July 22, 2025 • 38 mins
What if the key to real estate success isn't working harder, but shifting your energy? That transformative question lies at the heart of this eye-opening conversation with veteran Philadelphia real estate professional Janice Bensock.
Drawing on 21 years of industry experience, Janice shares her remarkable journey from operating in constant "doing mode" to embracing a more balanced approach that welcomes abundance through allowing. Her story of starting a real estate school after a casual thought during a morning run—and having it fully operational just 34 days later—demonstrates the extraordinary power of aligned intention.
The most profound revelation comes when Janice explains how she built a thriving agent cohort by changing her vibration from one of desperate effort to inspired attraction. "God isn't finished writing your story," she shares, "stop trying to grab the pen." This shift from controlling outcomes to allowing opportunities produced immediate, tangible results that surprised even her.
Both hosts dive deep into practical strategies for building genuine client relationships, with Maria revealing her approach of having up to 20 meaningful conversations daily. They dispel the myth that real estate success requires aggressive cold calling, instead emphasizing authentic connection and problem-solving. As Janice puts it, "We're not in the business of houses, we're in the business of people."
For agents feeling stuck in routines or struggling to gain momentum, this episode offers refreshingly actionable advice, including the surprising power of decluttering a single drawer to spark new thought patterns and opportunities.
Ready to transform your real estate business through the power of mindset? Listen now and discover how your thoughts truly do become things—and how shifting your energy might be the breakthrough you've been searching for.
Connect with Maria Quattrone:
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Facebook Page: REMAX at Home Facebook
Facebook Page: Rise in Real Estate Facebook
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Be the Solution podcast and I'm your
host, maria Cuatrone, and todayI have a return guest on Janice
Bensock with Settle Down,philadelphia, jbrea Academy, and
today we are going to talkabout mindset, so I'm excited to
have Janice on.
(00:20):
Janice is a friend of mine andwe've been both in the industry.
Basically, we entered at thesame time, so we've both been in
the industry for 21 years herein Philadelphia real estate and
Janice.
Today.
I have a quote specifically foryou.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh, you do Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I do.
And this is the quote If youcan dream it, you can do it, and
that was by Walt Disney.
Dream it, you can do it.
And that was by Walt Disney.
So, if you can dream it, youcan do it.
And that is the quote that Ispecifically picked for you this
morning and it resonated withme for you because we have a lot
(00:56):
of the same things that wethink about life, and thoughts
become things.
An idea becomes something.
It starts with a thought and so, with that, welcome Janice.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hello, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Good morning.
So what do you think If you candream it?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Oh, I live by that quote.
I absolutely live by that quote.
That's how I started my school.
I literally was out for a runand decided maybe I should look
into starting my own school.
Up for a run and decided maybeI should look into starting my
own school.
And by the time I got home veryshortly after because I'm not a
big runner my laptop wassitting on my dining room table
and as I was walking in the doorI was thinking, oh, I'm going
to have my assistant check onwhat it takes to open a school
(01:37):
today.
And then I saw my laptop and Isaid, oh, I'll do it myself.
And within 30 seconds,everything has started falling
into place and literally 34 dayslater, my school was open,
which I can't even believe therecord speed it would have
happened.
Every single thing fell intoline and it was because I had a
thought Quantum, it's quantumphysics, it's law of attraction,
it's just the universe.
(01:57):
And absolutely that happens andthat's the key to mindset.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It is the key to mindset it really is.
It's like you know I go back tolike.
I love quotes and I don't knowwhy I do, but I do, and one of
the favorite ones I also have isHenry Ford.
Whether you think you can orthink you can't, either way you
are right and it's the beliefthat comes from the idea.
Maybe we don't know how we'regoing to do it.
(02:23):
From the idea, maybe we don'tknow how we're going to do it.
It doesn't really matter.
It's the belief that we want todo it and that we can figure it
out.
Everything's figureoutable,right, marie Forleo?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I love that book.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, she's a great inspiration, has a very
successful online business, verysuccessful with her B school,
and mainly that's for, like,creative types of people.
But she talks about that allthe time that you know,
everything is figureoutable, wecan figure it out, or or we can
sit in the victim mentality ofexcuses, and I am not one for
(03:02):
that, anything about me.
You know that is a no-no inthis office, that we can't make
excuses, and we either haveresults and progress or we have
excuses.
So, making that decision eachand every day how you're going
to show up, and I think, janice,one of the things that I love
(03:25):
about you is that you like you,just like I'm doing it, and you
said that to me a few months ago.
We were sitting in thePhiladelphia Library downstairs,
which I never even knew theyhad a downstairs, so thank you.
I know it was so cool there thePhiladelphia Library, the big
one over on Spring Garden Street.
(03:45):
I go that way because it's socool there.
The philadelphia library, thebig one over on spring garden
street I go that way becauseit's north of here, right, and
we talked about you know what'sthe next thing?
And yours was like I'm gonnarecruit agents and start this
cohort of people and attractthem, you know, to my me, to
your real estate company, and sothat was a, that was it's not
(04:07):
like you didn't do it before,but it was a different way that
you are going to execute thistime.
And the thing is, we've triedthis, we try that, and as long
as we don't give up and we keeptrying because I think that's
really what it comes down tolike never giving up, because I
think that's really what itcomes down to, like never giving
up, right, you could just belike oh okay, it didn't work, so
(04:28):
I'm not going to do it anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, but there's something also that shifted,
that was different.
So, first of all, I have themost amazing cohort of they're
all women, except for we haveone man.
It just so happened that way.
So I say a cohort of women, butthere is one man there.
So quasi-hero business, just ashout out to you.
(04:51):
But it's this amazing cohort ofpeople, of agents.
And when you said the word, thekey word for me was attract,
because, even though I believein Marie Forleo's, everything is
Figureoutable.
I love that.
What she stresses, though,mostly is the doing energy, the
masculine energy, and that'simportant.
But for me, I find the mostsuccess when I let my feminine
(05:17):
energy side, the receiving side,come in, the allowing side, and
so there has to be a balance ofboth.
We all have a balance of both.
It's not about men and women,it's about everybody has a
balance of both.
We all have a balance of both.
It's not about men and women,it's about everybody has a
balance of both energies, and Iused to focus mostly on the
masculine energy.
Thinking I had to wake up everyday and do, do, do, do, do.
I was very hardcore, in fact.
I had a LLC at one point it'sstill there called IGSD LLC,
(05:41):
standing for I get shit done LLC, because I was so into like get
up, go, go, go.
