.
(37:35):
When you do the right thingsand you start putting the right
people in place, it frees you up.
That's why I created smart hire va.com.
This is where agents can go to hiresmarter and not simply hustle harder.
Whether it's somebody to helpyou to manage your CRM, you know,
nurture your leads post content.
(37:55):
Or build out backend systems.
That's where my team helps youplace a virtual assistant that
helps you to truly move the needle.
And I've placed dozens of VAs on thetop teams around the country, and I
can help you to build your team too.
So if you're listening to this andthat sounds like something that you
need, go to smart hire va.com andschedule your free discovery call today.
(38:16):
It can truly be the change in thebusiness that you need to have.
So what are a few of the keystonehabits that you see in agents
who truly think and lead like a
CEO?
You know, the things that we were talkingabout, you know, earlier is really
just that it, it's the entire agent toCEO concept and agency, CEO framework.
I mean, and it is just reallyabout evolution, right?
Who are you continuing to evolve tobecome and, and ultimately on the path
(38:37):
to just be the best version of you.
And you know, really from anCO mindset really starts with
a mindset of execution and.
Execution and growth.
And so when you step back and lookat that, you know, okay, what does
it mean for me to lead and notonly be, you know, the CEO of this
business, but the CEO of my life?
(38:58):
And, you know, one of the beliefs that Ihave, Mike, is I just don't believe you
can coach and lead another human untilyou can coach and lead yourself first.
Cool.
And the first rule ofleadership is lead by example.
And so how are you showing up?
Every single day.
Remember, tens don'twanna play with eights.
Tens definitely won't hang around.
Twos, where are you showing up?
How are you showing up?
Remember, the size of your businessis in direct proportion to the size
(39:21):
of your leadership capabilities.
That's what you have to focus on.
That is your job.
You said something at the verybeginning talking about solopreneur.
Well, what does that mean?
A solopreneur comes upwith the ideas they.
Execute the ideas, butthey also manage the ideas.
And if you do all three,you're a solopreneur.
And so the thing to remember isthat you can even have one of
(39:43):
the top teams in your market.
You have one of the top teams in thecountry, but if you're doing all three of
those things, you're still a solopreneur.
You have to learn to delegate,you have to learn to let go.
You have to learn to build the teamand stay within the salary cap com.
You know, confinement that wehave my revenue minus my profit,
this is the dollars I had toput the best team on the field.
Companies like yours by being able tofind talent in the VA world, allows you to
(40:07):
to add talent to within your salary cap.
And so you gotta remember yourjob is to lead by example, but
then you gotta have the vision.
You gotta be able to castand articulate the vision.
Yeah, that's critical.
Once you have and do that,then you gotta build the team.
Right?
We talked about that.
The team to execute the strategy withinthe model and pursuit of the vision.
(40:28):
Your job is to build the team.
Then your job is to providethem resources and to remove the
obstacles that are in their way.
That is your job.
But it all starts with, are youokay with people depending upon you?
Because reality is, isthat if you're a parent.
You're committed to your kids.
They're depending upon you,you're leading them, and it's no
(40:49):
different in your business, right?
That team is looking to you for guidance,direction, support, inspiration, and
it's on you to take that and run with it.
But first and foremost, like I said, youknow, you gotta be able to lead yourself
first before you can lead anybody else.
That's a bar.
All right, let's get into our hot
seat, lightning round.
You ready for this?
Let's go.
(41:10):
I got some quick questions for you.
You can answer them really quickly,but then if we need to dive into
a little bit of the why behind it,we'll give a short why behind it
and get on right onto the next one.
All right?
Got it.
So rapid fire, what's the onething you wish that agents
would stop doing this week?
Maybe just start doing the work.
How about that?
Stop pretending.
Stop playing on social media.
Stop playing around, stop playingbusiness and actually get in
(41:34):
and execute on the business.
That's the thing, right?
Like get into the fundamentals.
Are we generating opportunities?
Are we.
Having conversations?
Are we talking to people?
Are we setting appointments?
Are we going on appointments?
Are we articulating our value?
Do we have a value proposition?
Right?
Doing the work, focusing on thethings within their control and
stop focusing or obsessing onthings outside of their control.
(41:55):
That's what they need to start doing.
I love that, man.
I, I tell my agents all the time,stop getting ready to get ready.
Yeah, right.
Start doing.
Yes.
All right.
What's a non-negotiable that youuse to keep yourself in CEO mode?
Man, good freaking question.
Non-negotiable I think is forme, I mean, listen, no days off.
I mean we hear it as cliche,but like it never stops.
(42:19):
It's a timers.
It really is.
It's all the time.
And I think that's another thing toyour question earlier, is that you know.
If you're not okay with iton all the time, leading and
running a company is not for you.
Now listen, being a number three,being a number four, be even being a
number two in an organization, maybeyou're built more for that, right?
So really understanding what you'rebuilt for, and that's then becomes,
(42:44):
you know, the fuel for you really.
What is your intent?
What is your motive to be ableto, to pursue the life and the
career that you want to have?
It's a cost of being the boss, right?
Yes, it is.
Oh,
alright.
If you could use one system toscale, which one would you use?
I'm gonna default back to the Sabersystem because that allows you to
become the best version of you andnothing else can happen, right?
(43:07):
Nothing is sustainable if you'renot the best version of you.
That is the key.
Sustainability is everything.
It's one of my favorite corevalues at exp, but it is.
It's everything you do.
It's you're looking for sustainability,sustainable energy, and the best
system is the foundation that's gonnamake you the best version of you.
Just follow the savers.
All right.
Well, you are successfullyoff the hot seat, my friend.
(43:29):
You survived.
I love it.
You did great.
Now John, before we wrap up,I wanna give you the floor.
Uh, is there anything that, thatyou'd like to share with the audience?
This could be, you know, how to connectwith you, uh, a program that you're
working on, a book that you are writing,something you're building, whatever, even
a message that you wanna leave with them.
Yeah.
You know, if you're really thinking about.
(43:52):
Exiting, escaping production.
At some point, you've gotta have aplan, you gotta have a path, and it
really starts with having somebodythat's going to dive deep with you
and uncover really what drives you.
But what also I. You're not willingto commit to and having that kind
of audit of where you're at andwhere you're wanting to go, or
(44:14):
even if you're in the midst of it.