And over the last six or soyears I've really started to
allow the feminine energy side,the receiving side and that's
what's different about thiscohort that I have.
You say I tried it before I did,but all the times I tried it
(06:02):
before it was from the masculineenergy side of like trying so
hard to do this, to do this.
But that day, when I sat in thelibrary with you which was an
amazing experience, we should dosomething like that again
Something shifted in me becauseI put it out into the universe
that this is something that Ireally desired and then
(06:23):
everything just fell into placeand I didn't even try.
It was like I literally woke upone day and had an idea while I
was getting ready for class,mentioned the idea in class and
within four days I had a wholebootcamp set up with 11 women
signed up and not one of themhas dropped out.
They've all gone through it.
They're all getting theirlicenses now and starting to get
(06:46):
deals.
It's amazing and it's thecoolest group of people.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
What exactly happened ?
What changed?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
What changed was when you said you don't know how
it's going to happen, it justhappens.
That's the allowing side,that's the receiving side,
that's your vibration.
And something changed in myvibration where, instead of
trying so hard and I'm notsaying, don't do I we have to
take inspired action to makethings happen.
We can't just sit there andexpect things to happen.
(07:14):
But it's inspired action versusI'm going to keep trying,
basically throwing enough crapagainst the wall until something
sticks.
That's what I was doing in thepast, but this time was
different.
My vibration changed and Iactually had this desire where
it wasn't just for me, it wasfor something bigger than me, it
was something greater than justme and wanting to get, I wanted
(07:40):
to get done.
It was for a connection, it wasfor an attraction.
And there's a saying and I tendto shy away from the word God,
I use universe or spirit, butthere's this quote that I love
and it has God in it and I useit anyway and it says God isn't
finished writing your story,stop trying to grab the pen.
And I was like there you go.
(08:02):
I love that because that'sexactly what I was trying to do
before is grab the pen and sayit has to happen this way, I
have to do this.
And it was coming from a placeof fear and scarcity and lack.
And that is what I see in somany people, especially new
agents, which is what Ispecialize in, because they're
usually coming from a place oftransition, and a lot of times
(08:23):
people enter the businessbecause they need financial
freedom, they need time freedomand they're feeling in a place
where they're desperate.
And that feeling of desperation, that feeling of lack of
scarcity, that changes yourvibration and that attracts more
lack, more scarcity, moredesperation.
And so that's the place that Iwas coming from before and when
(08:45):
I came from, a different placeof abundance, of like, we have
this amazing thing and I want tocreate this amazing thing for
me, for them, for all of us.
It just literally downloaded.
I had an idea.
I remember I was standing theregetting ready for class and all
of a sudden, I just had an idea, and it was probably 20 minutes
(09:06):
before class started.
By the time class started, Ihad already figured it out and I
told people about it and theywere in.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
That was a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
It's a lot, but that's what happens when you
start allowing.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Great.
Do you know this woman?
Her name is Kathleen Cameron.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You know, bob Proctor .
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I've heard of Bob Proctor.
I think I read one of his books.
What did he write?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
oh uh, what was his I have a book wait, I think I
have it right here actually soI'm rereading it.
Is it here is?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
it here Bob Bob Proctor.
He's one of the famous ones,it's like I forget.
I'm going to Google him so wecan edit this, bob Proctor.
Anyway, what about Bob Proctor?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well, he talks about exactly what you're talking
about.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
He's died now, but oh , he was in the Secret and what
did he write.
Anyway, I have the book.
I don't know where it is.
Oh, he was in the Secret andwhat did he write.
Anyway, I have the book.
I don't know where it is.
Oh, he's talking about Law ofAttraction.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read a lot.
I don't know that I've read his.
I read Wayne Dyer, I read Joe.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Dispenza.
Well, he's Wayne Dyer.
He is you know I am whatever, Iam confident.
I am confident, I am loved.
I am special.
I am unique.
You know there's only one you,there's only one me, and so we
have unique talent and themessage that's received is
received differently fromdifferent people.
(10:35):
So you need you know.
I always say that everybody hassomething to teach and to learn
, and and and toff to obviouslylearn, but everybody is
something that they can teachother people where they are
today.
So there's tons of people outthere right now who need your
message, who need my message.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, and we have to trust that the right people are
going to find it.
That's why I post on socialmedia.
If one person shows up, if ahundred people show up, it
doesn't matter to me.
What matters to me is that Ijust trust that the right people
are going to find the message,and if it's not the right person
and not the right message,they're just going to not see it
or just go right by, and that'stotally fine.
(11:15):
And that's how I feel about mybusiness too.
That's why I'm more in theallowing than I am not Like.
You and I are so different theway we similar in a lot of ways,
but we're still different inthe way we run our businesses.
If I worked with you, I woulddrive you insane.
You would be like what are youdoing?
Why aren't you on the phonemaking calls?
And I'm like, just chill, it'llcome, and it always does so.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I think that you know sometimes it's the yin and the
yang right that when you meldthem perfectly together, you get
something amazing.
That happens, and I think youneed both.
I mean, I definitely have moreof the masculine energy than the
feminine.
However, I have been over thelast I'd say year-ish a little
(12:03):
more focusing on more of thefeminine kind of like.
Let be, I'll give an example.
I was always present for mysales meetings always, and it's
like you know, I don't reallyneed to be present in person.
I can be present on Zoom and infact, it's actually better
(12:27):
because the message is deliveredbetter.
Now you have everybody who hasto sit and watch, versus now.
It's different in a good way,because I actually can teach If
you have a group of people thatare like watching you, like I'm
in my office.
So here's the TV on the wallhere, right, it's like yay, big.
(12:51):
I don't know how big it is, butpretty big, big enough.
This is my big faces on there.
You know everybody's watchingit on the TV, versus.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
So you have them come in, but you're on zoom.
Yeah, oh, I like that.
I thought everybody was on Zoom.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
No, everybody's here.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Everybody's present in the room together and I am on
Zoom.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
That's great and that's more efficient for your
time as well.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's more efficient.
But I also think that themessage is delivered differently
, because I actually have to becompletely orchestrated right,
like I have to be a little bitmore.
I want to say prepared, becauseI'm always prepared, but like
literally I'm watching my timebecause our meetings are one
hour.
(13:39):
We start on time and end ontime, purpose, purposely, like
at noon it starts and at 12 59it ends, and that's to be so.
Everybody understands the valueof time.
I'm not going to go over thetime that I said and we're going
(13:59):
to start when it starts, notwaiting for anybody, you know,
and I think it sets a tone,though, where the expectation of
time you're their time, my time, client's time is how you do.
One thing is how you doeverything.
So if you're constantly runningaround and you're late, I mean
(14:19):
that sets a whole different tonethan if you're showing up and
you're like, okay, sitting in mycar waiting for my client, why
go in?
Every?
The lights are on, I sit there,and now you know I'm sitting on
some stage furniture, relaxed,waiting for them.
You show up differently.
Yeah, so you know, mindset is,I think, 90% of it and the
(14:45):
actions are 10%.
And, yes, I do believe inmaking calls but I know you do.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I loved your challenge that you did that was
amazing.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Those things are still rolling in, that's great.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, I mean the thing is, everybody builds their
business differently and that'smy jam is that I.
I started in this business andyou were close, but I've
actually been in the businesscloser to 30 years.
It'll be 30 november, it's okay.
It's okay, it's nothing, it's,it just means I've been around a
long time.
It doesn't whatever.
But when I started in thisbusiness there was no internet.
(15:23):
There was, like you know, Iwent uphill to school barefoot
in the snow, both ways, likethat jam, but no one, no one
validated how I wanted to run mybusiness.
I was told to you know, get onthe phone and make calls.
And that never, ever, sat rightwith me.
It's just not my thing.
I've never done it.
I probably never will do it.
(15:43):
It works for some people,doesn't work for me.
So I had to kind of struggle tofigure out my own way to build
my business and I startedbuilding it organically.
But I didn't start calling itorganic or paying attention to
how I did, I just did it and itwas working.
And I remember my sales managera long time ago telling me to
make calls and I kept saying Iwould do it, but then I would
(16:04):
choke, I couldn't pick up thephone and cold call, and so he
was giving me a hard time aboutit.
But I had deals in the pipelineand he's like how did you get
them?
And I told him he's like, youcan't do it that way.
I said what do you mean?
It's working Like I'm talkingto people, I'm doing my thing,
and so what my business hasreally evolved into over the
years now as a broker and owningthe school is allowing and
(16:26):
empowering agents to realizethat they can build their
business their own way.
They could build you build it,they could I build it, they
could build it any shade inbetween or something new that
hasn't even been created yet.
And that's what's reallyimportant to me.
It's not how you build yourbusiness, but how you allow
yourself to build your businessand how to live your life, and
to me, that's what mindset isall about.
(16:48):
And what you said earliereverything begins with a thought
is dead on, because thoughtsbecome things.
That's it.
If you think it already existsnow, you just have to wait for
it to manifest.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Exactly.
You have to wait for it tomanifest.
So one of the things that I dodo when I am making my calls,
which is my calls are follow-upcalls.
These are people that alreadycalled this office, raised their
hand that they wanted to sellsomething.
They just didn't do it then.
So it's a follow-up.
But what I do is I assumethey're going to be listing, I
(17:26):
assume that I am sending them alisting contract.
I, you know, begin with the endin mind is the assumption that
they are going to work with ourfirm.
It's not like you knowdesperateness, or it's just like
(17:46):
are you ready?
If you're ready, great, we'removing forward.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Right, and that's very different as a follow-up
call than a cold call.
But a lot of agents don't haveall of those people calling them
or calling their office, and sothey have to resort to making
cold calls.
And I know that works for somepeople but, like for me for
example, if anyone calls me on acold call, I immediately
(18:11):
politely tell them I don't docold calls.
I just have zero desire tolisten to any cold call and that
might be a little bit of harshbut it just doesn't jam with me.
I want to talk to people,relationships, and so what do
the people do that that you know?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
how did you get all those people calling your office
is the key, because a lot ofagents don't have that happening
yeah, well, this is a long timein the making and you know I
have 50 plus thousand people inthe database, that at one point
how'd you get them from listings?
Right, and how'd you get themFrom listings?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Right.
And how'd you get the listingsright?
Because which comes first?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
There's a variety of ways networking my reputation
Back in the day, like a longtime ago.
Calling expires.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
There you go.
That's something that-.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Marketing, google marketing, mailers, so a lot of
people.
You know it's the attraction ofthe business, so I know people
think like oh it's just like I'mcalling like circle prospecting
around, like listing we don'tdo that.
We have so many people to callbecause they have reached out at
some juncture or in past.
(19:24):
Clients that repeat investorbusiness, right.
So there's so much opportunitythat's there.
I know many people don't havethat, but this is what I, this
is what I've been able to buildover the last 20 years, and so
there's many people already forthe new agents to like come in
and call.
So if they're already gotten,like you know, for years
(19:45):
marketing things for me, oh,motivation Monday, right, like a
happy message of like,inspiration or aspiration.
It's not a lot of, it isn'teven real estate stuff, right,
so they get to know the brandand so then when the call is
made, it's like an easier callthan like.
Of course, some people are like, yes, but most people are like
(20:07):
oh, those calls I coulddefinitely make.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's a warm call, that's calling somebody that's
in my database or my past clientor past.
You know inquiry, it's the coldcalls that I don't do.
But the key is, like what yousaid it's from 21 years and so
what I deal with mostly is newagents.
That's just what I attract,partially because of my students
and partially it's just what Iattract is new agents.
(20:32):
I love working with new agents,but they need to get started.
It's like this ball of yarn andyou can't find the beginning of
the thread to like, pull andstart knitting your sweater.
That's what they need help with.
Because you did it right, youdid it, you found that beginning
, you found that and you started, and I know you came from sales
, but in real estate you startedfrom nothing and look what
(20:53):
you've built Right.
And now you're in this positionwhere, yes, the follow up and
yes, the calls, and it makes alot more sense, or I shouldn't
say sense.
It resonates with me more thatyou're following up with people.
But what about the new agentsthat are out there?
They don't even know.
I know plenty of agents.
If they had a database of50,000 plus people, they would
(21:16):
be on the phone 12 hours a day.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, lots of business out there.
It's a matter of how you wantto do it, but I do.
I always say, like two newagents, we have new agents here
and I said, every settlementstarted with conversation.
So you need to haveconversations with people, I
don't care how you have them,but the more you can have, the
quicker you're going to getmomentum, and the cadence I look
(21:45):
at is like 20 conversations aday.