Right.
What is the plan to get you out of this?
You know, there's a lot of greatpeople out there, but I've helped
so many people escape production andobviously being able to do it ourselves.
I'm down for a conversation if you are.
So, you know, feel free to reachout at John Kitchens, coach
on all social media platforms.
Hit me up and uh, we'd love to chat.
John
(44:34):
Kitchens coach, man, so many gyms intoday's episode, and if you're listening
to this, you're ready to think bigger,build smarter, and scale with systems.
This conversation was yourblueprint, so if you got value from
this, don't keep it to yourself.
Share it with somebody who's already.
Ready to leave differently.
(44:55):
And as always, for more conversations likethis one, visit leverage with mike.com and
subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
This is The Leverage Lounge.
I'm Mike Collier, andwe'll see you next time.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you're done guessing and ready tolead like a real CEO with a custom
strategy, real accountability andproven systems, check out my executive
(45:18):
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 John Kitchens Coach podcastexperience as your host, John Kitchens.
Get ready to think bigger andtransform your business into
a path to lasting freedom.
Welcome back to the Leverage Loungepodcast, where we decode how real estate
(00:22):
agents, creators, and entrepreneursscale beyond solo entrepreneurship
using smart systems, powerful people.
And purpose driven leverage.
Today's episode is for the agent who feelslike they're drowning in deals, who knows
that they were built to lead but can'tget out of the production grind, or the
(00:42):
team leader who built a business thatthey just simply cannot walk away from.
You don't just need more tools.
You need clarity.
You need systems.
You need to become the CEO.
And today's guest is the guywho helps you do exactly that.
He's the founder of John Kitchen'sCoach, which is a strategic business
coach company to some of the topperforming teams in the country, and
(01:06):
the man behind countless quiet successstories right here in our industry.
Let's welcome to thelounge, Mr. John Kitchens.
What's up, brother?
Wow.
I love it, brother.
That's awesome, man.
Uh, just, uh, honored to be here, get tohang with you and, uh, excited to dive in.
Man, you have so much going on.
I'm just, I'm just appreciativeof you saying yes to being on the
(01:28):
show, being in the lounge with us.
Absolutely.
So let's jump right in.
Let's start with what you callthe chaos to clarity shift.
Yeah.
Now most agents think they'rebeing productive because they're
just reacting all day long.
So can you walk us through like whatdoes it mean to shift from doing
the work to designing the business?
(01:49):
Yeah, and you know, we all find ourselfin ebbs and flows into chaos, but
it's being able to have that level ofawareness to catch ourselves and then
being able to shift out of that, right?
It's kind of the knowledgeand power concept.
So knowledge is just awareness, right?
Once you have that level ofawareness, that's why it's important
to, you know, track and measure.
(02:09):
Things, it's important to, youknow, surround yourself with people
that will tell you what you needto hear, not what you want to hear.
It's that we're putting up themirrors around you because we
all have blind spots, right?
Yeah.
And you know, as we continueto progress, we, we just can't
see certain things and we need.
Structure and systems and tools andpeople around us to point out our flaws
(02:29):
in what we're just not able to see.
That's knowledge, createawareness, and then power.
It really is just choice, right?
When you know that you have a choiceand you always have a choice, you have
a choice and so you, you can chooseto do something about it or choose
not to because that's a choice too.
To do nothing is also a choice, so.
Understanding, you know,really those two things.
But once you have your, you know, beingable to, you know, like Jocko talks about
(02:50):
right where you disengage and step backto where you, you, you take a, a full
view and it's, you know, impossible tosee the picture inside of the frame.
So we've gotta be able to, tostep back and, and, and, and
like, okay, where's the move?
What's going on?
And that's how we beginto move out of chaos.
And we start to establish someclarity of really what's happening.
And for me, clarity is just two things.
(03:11):
You know, radical honesty of.
What current reality truly looks like.
Not what we think it looks like,but what it really looks like.
Not sticking our head in the sand.
Yeah.
Owning the financial situation.
Owning kind of the customeracquisition side of things.
Owning the people component.
More importantly, owning me.
My component, like how am I showing up?
(03:31):
Am I showing up as a leader that Imust show up for the people that are
depending upon me to really push through.
And then the other thingis, you know, where.
Where the heck are we going?
Like, what is the Dane goal?
What is the destination?
Because, you know, we, we wanna movein as much of a straight line as we
possibly can, moving from point A topoint B, but what happens is that people.
(03:52):
Lose side to point B, andthen they just find themselves
in this circular situation.
Yeah, and the thing is, is whenyou're in a circular situation, the
situation always drives you down.
It drives you down, and we want toget moving to where we want to go.
So it really takes those two components,point A to point B, because then once
(04:12):
we know like, Hey, here's where I'm at.
Like, it's all on the table.
Like I'm, I'm sitting here naked.
Here's, here's everything.
Hey brother, this is whereI'm trying to get to.
This is my destination.
Okay, cool.
Let's put the plan inplace to get you there.
Let's figure out, you know, the paththat you need to take based upon
your capabilities, your skillset.
Your level of commitment, whatare you willing to commit to?
And then we'll design that plan for youthat you can execute on along the way.
(04:37):
And it's just really importantto unpack it that way.
And you know, there's a lot ofpeople that just wanna give you
the advice, but they don't wannastop and ask you the questions.
You know, really what's,what's happening man?
What's going on?
Okay, cool.
Where do you want to go?
What are you trying to accomplish?
And then from there we can reallystrategically problem solve.
I love how you put that as far as.
Getting clear on where the goal is,understanding that agents get kind of
(04:58):
caught in this ether around point A,but never really getting to point B.
And you talk about habitsoften, what's one clarity habit
that every CEO should build?
Yeah, I mean it's, it's theweekly strategic thinking time.
It's, it's the 60 to 90 minutes whereit's just really total reflection.
And you know, for me it's part ofthe Sunday planning process and
(05:20):
it starts just with an assessmentof where we at to our goals.
So never losing sight of the goals.
That that's the, that'sthe critical thing, right?
Mm-hmm.
Really, what, what, whatam I trying to accomplish?
And not losing sight of that.
And sometimes, you know, becauseon the path of growth, you
know, it takes a lot of oxygen.
Oxygen for our business is cash.
So in the pursuit of growth within ourbusiness, it sucks a lot of oxygen.