I know that might seem like alot, but to build that business
and have like two transactions amonth, if you do 20
conversations a day with peoplethat you know, maybe at one
point raise their hand, you havea greater propensity to make it
, and it's hard to make it thesedays, so it's a matter of you
(22:10):
can do networking, you can docalling, you can do door
knocking, you can do all kindsof things.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Social media the thing is, with social media,
though, it can work After youhave a little bit of success,
people want to see that you'reactually doing something first,
you know, and I think withsocial media they also want to
see or at least I'll speak forme what I want to see on social
media, because when I see thejust listed or just closed posts
(22:38):
, I just scroll right past them.
What I want to see isrelationship, personality, story
.
It's no, it's the.
It's the agents that have astory or that show who they are
and they do real estate thatcatch my attention, like that's
the side that I veer moretowards and that's something.
Yeah, that's something.
(22:58):
I see some agents strugglingwith.
Yeah, we talk about that.
We actually did a broker classsocial media for brokers.
It was a 30 hour class and wewent over a lot of that stuff in
there about, and it was amazingbecause one student who's a
friend of yours, who you knowwho it is she went through her
social media and she was like,oh my God, my Instagram is all
(23:18):
just listed, just listed, andthere were no pictures of her.
There was nothing about her.
No pictures of her, there wasnothing about her.
And so we did a lot ofworkshopping in that class and
she has been doing some workabout putting her own
personality into it.
And that's the thing is, it allcomes down to relationships.
You're talking about 20conversations a day.
It's like, what are you talkingabout?
(23:40):
You're talking about thingsthat create relationships.
You're building the know, likeand trust factor, and the great
thing is it doesn't have to be aconversation about real estate,
because every single person isa potential client.
Everybody needs a place to live.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Everybody needs a place to live and I know more
about the people that I call andtheir families, where they go
on vacation, where they're goingthis year, who graduated from
college.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You remind me of that scene in Erin Brockovich, the
one when Joy Roberts is standingthere and the lawyer says to
her you don't have files.
And she's like ask me, do youknow which scene I'm talking
about?
And she's like oh my God, youhave to watch it.
I'll find the clip and send itto you.
So she's did you see the movie?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Okay.
So Julie Roberts is standingthere like with her low cut, you
know whatever, and there's thisattorney, all dressed, with her
hair pulled back and uponperfect lips, and she's like
your files are a mess.
And Julie Roberts says or AaronBrockovich is like, ask me
anything.
And she's like you can'tpossibly remember 600 phone
numbers.
And she goes Johnny Mays do,born in this.
(24:49):
And then she starts reading offall these stats had this
surgery, had this surgery?
Likes to swim, does this?
And she goes it's like the best, and that would be you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
That's funny yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I'm going to send that to you the next time it
comes across my feed.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, you have tag, you you have.
And that's the thing.
It's like people always ask mewell, what do you say to people
and what's your script?
I'm like, well, there's certainthings that you need to ask
people, if they're buying or ifthey're selling.
They're different questions,obviously, I said, but the most
important question is peoplewant to know, is that people
(25:27):
want to be heard.
You know there's like 7% thatare drivers that just want you
to get to the point that therest of them want to be heard,
and so it's developing thatrelationship and rapport with
somebody.
I had a closing this year.
I showed Miss Bonnie at mycomputer with me when I went to
her house Point Breeze, federalStreet 20, forget 2300 something
(25:53):
.
Anyway, I said Miss Bonnie, doyou know how many times we spoke
on the phone over the last fiveyears?
She said no.
I said well, I called you 121times.
Oh my God.
I just listed a property inFairmount on Meredith Lois.
We called Lois in the lastmaybe six months, 39 times.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Because you don't get the people on the phone, so you
just dial in and answer.
You don't always leave themessage.
Depend on the person.
This lady, she's 82.
I'm not leaving her a messageevery time I call.
Right, I'm going to catch her.
When I catch her she's likebusy.
She's winding down her businessat 82.
God bless her a littlewhippersnapper right but, the
(26:41):
point is is like all aboutdeveloping that relationship
with people, and when they'reready, they're ready, and
sometimes I'll say, look, Idon't want to be a pain in the
ass.
So you know, can you just tellme when I should call you back,
because I'll touch base with youthen.
Well, we're not going to doanything, maria, until 2026.
(27:02):
Probably this spring.
Cool, I'll touch base with youin the fall around the holiday
time.
Let's see how you're doing.
Wish you a happy holiday.
I'll talk to you then have agreat summer have a great fourth
A lot of people are nervous tomake these calls.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
but what you're saying resonates because two
things One, what you're sayingis my thought of sales as
service sales, as problemsolving.
Right, when you approach it inthe way that you're there to
help them.
You're there to listen, askquestions, listen, see what they
need and come up with asolution.
Be the solution right.
(27:37):
Use the tools in your tool belt.
And sometimes it's listingtheir property, sometimes it's
telling them to get a fill loanso that they can fix the leaky
roof and they don't have to moveright.
So when you approach it assales as service sales, as
problem solving, it's easier topick up the phone because you're
not coming with that salesy,pushy vibe.
And the other thing is whichpeople don't really talk about
(27:58):
that much or talk about enoughis what do we get from the
relationship?
What do we get from thoseconversations?
Because those conversationslight me up.
I just talked to one of my pastclients the other day.
We're getting ready to listtheir house in in the fall and
they moved out to the suburbsand they're renting out their
house and I had a 20 minuteconversation with her about
(28:22):
gardening and cleaning out thepool and how different it is,
and it was just such a greatconversation and we don't talk
about that enough and I thinkthat would agents paid attention
to that, about how fulfillingit is not just to get the sale.
They would be more apt to geton the phone and make those
calls.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, it's the developing of the relationship
over time.
So when they are ready, you arethe person that they call hands
down.
And if you did not and here'sthe thing, and I don't get every
single one right If you in themeantime provide value right,
provide inspiration, aspiration,be a real person.
(29:01):
Nobody wants to hear you know.
A recited script.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Nobody.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
At any given time.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And who would want to be the person making those
calls.
That's what I'm saying.
It's not just about the deal.
It's like when we pick up thephone or bump into somebody or
talk to somebody, that's thecashier at the pharmacy and we
start.
I'm genuinely interested inpeople.
I'm going to tell you a quickstory, because this is exactly
(29:28):
what I love about this businessand this life.
I was in an Uber months ago andthe funny thing is I hardly ever
take Ubers.
I ride my bike everywhere.
But this day I forget why I hadto take an Uber and I took an
Uber.
I get in the Uber and I starttalking to the driver and it
turns out it was like aWednesday, it was like a Friday
(29:49):
and I had a new pre-licensureclass starting on Monday.
We started talking and the nextthing, you know, she tells me
she wants to get a real estatelicense.
Do you know?