(05:44):
It sucks a lot of cash.
So you've gotta take a constanttemperature of that on a weekly
basis of seeing where we're at,where we at in relation to our goal.
And then you just start to step back,you know, Hey man, where am I winning?
Right.
Where am I losing?
Where are we falling short?
What's broken?
What's about to break?
And more importantly, man, are therethings that we just need to stop doing?
(06:07):
And we have to, you know,remember Mike, that.
We don't tend to die of starvation,we tend to choke ourselves out
because we try to do too much.
Yeah.
And we try to consume too much.
When we can narrow the focus andgo deeper on that thing, then
that allows us to not build.
You know, Joel's, Joel's half builtBridge concept and real estate agents,
(06:30):
small business entrepreneurs arenotorious for half-built bridges.
They just won't see anything to completionbecause they're looking for the quick.
Path.
Mm-hmm.
And there is no quick path.
The quick path is do the work.
That's the quick path, right?
And stop avoiding the work.
And so I think that's really where youcan have the reflective strategic time
and built it into whatever works for you.
(06:51):
For me, it's usually a90 minute run, walk, jog.
A lot of walk.
Maybe the headphones are in because Iwant people to not mess with me and I
can just kind of tune out some noises.
But there's nothing playing.
It's just me thinking and havingthe conversation with myself.
To me, that's one of the most.
Important times of the week that wecan have to have that reflection.
(07:14):
I love the way you simplify thesethings that we talk about and we kind
of know we should be doing, but it'sa lot like blocking and tackling.
You know, it, it reallyis the simple things.
How do you win games?
Blocking and tackling.
And so when you talk about simplifyingbusiness into four core systems,
that phrase systems equal freedom.
(07:35):
Shows up in almost everything youteach, and so like, can you break down
what these four core systems are andlike how do they create scalability?
The four levers and then thesystems that's gonna drive
those levers for growth.
It comes down to, you know, beingable to create opportunities.
So what is our traffic process?
What are we doing to generateopportunities, repeatable system
(07:56):
to convert those opportunities?
And then what is.
The opportunity to buildlifetime value, right?
That's the fulfillment side of things.
How do we fulfill, and you'll seea lot of people out there that are
great, especially great, you know,online internet marketers are great at
getting, but they're terrible at keeping.
And so they're not focused on thefulfillment lifetime value lever.
(08:18):
And then you look at, okay,well how am I maximizing profit?
Right?
Retention?
My business model is agents, right?
When you get in the team game andyou've got more than a dozen agents.
You are no longer servicingbuyers and sellers.
You're servicing agents, right?
Your new clients become agents and.
You know, we can be moreprofitable if we keep our agents
(08:40):
a little bit longer, right?
Focus on the lifetime value, andthere's certain things to be able to
pull that retention lever as well.
So when you start to look there,it's like, okay, well what are the
systems that have to be in place tosupport the goals in those aspects?
When you think about, you know,systems and consistency, the
plumbing and the framework foryour business is you've gotta make
(09:02):
sure you start and come back again.
You gotta start with the goal.
Because my infrastructure and my systemsare gonna be a little bit different
depending upon what the goal is, right?
And that's the biggest thingis, is where we have to start.
But once we have that, we have to lookat, okay, what is our value to the market?
What is our value proposition?
So how do we go aboutcreating value, right?
(09:26):
And being able to deliver andcapture that value to the market.
It's your business model,you know, the goal.
What is your business model?
Business model is just that.
How do you create, how do youdeliver, and how do you capture value?
And when you exchange value, that'swhen you're able to monetize on that.
So do you reverse engineer that then?
(09:47):
Do you start with, I mean, obviously youstart with the goal in mind, but the goal
is always, yes, I need more customers,so I need to do lead generation, right?
Customer acquisition, but Ialso, as you talked about,
need to be able to fulfill it.
And then I have the long-term value play.
And so where do you start?
Because if you just start generatingcustomers, which a lot of agents
just go out and start buyingleads, they don't really know what.
(10:08):
Systems to prioritize first, and soI hear you talking about the gold.
You start with the end in mind andthen you work your way backwards.
For
me, it's, you almost have to, right,because it's a level of commitment.
If you don't, that's when it, sometimesit's just a hobby and you're kind of
interested in the thing, and then you getinto the thing and you realize how hard
(10:31):
the thing is, and then you like bouncearound and go do something else, right?
Yeah.
You abandon it because you haven'ttaken the time to get clear on, is this
something I'm willing to commit to?
You don't commit and figure it out.
You figure out what it is youwant, reverse engineer what it's
gonna take for that to be true.
And then is that somethingI'm willing to commit to?
And so that's where youalways have to start.
(10:53):
If not, you're going to just beinterested and where we're at in, in
today's climate, in the marketplace.
There is no room forjust interested people.
Like the barrier is commitment.
You want to get ahead,you gotta be obsessed.
And so that's just kindof where do you fall?
And that's the gut check.
That's the reality.
Kicking in the teeth, you know,the conversation in the mirror that
(11:15):
like, I'm willing to commit to this.
And so we start there and once youhave, you know, the goal, the value.
Is it a value?
Will people pay forthis in the marketplace?
Then we can start to build theplan in order to extract, you
know, create, deliver, and pull thevalue to get this machine moving.
But then the component is, well,what resources and team do I need for
(11:40):
us to be able to execute this plan?
This value equation in pursuitof the goals that we're going to.
So you start with the end in mind, youcome bounce back to the team, and then
you make sure that you have the teamin order to be able to go that way.
So you're like, well, what's the coresystem that you need to have in place?
To me, the number one isthe hiring system like.
(12:00):
Your most valuable system thatyou have in your business is the
ability to find and attract talent.
That is the most importantsystem in your business.
How do you attract a talent givenwhere you're at, that you're
able to afford at this point,and a talent changes as the game?
(12:26):
Gets a little more intense.
Great.
A talent.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A player talent, mm-hmm.
Is defined as somebody that gets the jobdone 90% of the time in a given pay range.
They are obviously a core value fit.
They have the capabilities andskillset, they have a execution mindset.
They get things done.
Now when you're half a million in GCI toA million in GCIA player talent, but then
(12:53):
you make the jump to 3 million in GCI.
That player might not be a playertalent anymore because they might not
have the capacity to grow with you.