She was signed up and in myclass by Monday and she's signed
up with my agency and she's oneof my.
Like it turned into that from aconversation with an Uber
driver.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I 100% believe it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
It's the most amazing thing, and that's to me that is
the art of allowing, Becausewhen you put it out there that
you're just genuinely interestedin people and you just want to
talk and you want to connect,magic happens.
And I didn't have to advertisefor her to come through my
school, I didn't.
You know, it's just therelationship thing.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
It's just a relationship thing, a hundred
percent.
It always comes down to that,you know, and I think today it's
even more important to havethose strong relationships,
whether it's you know partners,whether it's partners, whether
it's colleagues in the industry,it's just internally in your
office and the world's going alittle bit nuts.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I just don't look, I can't even.
I'm in a bubble down the shore.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Well, the bubble is not here.
So even just clients people arewhy is my house not sold?
Well, because houses don't sellin five minutes.
That's why houses take fourmonths to sell.
We're in pretty much an evenmarket now.
So you know, in most markets,in Philadelphia metro market,
we're pretty much in an even,except for some small pockets.
You know, like up on the mainline but for the most part we're
(31:21):
pretty much in an even, exceptfor some small pockets.
You know like up on the mainline but for the most part we're
pretty much in an even market.
So it does take longer and Ithink that you know also telling
people up front the expectationof like the future pace and an
(31:42):
agent Look, you're not going tolearn this business in six
months or a year, it's like afour year, like you're going to
college.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Right, I'm still learning.
I always learn something newevery day.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Every day, every day.
So you have your real estate.
School is rocking and rolling.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, well, we're on summer break.
I have I took and this is I amso glad I did this and I missed
out on some connections withpotential students who wanted to
take summer class, but I reallyneeded a reset.
I really needed to just sort oftake some space and build some
things and put my back togetherand put my life back together
(32:27):
and next class I don't teachagain until October.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, I took the whole entire semester.
Bless you, except for CE.
I'm doing a few CE classes forGPAR.
I just added some CE classes,but I think the first CE class
I'm starting is in September, soI took the whole summer off.
Awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Awesome.
Good for you and your cohort.
You have 10, 11 in there, yeahthey're like 11.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
And so how does that?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
work.
Do they?
They're in real estate schoolor they're in?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
training.
So all of them have finishedschool and a few of them have
passed their state exam andbecome licensed and the rest are
in the process of passing theexam and they're all signing up
with settle down.
So we've been doing a lot oftraining company events.
We did a big photo shoot theother day for our website, so as
soon as their license comes inthey'll go on the website.
(33:21):
So we did a reunion.
It's just the greatest group ofpeople.
So we're doing that and theyall work together.
And, um, I hired or brought onanastasia duan.
I don't know if you know her,but she came on and she's going
to be working with them as thehead of agent success.
So it's the two of us and she'sgoing to be the day-to-day and
(33:42):
we're just building somethingreally amazing.
It's the cool, it's just magicwhen you see how this group I
don't even know where they camefrom and we're just building
something really amazing.
It's the cool, it's just magicwhen you see how this group I
don't even know where they camefrom and their stories are
always like oh, I was going towait to start school, but then I
clicked on something andsomething and they ended up in
the right place at the righttime, and now it's just this
amazing group that's so cohesive.
(34:02):
I've never had such an amazinggroup before.
It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
It's all about what we attract.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
All about what we attract.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
That's not.
That's what it comes down to.
That's what it comes down to.
So real estate is still a goodcareer, right?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Absolutely.
It doesn't matter what themarket is If you approach it as
a people business.
If we're not in the business ofhouses, we're in the business
of people, and if you approachit as a people business, you're
always going to be fine alwaysthere is a ton of business out
there.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
In fact, most people are not willing to do the work
that we were always willing todo and, and you know, I'd say
the market over the last 10years was very different than
the market 10 years before that,20 years before that.
So you get into a differentcadence and you have to adjust.
(35:00):
So for us, you know, it's thesame thing.
I like routine, I'm a routinekind of person.
So you know, that's why, like,getting out of my routine, as I
was telling you, has been goodfor me.
Stepping out of like the samething I do and taking a little
bit of a different approachfeels it's good, although it,
(35:24):
which sounds weird, right, like.
But I think that that's whenyou're, when you do things that
are different and uncomfortablefor you.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
That's when you can like expand yeah, it shifts
because it shifts your mindsetand if you go, if you, if you go
back to the beginning, which isthoughts become things.
How can you have new thoughtsif you're doing the same thing
every day?
One of my best, quickestsecrets to making stuff happen
(35:55):
is to declutter one shelf ordrawer, because when you do
something like that that's why Ilove this magic of watching my
house come back together andputting this kitchen in right.
I'm living in chaos.
I'm washing dishes in mybathtub, I'm sitting at my
dining room table, which ispushed up against the wall.
My house is filthy.
There's a worker I love him todeath in my kitchen right now,
(36:16):
next to me, finishing up things.
But I love it because everyminute that I watch something
happen, it shifts my mindset, itchanges things for me and new
thoughts come in.
If I walked in one day and itwas just completely done, then
it's like it hits you all atonce and it's great, but then
that becomes your new normal,whereas constantly changing and
(36:37):
I'm someone who doesn't likeroutine at all.
I like to be constant.
I feel very stagnant and flat.
It makes me almost feel toxicwhen I'm in too much routine,
like round hug day.
I'm the opposite, and that'swhere new ideas come in.
If you're feeling stuck,literally go declutter one
drawer.
You declutter one drawer andall of a sudden the whole world
(36:58):
will open up, your brain willshift and new ideas will start
to come, like that, and thenyou'll declutter another door
and another and the next thingyou know you're doing a closet.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
That's great.
You know, I always get my bestideas in the shower.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Absolutely.
It's because you're notthinking.
It's like a meditative stateAnytime that you can empty your
brain and meditate the bestideas.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
You know, my bike, my bike, my best friend at the
beach is my bike and in the city.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Do you ride in the city?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I do not.
I'm scared.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I don't blame you.
It's scary, I do it anyway.
But I'm scared and like I don'tlike to put the helmet on and
stuff in the city because youknow I got this hair and Right,
I put the helmet on in the cityand to me, for me, riding is
better than looking for parking,so I'd rather and sitting in
traffic.
But anyway, I get it and NewBright is a perfect place.
(37:47):
Sometimes I just go on bikerides and meander and let my
mind wander.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
It's all about the thoughts become things, and
that's how we expand.