That's why you've alwaysgotta be looking for talent.
Always.
And you know, the thing that wehave to remember though, it doesn't
matter if you have the greatesthiring system and you are bringing
(13:18):
in, you know, 10 level talent.
If you're not at a 10 level talent.
They're gone.
And if you're building a teamof twos and threes, tens don't
wanna hang around twos and threes.
That's so true.
And if you're an eight, a 10 won't stay.
So the most important thing inyour business is the talent system.
(13:40):
But the most critical thing is whatis the system that you are doing to
become the best version of yourself?
Like you said, what are those habits and.
You wanna take the shortcut, justgo get the miracle Morning with Hal
Elrod and understand the savers.
I mean, you want the, just the quickdown and dirty easiest framework that
(14:00):
will change your life in days is justimplement the savers for 30 days and tell
me, you know, if your life's not better.
Couldn't agree more.
I couldn't agree
more.
That's actually one.
I actually teach thatclass to agents as well.
You know, I teach a class so importanton the savers based on that book,
especially, you know, the one fourReal Estate Agents, the Miracle
(14:21):
Morning four Real Estate Agents.
You've said, John, that you can have theright people and the right systems, and
I think you're still saying this, right?
You can have the right people and theright systems, but if they're not aligned.
You're still stuck.
So I wanna talk about alignment now.
How do you help leaders diagnosewhen they've hired the right
people, but into the wrong roles?
(14:41):
Yeah, you know, it's getting real clear.
Obviously everything has to start with thevision and you have to be real clear on
what your core values are, your shouldsand should nots, uh, your decision making
filters, because when you know thosevalues, the things that we stand for.
(15:01):
That's the most importantpiece to be able to hire.
Hire people that are core value.
Surround yourself with peoplethat are core value alignment and.
Character and trust, right?
High character, high trust individuals.
Those are non-negotiables.
Your core values are non-negotiables.
Growth a player talent.
We get results.
We own the outcome.
100 zero results focused.
(15:23):
You know, whatever else those values mightbe for you, but you gotta know, right?
And you gotta hire fire, train coach,lead to them because the people you
surround yourself and the things you do.
Is what your culture is.
It's what you do is reallywhat your culture is all about.
It's how you behave, it's how you show up.
It's how you entertain.
I mean, you know this better than anybody.
So that's like one of themost critical components.
(15:46):
And being able to cast a massive vision,a big vision, because you know the
other component is your purpose, really.
That's just what it is.
I mean, why do.
We do.
You know, my purpose ismy why statement, right?
Going through sinex, cynics, startwith why Know your why, build your why.
And really what it is, is what are youthe best in the world at you can do so
that you can do the thing that givesyou the most amount of fulfillment?
(16:06):
What fulfills you?
So when you bring people in andwhat, from an alignment perspective,
do they align to the values?
Do they believe in the purpose?
Are they there and what theirgoals are, and based upon, that's
gonna give you fulfillment.
If they achieve their goals and thenthey're bought into whatever that.
Big, crazy, hairy, audaciousgoal, stretch goal, impossible
(16:26):
goal, whatever you wanna call it.
It's all the same.
But what is that goal andare they bought into it?
And do they believe they can accomplishtheir dreams by being a part of
what it is you're trying to do?
If not, without a vision, the villagewill perish and they will leave,
and it's just a matter of time.
So that's super importantfrom an alignment perspective.
(16:48):
But when you really startto uncover from them.
What makes them tick?
You know, in your hiring process,you gotta have some process, right?
There's gotta be some hoopsthey've gotta jump through.
But when you do your due diligenceon them, just as simple as just
go pay attention to their socialmedia content for a while.
It's gonna tell youeverything you need to know.
(17:10):
You can look at the resume, youcan look at their work history,
you know what attributes they have.
You can flush that out through,you know, test, test drive them
before they start with you.
There's all kinds ofthings you can do, but.
That's really what you're looking for.
But when you get an opportunity andyou bring 'em on board and they're
high character, high trust, they bringsome attributes, some skills needed
to the table, run 'em through as manypersonality profiles as you need.
(17:33):
We always have talked about the disc.
For me, the disc is justan energy management tool.
I just know where your energy levels are.
Okay.
You're a high C. Okay, great.
I know if I put you in a situation,you need X amount of recovery.
If you're a high D, and I need youon doing a task that's mundane C
level task, but you're a high D.
Okay?
I know you're gonna be frustrated.
It's gonna, you're gonna need, we'regonna need to navigate a little bit.
(17:53):
It's just an energy management tool.
There's all kinds out there.
We've taken 'em all.
The, the go-to though is gonnabe the working genius, and I
just, the more I spend time withit, the more I I look at it.
It's building a team that youcan put into their genius.
That's the biggest thing, right?
If you can build a team around people'sgenius and what they love to do and what
(18:15):
their skillset is, they're gonna thrive.
I think that's super, super importantto really nail down, you know, what
conversations to bring 'em into.
You know, what conversations tokeep 'em out of, and so it's just.
Understanding how tocommunicate and connect faster.
That to me is really important.
Had angel.
Come into the team.
She's been with me for almost over fouryears, going on five years, and she came
(18:37):
in social media side of things, but she'sa freaking English major and she loves
to write and her writing style, whatever.
I mean, she loves, you know, taking time.
She's, she's not fast, you know, justrunning gun on the content side of things.
So we just use that to our advantage.
We know kind of her style and where,where she can layer in, you know, the most
value, but also something that energizesher that she doesn't get frustrated with.
(19:00):
Their financial needs are met.
There has to be purpose beyond justdoing the job, and if you can tap into
their purpose and their purpose alignsto what you're trying to accomplish.
That energy never drains andthey, they can run forever.
Hey, I have a quick question.
Do you know exactly where youare in your business and at
(19:23):
what stage is keeping you stuck?
If not, download the eight stagesof the real estate business.
It's the most powerful tool we'veever created, and it shows you how
to stop surviving and start scaling.
You can grab the blueprintat the eight stages.
That's the, the number eight stages.comand get clarity on your next move.
(19:45):
Alright, let's get back at it.
I was gonna ask you about accountability,but you nailed it because, you
know, I've heard it said that wecan't hold people accountable.
There's no such thing as holdingother people accountable.
There's a such thing asself-accountability, right?
And we can manage to that.