This has been a great episodetoday with you, janice.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
I love chatting with you every time.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yes, awesome and congratulations on your
continued success.
And you every time, yes,awesome and congratulations on
your continued success.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
And you as well.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Thank you, your real estate company and your school,
and we'll have to check in withyou later in the year to see how
the cohort that's already upand running is doing.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
You'll be seeing them at the settlement table, so
you'll know they're amazing,they're on fire.
These are incredible.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I love it.
I love it and your energy isinspiring, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Have a great day, thanks.
This is the Be the Solution podcast and I'm your
host, maria Cuatrone, and todayI have a return guest on Janice
Bensock with Settle Down,philadelphia, jbrea Academy, and
today we are going to talkabout mindset, so I'm excited to
have Janice on.
(00:20):
Janice is a friend of mine andwe've been both in the industry.
Basically, we entered at thesame time, so we've both been in
the industry for 21 years herein Philadelphia real estate and
Janice.
Today.
I have a quote specifically foryou.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh, you do Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I do.
And this is the quote If youcan dream it, you can do it, and
that was by Walt Disney.
Dream it, you can do it.
And that was by Walt Disney.
So, if you can dream it, youcan do it.
And that is the quote that Ispecifically picked for you this
morning and it resonated withme for you because we have a lot
(00:56):
of the same things that wethink about life, and thoughts
become things.
An idea becomes something.
It starts with a thought and so, with that, welcome Janice.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hello, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Good morning.
So what do you think If you candream it?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Oh, I live by that quote.
I absolutely live by that quote.
That's how I started my school.
I literally was out for a runand decided maybe I should look
into starting my own school.
Up for a run and decided maybeI should look into starting my
own school.
And by the time I got home veryshortly after because I'm not a
big runner my laptop wassitting on my dining room table
and as I was walking in the doorI was thinking, oh, I'm going
to have my assistant check onwhat it takes to open a school
(01:37):
today.
And then I saw my laptop and Isaid, oh, I'll do it myself.
And within 30 seconds,everything has started falling
into place and literally 34 dayslater, my school was open,
which I can't even believe therecord speed it would have
happened.
Every single thing fell intoline and it was because I had a
thought Quantum, it's quantumphysics, it's law of attraction,
it's just the universe.
(01:57):
And absolutely that happens andthat's the key to mindset.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It is the key to mindset it really is.
It's like you know I go back tolike.
I love quotes and I don't knowwhy I do, but I do, and one of
the favorite ones I also have isHenry Ford.
Whether you think you can orthink you can't, either way you
are right and it's the beliefthat comes from the idea.
Maybe we don't know how we'regoing to do it.
(02:23):
From the idea, maybe we don'tknow how we're going to do it.
It doesn't really matter.
It's the belief that we want todo it and that we can figure it
out.
Everything's figureoutable,right, marie Forleo?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I love that book.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, she's a great inspiration, has a very
successful online business, verysuccessful with her B school,
and mainly that's for, like,creative types of people.
But she talks about that allthe time that you know,
everything is figureoutable, wecan figure it out, or or we can
sit in the victim mentality ofexcuses, and I am not one for
(03:02):
that, anything about me.
You know that is a no-no inthis office, that we can't make
excuses, and we either haveresults and progress or we have
excuses.
So, making that decision eachand every day how you're going
to show up, and I think, janice,one of the things that I love
(03:25):
about you is that you like you,just like I'm doing it, and you
said that to me a few months ago.
We were sitting in thePhiladelphia Library downstairs,
which I never even knew theyhad a downstairs, so thank you.
I know it was so cool there thePhiladelphia Library, the big
one over on Spring Garden Street.
(03:45):
I go that way because it's socool there.
The philadelphia library, thebig one over on spring garden
street I go that way becauseit's north of here, right, and
we talked about you know what'sthe next thing?
And yours was like I'm gonnarecruit agents and start this
cohort of people and attractthem, you know, to my me, to
your real estate company, and sothat was a, that was it's not
(04:07):
like you didn't do it before,but it was a different way that
you are going to execute thistime.
And the thing is, we've triedthis, we try that, and as long
as we don't give up and we keeptrying because I think that's
really what it comes down tolike never giving up, because I
think that's really what itcomes down to, like never giving
up, right, you could just belike oh okay, it didn't work, so
(04:28):
I'm not going to do it anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, but there's something also that shifted,
that was different.
So, first of all, I have themost amazing cohort of they're
all women, except for we haveone man.
It just so happened that way.
So I say a cohort of women, butthere is one man there.
So quasi-hero business, just ashout out to you.
(04:51):
But it's this amazing cohort ofpeople, of agents.
And when you said the word, thekey word for me was attract,
because, even though I believein Marie Forleo's, everything is
Figureoutable.
I love that.
What she stresses, though,mostly is the doing energy, the
masculine energy, and that'simportant.
But for me, I find the mostsuccess when I let my feminine
(05:17):
energy side, the receiving side,come in, the allowing side, and
so there has to be a balance ofboth.
We all have a balance of both.
It's not about men and women,it's about everybody has a
balance of both.
We all have a balance of both.
It's not about men and women,it's about everybody has a
balance of both energies, and Iused to focus mostly on the
masculine energy.
Thinking I had to wake up everyday and do, do, do, do, do.
I was very hardcore, in fact.
I had a LLC at one point it'sstill there called IGSD LLC,
(05:41):
standing for I get shit done LLC, because I was so into like get
up, go, go, go.
And over the last six or soyears I've really started to
allow the feminine energy side,the receiving side and that's
what's different about thiscohort that I have.
You say I tried it before I did,but all the times I tried it
(06:02):
before it was from the masculineenergy side of like trying so
hard to do this, to do this.
But that day, when I sat in thelibrary with you which was an
amazing experience, we should dosomething like that again
Something shifted in me becauseI put it out into the universe
that this is something that Ireally desired and then
(06:23):
everything just fell into placeand I didn't even try.
It was like I literally woke upone day and had an idea while I
was getting ready for class,mentioned the idea in class and
within four days I had a wholebootcamp set up with 11 women
signed up and not one of themhas dropped out.
They've all gone through it.
They're all getting theirlicenses now and starting to get
(06:46):
deals.
It's amazing and it's thecoolest group of people.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
What exactly happened ?
What changed?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
What changed was when you said you don't know how
it's going to happen, it justhappens.
That's the allowing side,that's the receiving side,
that's your vibration.
And something changed in myvibration where, instead of
trying so hard and I'm notsaying, don't do I we have to
take inspired action to makethings happen.
We can't just sit there andexpect things to happen.
(07:14):
But it's inspired action versusI'm going to keep trying,
basically throwing enough crapagainst the wall until something
sticks.
That's what I was doing in thepast, but this time was
different.
My vibration changed and Iactually had this desire where
it wasn't just for me, it wasfor something bigger than me, it
was something greater than justme and wanting to get, I wanted
(07:40):
to get done.
It was for a connection, it wasfor an attraction.
And there's a saying and I tendto shy away from the word God,
I use universe or spirit, butthere's this quote that I love
and it has God in it and I useit anyway and it says God isn't
finished writing your story,stop trying to grab the pen.
And I was like there you go.
(08:02):
I love that because that'sexactly what I was trying to do
before is grab the pen and sayit has to happen this way, I
have to do this.
And it was coming from a placeof fear and scarcity and lack.
And that is what I see in somany people, especially new
agents, which is what Ispecialize in, because they're
usually coming from a place oftransition, and a lot of times
(08:23):
people enter the businessbecause they need financial
freedom, they need time freedomand they're feeling in a place
where they're desperate.
And that feeling of desperation, that feeling of lack of
scarcity, that changes yourvibration and that attracts more
lack, more scarcity, moredesperation.
And so that's the place that Iwas coming from before and when
(08:45):
I came from, a different placeof abundance, of like, we have
this amazing thing and I want tocreate this amazing thing for
me, for them, for all of us.
It just literally downloaded.
I had an idea.
I remember I was standing theregetting ready for class and all
of a sudden, I just had an idea, and it was probably 20 minutes
(09:06):
before class started.
By the time class started, Ihad already figured it out and I
told people about it and theywere in.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
That was a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
It's a lot, but that's what happens when you
start allowing.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Great.
Do you know this woman?
Her name is Kathleen Cameron.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You know, bob Proctor .
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I've heard of Bob Proctor.
I think I read one of his books.
What did he write?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
oh uh, what was his I have a book wait, I think I
have it right here actually soI'm rereading it.
Is it here is?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
it here Bob Bob Proctor.
He's one of the famous ones,it's like I forget.
I'm going to Google him so wecan edit this, bob Proctor.
Anyway, what about Bob Proctor?
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well, he talks about exactly what you're talking
about.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
He's died now, but oh , he was in the Secret and what
did he write.
Anyway, I have the book.
I don't know where it is.
Oh, he was in the Secret andwhat did he write.
Anyway, I have the book.
I don't know where it is.
Oh, he's talking about Law ofAttraction.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I read a lot.
I don't know that I've read his.
I read Wayne Dyer, I read Joe.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Dispenza.
Well, he's Wayne Dyer.
He is you know I am whatever, Iam confident.
I am confident, I am loved.
I am special.
I am unique.
You know there's only one you,there's only one me, and so we
have unique talent and themessage that's received is
received differently fromdifferent people.
(10:35):
So you need you know.
I always say that everybody hassomething to teach and to learn
, and and and toff to obviouslylearn, but everybody is
something that they can teachother people where they are
today.
So there's tons of people outthere right now who need your
message, who need my message.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, and we have to trust that the right people are
going to find it.
That's why I post on socialmedia.
If one person shows up, if ahundred people show up, it
doesn't matter to me.
What matters to me is that Ijust trust that the right people
are going to find the message,and if it's not the right person
and not the right message,they're just going to not see it
or just go right by, and that'stotally fine.
(11:15):
And that's how I feel about mybusiness too.
That's why I'm more in theallowing than I am not Like.
You and I are so different theway we similar in a lot of ways,
but we're still different inthe way we run our businesses.
If I worked with you, I woulddrive you insane.
You would be like what are youdoing?
Why aren't you on the phonemaking calls?
And I'm like, just chill, it'llcome, and it always does so.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I think that you know sometimes it's the yin and the
yang right that when you meldthem perfectly together, you get
something amazing.
That happens, and I think youneed both.
I mean, I definitely have moreof the masculine energy than the
feminine.
However, I have been over thelast I'd say year-ish a little
(12:03):
more focusing on more of thefeminine kind of like.
Let be, I'll give an example.
I was always present for mysales meetings always, and it's
like you know, I don't reallyneed to be present in person.
I can be present on Zoom and infact, it's actually better
(12:27):
because the message is deliveredbetter.
Now you have everybody who hasto sit and watch, versus now.
It's different in a good way,because I actually can teach If
you have a group of people thatare like watching you, like I'm
in my office.
So here's the TV on the wallhere, right, it's like yay, big.
(12:51):
I don't know how big it is, butpretty big, big enough.
This is my big faces on there.
You know everybody's watchingit on the TV, versus.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
So you have them come in, but you're on zoom.
Yeah, oh, I like that.
I thought everybody was on Zoom.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
No, everybody's here.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Everybody's present in the room together and I am on
Zoom.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
That's great and that's more efficient for your
time as well.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's more efficient.
But I also think that themessage is delivered differently
, because I actually have to becompletely orchestrated right,
like I have to be a little bitmore.
I want to say prepared, becauseI'm always prepared, but like
literally I'm watching my timebecause our meetings are one
hour.
(13:39):
We start on time and end ontime, purpose, purposely, like
at noon it starts and at 12 59it ends, and that's to be so.
Everybody understands the valueof time.
I'm not going to go over thetime that I said and we're going
(13:59):
to start when it starts, notwaiting for anybody, you know,
and I think it sets a tone,though, where the expectation of
time you're their time, my time, client's time is how you do.
One thing is how you doeverything.
So if you're constantly runningaround and you're late, I mean
(14:19):
that sets a whole different tonethan if you're showing up and
you're like, okay, sitting in mycar waiting for my client, why
go in?
Every?
The lights are on, I sit there,and now you know I'm sitting on
some stage furniture, relaxed,waiting for them.
You show up differently.
Yeah, so you know, mindset is,I think, 90% of it and the
(14:45):
actions are 10%.
And, yes, I do believe inmaking calls but I know you do.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I loved your challenge that you did that was
amazing.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Those things are still rolling in, that's great.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, I mean the thing is, everybody builds their
business differently and that'smy jam is that I.
I started in this business andyou were close, but I've
actually been in the businesscloser to 30 years.
It'll be 30 november, it's okay.
It's okay, it's nothing, it's,it just means I've been around a
long time.
It doesn't whatever.
But when I started in thisbusiness there was no internet.
(15:23):
There was, like you know, Iwent uphill to school barefoot
in the snow, both ways, likethat jam, but no one, no one
validated how I wanted to run mybusiness.