I should not have you trying toaccomplish the goals that I've
set for you, but I can hold you.
(20:07):
Honest to the goals thatyou've set for yourself.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And so I think a lot of team leaders,they come in with these goals for the
agent trying to cast their goals ontothe agents that are joining their team.
But it really comes down to muchlike you said, like what kind
of fire is in them and is it theright fit for the right role?
And it may be or it may not be, butyou, we need to know that before we
(20:28):
really get in business with them.
Let's talk about whatmost agents secretly want.
Which is getting out of productionwithout watching this whole thing
burn to the ground, you know?
Yeah.
Like what are the signs foryou, team leaders out here?
I got you.
What are the signs that a teamleader is ready to exit production?
(20:49):
Yeah.
I mean, a lot of different reasons.
The thing that I have seen overthe last 20 years of this is.
They get excited about pursuinganother opportunity or a bigger
opportunity that would, you know,unlock more of their passion.
Things that they're really excited about.
(21:10):
For example, you know, kinder wantedoutta production to chase this
opportunity that was actually gonna bea book called Coachable that ended up.
Turning into another opportunityto where we were selling, you know,
the first over the web technologyand we were selling websites, right?
That led into long, roundaboutway that led into coaching.
(21:33):
Mm-hmm.
And so he just needed space and time topursue another passion, another endeavor,
something that he believed was gonna bea bigger opportunity than what we were
trying to build in Lotton, Oklahoma.
And so that was.
An example, right?
You look at STAs, right?
STAs sick, another example, right?
He had an opportunity todevelop and build a call center.
(21:55):
He had a great ISA in Matt Mil, andthey had an opportunity to go sell
products for, for Jay and Mike.
So they're like, Hey, we got the resource.
We can do it.
We can expand.
Let's hire ISAs and we'regonna be a call center.
We're gonna sell your products.
And then he ends up selling jetwax products and selling other
products and doing other things,and then coaching and training.
So he had.
You know, another reasonto get outta production.
(22:18):
I think the other thing too iswe start bringing in, here we are
in the leverage lounge, right?
So bringing some leveragein with boots on ground.
And if you think about it on the agentside of things, and this is what I
would always push back at team leadersor people that think they want to
get into coaching real estate agents.
Yeah.
Listen,
in a coaching dynamic, are yougoing to make off of coaching?
(22:41):
A new agent, how much can you charge 'em?
A couple hundred bucks
maybe?
So let's say your average commissionis 10,000 commission check.
I mean, you gotta have how many?
$200 coaching clients.
300 coaching clients.
Well, I'll charge 'em a thousand.
Lemme tell you, if they ain'tmaking 5, 6, 7, 800,000 GCI,
they ain't paying you a thousand.
And if they do, you won'thave 'em for long, right?
(23:02):
I mean,
you won't have 'em for long.
So the reality of it is that if youhave a passion for helping new agents.
Built a team because if it is a $10,000commission and you go 50 50 with new
agents and they close six deals theirfirst year, do the math, how much
(23:27):
money did you just make off of them?
30,000. They're 30 grand.
Listen, you ain't making much moredoing anything else if helping
an agent that's on your team.
30,000 a year.
Right?
So I think that's where a lot of folks,they don't look at the math, they
don't look at the acquisition cost,they don't look at the lifetime value.
(23:49):
And remember the math equation.
What does it cost you toacquire this opportunity?
And for most, think about this,for most team leaders, it doesn't
cost them any money other thanmaybe three, four hours of time.
Let's say five hours of time.
Okay, Mike, let's runthrough this scenario, okay?
Okay.
Five hours of time.
Just simple math.
(24:09):
Their time is worth athousand dollars an hour.
Let's just, let's just throw it out there.
Five hours.
$5,000 of time invested inrecruiting an agent to their team.
Well, we just gave the example.
They just made 30,000 inone year off of their agent.
That's 5,000 acquisition.
30,000 lifetime value.
(24:29):
What is that?
Multiple six times.
Yeah.
But how long do agents typicallystay with team leaders?
Two years, three years.
Two years.
Yeah.
We'll go two years.
That's 60,000 on a 5,000acquisition for 60,000.
What else would, would you trade $5,000for 60,000 over a two year period?
(24:50):
All day long?
All day long?
You would do it all day long.
And I think that's where a lot ofpeople get delusional with it and
they're like, listen, oh, I hate this.
These agents, I hate this team.
It's like, listen, I mean,how are you looking at it?
What's the goal?
What are you trying to accomplish?
And so when you look at the math.
That's why, you know, I always push backat, Hey man, I just wanna be a coach.
I wanna coach 'em.
I'm just like, well, what type ofagents are you looking to coach?
(25:11):
What are you gonna coach 'em on?
What's the skillset that, like, whatare you trying to help them accomplish?
What's the outcome?
Yeah.
And I'm like, dude, you're just betteroff just opening, starting a team.
Just run a team dynamic.
You're gonna make more off ofthem than you could possibly ever
make off of them in coaching.
That's one of the things I appreciateabout your coaching approach too,
is that like you do what you know.
Yeah.
And you're good at what you do.
(25:32):
Not everybody's coach.
You're not saying, oh yeah, you want meto show you how to get some listings?
You want me to go out here andshow you how to, I know door
knock or open house mastery?
No, you're the systems guy, right?
Write things in the right order.
Here's what, here's where yourmindset needs to be in order
to get to that next place.
Helping people prepare emotionally forthat shift in identity wherever, wherever
it is that they're trying to go to.
(25:53):
And I think that's a very important point.
Like you just mentioned.
If a team leader's out here is like, well.
Or any agent who's just saying, you know,well, I just wanna coach agents, like
I said, what are you coaching them on?
What are you coaching them to?
What package are you bringing?
Yeah.
Because you probably gonna bebetter able to help them if you've
kind of niched down whatever itis that you want to coach them on.
(26:13):
Mm-hmm.
That's more appealing than this general.
You know, untangibleintangible coach idea,
right?
And it doesn't, Mike, itdoesn't necessarily come to
you just like that, right?
It's a lot of trial and error.
It's dipping your toe in.
You're like, eh, I don't like that, man.
That just doesn't feel right.
Like, I mean, it's like, you know, you andI go in to get fitted for a suit, right?
We take one off the rack and you'relike, eh, man, it looks good on the rack.
(26:35):
It looks good on the mannequin, man,it just doesn't feel good, right?
So, you know, you just gotta kind ofsometimes try things on and see, but.
You know, when you know,it just feels right.
It's just, it's just good.
It's just like, you know, you'rereally, truly making a difference.
You're helping people.
So it's really getting really clearon that side of the things and
really back to what we keep saying.
(26:56):
What's the dang goal, man?
What are you trying to accomplish?
And from there, then you can reallynavigate the waters a lot more
strategically and and a lot less painful.
So let's talk about your journey, John,before we get too deep into this, because
as we're talking about transition, we'retalking about getting clear on what it
is that you're the best in the world at,and how you can provide value to clients.
(27:16):
Obviously, if we're talkingagents, most agents we're talking
customers, buyers and sellers.
But then you're talking from a coachingstandpoint, we're talking agents.
And so, but you've madethat transition at some.
Point, and then you foundthe right fitting suit.
Mm-hmm.
Talk a little bit about your journey.
How did you get started?
Well, before coaching?
What were you doing before this where someof our listeners are don't know you, and
then how did you get to where you are now?
You know, you're a product ofyour environment and you know,
(27:38):
my dad was in the public schoolsystem for almost 50 years and he
had to coach everything, right.
Just to make ends meet.
And being in Lotton, Oklahoma,you know, that meant.
Coaching football, coachingbasketball, coaching golf.
And then, oh, by the way, we take careof the facilities during the summertime.
So it was nonstop.
And you know, for me to spend timewith my dad, hop in the truck and you
(27:59):
know, hang out in the locker room, Iwas on the hardwood and you know, out.
Falling off the back of golf carts andthen, you know, learning how to drive when
I was eight years old because I neededto move the truck down the field so he
could move the irrigation system, right.
Oh wow.
Just those type of things towhere you just, you truly become
a product of your environment.
And so sitting in the locker room,listening to the coaches, you
know, talk game talk strategy whilethey're playing poker and talking
(28:21):
through different athletes andhow do we handle this situation?
And so it was just one of those thingsthat just kind of gets hardwired into you.
And you know, I knew, I knew early on, Imean, I loved the coaching dynamic side
of things, but I wasn't gonna coach.
The public school system.
I saw my dad's paychecks and Iwas like, man, this ain't for me.
There's no way.
And you know, I went to school toplay golf, ended up on the drinking
(28:42):
team instead of the golf team.
And my aunt was like, what are you doing?
Like, have you looked in the mirrorlike you got long hair and you ride
a Harley, you're supposed to beclean cutting at the golf course.
Like, what?
What are you doing?
She's like, get to California.
So she ended up getting me a job.
At Ridge Mark Golf and CountryClub in Hollister, California.
And at the time it was at the peak.
(29:02):
It was, it was at the boom, late nineties.
And we know what was happening onthe golf scene about that time.
Right.
There was a, a forcecoming and it changed.
Yeah, it changed everything.
And so, you know, with Tiger coming onthe scene and, and just golf was at.
The peak and being in, youknow, central California, 45
minutes from, from Monterey.
(29:23):
Oh wow.
An hour south of San Jose.
So right there in kind of the, in
the cradle, the
epicenter of it.
In the cradle of it.
And so we had 36 holes.
Uh, semi-private golf resort meantwe had members and we had public.
So what quickly, not going toschool thinking I'm just going out
to get a job, quickly, became myeducation and all because I had one.
(29:46):
Of those incredible bosses, Kathy Wake andKathy had just, when I started, she was
just named LPGA teaching Pro of the Year.
So she was like, she had a lot ofspotlights, a lot of things going on her
because how she ran the show and how shetook care of business and, and it was,
it was really just a remarkable timingfor me to walk into that situation.
(30:08):
And she really took me under wing.
She's like, listen man,you know how to play golf.
You're out there, you'reteaching, you know how to teach.
You got your style, um, butyou don't know really much.
You don't really knowshit about anything else.
Starting to understand howto deal with the public, how
do you deal with the members?
You know, she let me, one season going in,she let me literally fall on the sword.
(30:29):
She knew I was gonna fail,but she didn't tell me that.
This was right before Tigerbecame number one in the world.
David Duvall was number one in the world,and he was sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger.
So she let me lay out the shop.
Tommy Hilfiger collection, biggest flop.
We couldn't even give some ofthe clothes away, Mike, but
she, it was a lesson, right?
She was letting me learn a lesson.
Letting me run tournaments is the firsttime that I ever, you know, we got 200,
(30:50):
we got 200 people getting ready to goon our tournament and she has me doing
the introduction on the microphone.
I am scared to death, right?
Yeah.
Like, like, what do I say?
This is a hospital tournament.
This is one of the biggesttournaments in all of Silicon Valley.
And so just little lessons like that.
She made me go spend time in thekitchen, get to know the guys behind
the scenes, the waiters, the busboy,the chefs overtime in lodging,
(31:11):
you know, how do they handle that?
What's the turnaround times?
It's time in the bar over with the goingplaying golf with the GM just for like
three and a half years of just like.
Pouring into me and like always right?
We, we tend to getsucked back to hometown.
And I, I did, I gotsucked back to Oklahoma.
A couple childhood buddies thatI grew up with, best friends,
they were serial entrepreneurs.
(31:32):
Truth be told, he sold me.
He's the, he's the greatest salesman.
He's a better salesman than Michael Reese.
And he sold me to come back in.
And, uh, go on the road.
We were doing, um, construction.
We were doing the, the rough frame fora lot of the franchise restaurants, the
chilies, the bone dad's, the Applebee's.
We would come do the rough frameand then we'd come do the punch out.
So we would there go do anotherjob, come back, punch it out, go
do, just kind of bouncing aroundthe country, find out later.
(31:54):
He was just tired of being on theroad and he didn't trust his business
partner, so he needed somebody hecould trust on the road to kind of
keep an eye on his business partner.
But ended up meeting my, my twooldest kids' mother, and ended up.
Pregnant with Colton.
So I was like, dude, I gotta,I, I'm off the road, man.
Yeah.
I'm, uh, I'm, I'm coming, I'mcoming back and I'm staying here.
I'm not going back on the road.
And it was fine.
We had started a lawnand landscape company.
(32:15):
We had then partnered with a gentlemanthat had a signed fabrication and neon
company and started to peel those off.
Right?
We started to, to unload those businesses.
So getting to go through that dynamic of.
Flipping businesses, essentiallyselling off businesses.
And we started a waste management company.
We landed a, a contractat a Republic Paperboard.
They made, you know, uh, sheetrock and we got the trash contract.
(32:38):
We didn't know one pieceof equipment, Mike.
So we land the contract, we haveto go get trucks, we have to go get
dumpsters, we have to go get everything.
13 months later, we sold itto, uh, waste connections.
We didn't have nothingto do, and this was 2003.
We get the bright idea that, you know, Heyman, we love the bar around the corner.
The bar around the corner is for sale.
We should buy the bar around the corner.
Dumbest idea ever.
(32:58):
Yeah.
And, you know, 128 straight days fordropping the kids off, walking in.
And I could immediately walk in andI knew how the night before went.
Got to a point, you know, walk behindthe bar and, and pour, you know, a double
crown on the rocks to start your day.
You knew you.
It is time for a change.
Mr. Michael Reese caught win.
That I was about to jump ship andhe made the connection to kinder.
(33:19):
What's crazy is that I had never metkinder, and we're talking in the entire
county is a hundred thousand people.
Yeah.
And I had never met kinder, however,I knew him because you couldn't turn
on the radio, you couldn't drive downthe street without seeing billboards.
Signs, hearing him on the radio.
(33:41):
He's in the newspaper.
You couldn't go anywhere without it.
He had branded himself so well that Ialready knew him and I had never met him.
Wow.
And that was an immediate lessonwalking into that environment.
That was in October of, of oh four.
And you know, for me, walking intoan already successful team closed
out 340 transactions that year.
(34:02):
The next year we went to four 30.
Then that third year we hit 5 21,and 5 21 was over 20% market share.
So that just put thingsinto perspective, right?
So we had over 20% marketshare in our market.
When I walked in, it was like a go fast.
Boat motor on the back of a rowboat iswhat it was like all it was off the rails.
It was really off the rails.
(34:22):
So he brought me in to do what Ido and really it's if you wanted
like, okay, well what did you do?
It was like if you've read Rocket Fueland you understand the visionary and
integrator, I was the integrator beforeintegrator was even an integrator.
That's where, you know, Jay andthe coaching side of things would
say, man, you just need to jk.
You gotta get a jk, right?
And then obviously, you know,meeting, same thing, right?
(34:42):
You need a Joel, you need that operation,you need that integrator to really
balance and keep the things on the tracks.
With the visionary, that's all gas, right?
A kinder, as we know,is all gas, no breaks.
You gotta have somebody thatcan, uh, counterbalance that out
and especially be the buffer tothe rest of the organization.
And it was fantastic, man.
It was, uh, it was an awesomeride, you know, learned a lot,
(35:03):
learned a lot what not to do.
Um, and it's just funnylooking back, Mike.
20 years.
I did a lot of reflection.
If I was to coach us now,coach these 2 27, 20 8-year-old
knuckleheads, how would I coach us?
I would coach us on chasingfreedom and not chase status.
You know, that year that we did 5 21, wewere top of the world for Calwell Banker.
(35:23):
We were Coldwell Banker atthe time, and um, over 20%
market share, we got throttled.
By a top 10 re max team onthe planet in our same market.
They did almost 700 transactions toour 5 21 US combined had 50% market
share between our two teams that year.
And we chased them.
(35:43):
We chased status.
We tried to be number one, wewanted to beat them so bad,
and that was the wrong goal.
Mm-hmm.
And I can tell you whenyou chase the wrong goal.
It can set you back decades, not years.
So it's super, super important to getclear because what happens when you set
the wrong goal is you build the wrong,you know, systems, infrastructure.
You build the wrong and, and ultimatelywhat happens is that you get to the
(36:06):
top of the ladder and you realize that.
Your ladder's up against the wrong wall.
So it's super important to takea little time and get clear.
Is that goal and is that really the goal?
And what does that really look like?
And the goal better be, begetting you closer to freedom than
moving you further away from it.
When you chase status and youstay in status too long, like I
said, man, it'll set you back.
Not years.
(36:26):
It'll set you back decades.
That's good.
Yeah.
Chasing the status can make you awhole bunch of money, but like I said,
you get to the top of that ladder andyou realize you're on the wrong wall.
Mm-hmm.
And then you start thinking aboutthe things that actually matter.
And now you've built a. Basically built ajail for yourself and now you gotta figure
out how you get out of this thing, right?
There's no escape from what youjust built, and some people end
up burning it down, or they tryto sell it off or whatever else.
You can make a lot of money, but whenyou're chasing status, you spend a
(36:49):
lot of money, it's the wrong goal.
It's like, yeah, we wanna hit gas, wewanna hit our marks, we wanna make a
dent in the marketplace and make a dent,you know, in what we're trying to do.
But.
When we're chasing freedom, we think aboutmoney a little bit differently, and I
think that's the biggest get that I wouldgo back and coach us on would've been
that distinction of, you know, it's okay.
(37:10):
Number one could be on thepath, but that's not the goal.
The goal is freedom.
Freedom is always the goal.
I think that's one of the reasons why Ieven created the Leverage Lounge podcast.
I am on a mission to help business ownersand creators and entrepreneurs to think
differently about what leverage lookslike, what freedom truly means, right?
So, you know, working hard and justhustling harder is not ever the answer.
(37:35):
When you do the right thingsand you start putting the right
people in place, it frees you up.
That's why I created smart hire va.com.
This is where agents can go to hiresmarter and not simply hustle harder.
Whether it's somebody to helpyou to manage your CRM, you know,
nurture your leads post content.
(37:55):
Or build out backend systems.
That's where my team helps youplace a virtual assistant that
helps you to truly move the needle.
And I've placed dozens of VAs on thetop teams around the country, and I
can help you to build your team too.
So if you're listening to this andthat sounds like something that you
need, go to smart hire va.com andschedule your free discovery call today.
(38:16):
It can truly be the change in thebusiness that you need to have.
So what are a few of the keystonehabits that you see in agents
who truly think and lead like a
CEO?
You know, the things that we were talkingabout, you know, earlier is really
just that it, it's the entire agent toCEO concept and agency, CEO framework.
I mean, and it is just reallyabout evolution, right?
Who are you continuing to evolve tobecome and, and ultimately on the path
(38:37):
to just be the best version of you.
And you know, really from anCO mindset really starts with
a mindset of execution and.
Execution and growth.
And so when you step back and lookat that, you know, okay, what does
it mean for me to lead and notonly be, you know, the CEO of this
business, but the CEO of my life?
(38:58):
And, you know, one of the beliefs that Ihave, Mike, is I just don't believe you
can coach and lead another human untilyou can coach and lead yourself first.
Cool.
And the first rule ofleadership is lead by example.
And so how are you showing up?
Every single day.
Remember, tens don'twanna play with eights.
Tens definitely won't hang around.
Twos, where are you showing up?
How are you showing up?
Remember, the size of your businessis in direct proportion to the size
(39:21):
of your leadership capabilities.
That's what you have to focus on.
That is your job.
You said something at the verybeginning talking about solopreneur.
Well, what does that mean?
A solopreneur comes upwith the ideas they.
Execute the ideas, butthey also manage the ideas.
And if you do all three,you're a solopreneur.
And so the thing to remember isthat you can even have one of
(39:43):
the top teams in your market.
You have one of the top teams in thecountry, but if you're doing all three of
those things, you're still a solopreneur.
You have to learn to delegate,you have to learn to let go.
You have to learn to build the teamand stay within the salary cap com.
You know, confinement that wehave my revenue minus my profit,
this is the dollars I had toput the best team on the field.
Companies like yours by being able tofind talent in the VA world, allows you to
(40:07):
to add talent to within your salary cap.
And so you gotta remember yourjob is to lead by example, but
then you gotta have the vision.
You gotta be able to castand articulate the vision.
Yeah, that's critical.
Once you have and do that,then you gotta build the team.
Right?
We talked about that.
The team to execute the strategy withinthe model and pursuit of the vision.
(40:28):
Your job is to build the team.
Then your job is to providethem resources and to remove the
obstacles that are in their way.
That is your job.
But it all starts with, are youokay with people depending upon you?
Because reality is, isthat if you're a parent.
You're committed to your kids.
They're depending upon you,you're leading them, and it's no
(40:49):
different in your business, right?
That team is looking to you for guidance,direction, support, inspiration, and
it's on you to take that and run with it.
But first and foremost, like I said, youknow, you gotta be able to lead yourself
first before you can lead anybody else.
That's a bar.
All right, let's get into our hot
seat, lightning round.
You ready for this?
Let's go.
(41:10):
I got some quick questions for you.
You can answer them really quickly,but then if we need to dive into
a little bit of the why behind it,we'll give a short why behind it
and get on right onto the next one.
All right?
Got it.
So rapid fire, what's the onething you wish that agents
would stop doing this week?
Maybe just start doing the work.
How about that?
Stop pretending.
Stop playing on social media.
Stop playing around, stop playingbusiness and actually get in
(41:34):
and execute on the business.
That's the thing, right?
Like get into the fundamentals.
Are we generating opportunities?
Are we.
Having conversations?
Are we talking to people?
Are we setting appointments?
Are we going on appointments?
Are we articulating our value?
Do we have a value proposition?
Right?
Doing the work, focusing on thethings within their control and
stop focusing or obsessing onthings outside of their control.
(41:55):
That's what they need to start doing.
I love that, man.
I, I tell my agents all the time,stop getting ready to get ready.
Yeah, right.
Start doing.
Yes.
All right.
What's a non-negotiable that youuse to keep yourself in CEO mode?
Man, good freaking question.
Non-negotiable I think is forme, I mean, listen, no days off.
I mean we hear it as cliche,but like it never stops.
(42:19):
It's a timers.
It really is.
It's all the time.
And I think that's another thing toyour question earlier, is that you know.
If you're not okay with iton all the time, leading and
running a company is not for you.
Now listen, being a number three,being a number four, be even being a
number two in an organization, maybeyou're built more for that, right?
So really understanding what you'rebuilt for, and that's then becomes,
(42:44):
you know, the fuel for you really.
What is your intent?
What is your motive to be ableto, to pursue the life and the
career that you want to have?
It's a cost of being the boss, right?
Yes, it is.
Oh,
alright.
If you could use one system toscale, which one would you use?
I'm gonna default back to the Sabersystem because that allows you to
become the best version of you andnothing else can happen, right?
(43:07):
Nothing is sustainable if you'renot the best version of you.
That is the key.
Sustainability is everything.
It's one of my favorite corevalues at exp, but it is.
It's everything you do.
It's you're looking for sustainability,sustainable energy, and the best
system is the foundation that's gonnamake you the best version of you.
Just follow the savers.
All right.
Well, you are successfullyoff the hot seat, my friend.
(43:29):
You survived.
I love it.
You did great.
Now John, before we wrap up,I wanna give you the floor.
Uh, is there anything that, thatyou'd like to share with the audience?
This could be, you know, how to connectwith you, uh, a program that you're
working on, a book that you are writing,something you're building, whatever, even
a message that you wanna leave with them.
Yeah.
You know, if you're really thinking about.
(43:52):
Exiting, escaping production.
At some point, you've gotta have aplan, you gotta have a path, and it
really starts with having somebodythat's going to dive deep with you
and uncover really what drives you.
But what also I. You're not willingto commit to and having that kind
of audit of where you're at andwhere you're wanting to go, or
(44:14):
even if you're in the midst of it.
Right.
What is the plan to get you out of this?
You know, there's a lot of greatpeople out there, but I've helped
so many people escape production andobviously being able to do it ourselves.
I'm down for a conversation if you are.
So, you know, feel free to reachout at John Kitchens, coach
on all social media platforms.
Hit me up and uh, we'd love to chat.
John
(44:34):
Kitchens coach, man, so many gyms intoday's episode, and if you're listening
to this, you're ready to think bigger,build smarter, and scale with systems.
This conversation was yourblueprint, so if you got value from
this, don't keep it to yourself.
Share it with somebody who's already.
Ready to leave differently.
(44:55):
And as always, for more conversations likethis one, visit leverage with mike.com and
subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
This is The Leverage Lounge.
I'm Mike Collier, andwe'll see you next time.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you're done guessing and ready tolead like a real CEO with a custom
strategy, real accountability andproven systems, check out my executive
(45:18):
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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