I was told to you know, get onthe phone and make calls.
And that never, ever, sat rightwith me.
It's just not my thing.
I've never done it.
I probably never will do it.
(15:43):
It works for some people,doesn't work for me.
So I had to kind of struggle tofigure out my own way to build
my business and I startedbuilding it organically.
But I didn't start calling itorganic or paying attention to
how I did, I just did it and itwas working.
And I remember my sales managera long time ago telling me to
make calls and I kept saying Iwould do it, but then I would
(16:04):
choke, I couldn't pick up thephone and cold call, and so he
was giving me a hard time aboutit.
But I had deals in the pipelineand he's like how did you get
them?
And I told him he's like, youcan't do it that way.
I said what do you mean?
It's working Like I'm talkingto people, I'm doing my thing,
and so what my business hasreally evolved into over the
years now as a broker and owningthe school is allowing and
(16:26):
empowering agents to realizethat they can build their
business their own way.
They could build you build it,they could I build it, they
could build it any shade inbetween or something new that
hasn't even been created yet.
And that's what's reallyimportant to me.
It's not how you build yourbusiness, but how you allow
yourself to build your businessand how to live your life, and
to me, that's what mindset isall about.
(16:48):
And what you said earliereverything begins with a thought
is dead on, because thoughtsbecome things.
That's it.
If you think it already existsnow, you just have to wait for
it to manifest.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Exactly.
You have to wait for it tomanifest.
So one of the things that I dodo when I am making my calls,
which is my calls are follow-upcalls.
These are people that alreadycalled this office, raised their
hand that they wanted to sellsomething.
They just didn't do it then.
So it's a follow-up.
But what I do is I assumethey're going to be listing, I
(17:26):
assume that I am sending them alisting contract.
I, you know, begin with the endin mind is the assumption that
they are going to work with ourfirm.
It's not like you knowdesperateness, or it's just like
(17:46):
are you ready?
If you're ready, great, we'removing forward.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Right, and that's very different as a follow-up
call than a cold call.
But a lot of agents don't haveall of those people calling them
or calling their office, and sothey have to resort to making
cold calls.
And I know that works for somepeople but, like for me for
example, if anyone calls me on acold call, I immediately
(18:11):
politely tell them I don't docold calls.
I just have zero desire tolisten to any cold call and that
might be a little bit of harshbut it just doesn't jam with me.
I want to talk to people,relationships, and so what do
the people do that that you know?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
how did you get all those people calling your office
is the key, because a lot ofagents don't have that happening
yeah, well, this is a long timein the making and you know I
have 50 plus thousand people inthe database, that at one point
how'd you get them from listings?
Right, and how'd you get themFrom listings?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Right.
And how'd you get the listingsright?
Because which comes first?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
There's a variety of ways networking my reputation
Back in the day, like a longtime ago.
Calling expires.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
There you go.
That's something that-.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Marketing, google marketing, mailers, so a lot of
people.
You know it's the attraction ofthe business, so I know people
think like oh it's just like I'mcalling like circle prospecting
around, like listing we don'tdo that.
We have so many people to callbecause they have reached out at
some juncture or in past.
(19:24):
Clients that repeat investorbusiness, right.
So there's so much opportunitythat's there.
I know many people don't havethat, but this is what I, this
is what I've been able to buildover the last 20 years, and so
there's many people already forthe new agents to like come in
and call.
So if they're already gotten,like you know, for years
(19:45):
marketing things for me, oh,motivation Monday, right, like a
happy message of like,inspiration or aspiration.
It's not a lot of, it isn'teven real estate stuff, right,
so they get to know the brandand so then when the call is
made, it's like an easier callthan like.
Of course, some people are like, yes, but most people are like
(20:07):
oh, those calls I coulddefinitely make.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's a warm call, that's calling somebody that's
in my database or my past clientor past.
You know inquiry, it's the coldcalls that I don't do.
But the key is, like what yousaid it's from 21 years and so
what I deal with mostly is newagents.
That's just what I attract,partially because of my students
and partially it's just what Iattract is new agents.
(20:32):
I love working with new agents,but they need to get started.
It's like this ball of yarn andyou can't find the beginning of
the thread to like, pull andstart knitting your sweater.
That's what they need help with.
Because you did it right, youdid it, you found that beginning
, you found that and you started, and I know you came from sales
, but in real estate you startedfrom nothing and look what
(20:53):
you've built Right.
And now you're in this positionwhere, yes, the follow up and
yes, the calls, and it makes alot more sense, or I shouldn't
say sense.
It resonates with me more thatyou're following up with people.
But what about the new agentsthat are out there?
They don't even know.
I know plenty of agents.
If they had a database of50,000 plus people, they would
(21:16):
be on the phone 12 hours a day.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, lots of business out there.
It's a matter of how you wantto do it, but I do.
I always say, like two newagents, we have new agents here
and I said, every settlementstarted with conversation.
So you need to haveconversations with people, I
don't care how you have them,but the more you can have, the
quicker you're going to getmomentum, and the cadence I look
(21:45):
at is like 20 conversations aday.
I know that might seem like alot, but to build that business
and have like two transactions amonth, if you do 20
conversations a day with peoplethat you know, maybe at one
point raise their hand, you havea greater propensity to make it
, and it's hard to make it thesedays, so it's a matter of you
(22:10):
can do networking, you can docalling, you can do door
knocking, you can do all kindsof things.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Social media the thing is, with social media,
though, it can work After youhave a little bit of success,
people want to see that you'reactually doing something first,
you know, and I think withsocial media they also want to
see or at least I'll speak forme what I want to see on social
media, because when I see thejust listed or just closed posts
(22:38):
, I just scroll right past them.
What I want to see isrelationship, personality, story
.
It's no, it's the.
It's the agents that have astory or that show who they are
and they do real estate thatcatch my attention, like that's
the side that I veer moretowards and that's something.
Yeah, that's something.
(22:58):
I see some agents strugglingwith.
Yeah, we talk about that.
We actually did a broker classsocial media for brokers.
It was a 30 hour class and wewent over a lot of that stuff in
there about, and it was amazingbecause one student who's a
friend of yours, who you knowwho it is she went through her
social media and she was like,oh my God, my Instagram is all
(23:18):
just listed, just listed, andthere were no pictures of her.
There was nothing about her.
No pictures of her, there wasnothing about her.
And so we did a lot ofworkshopping in that class and
she has been doing some workabout putting her own
personality into it.
And that's the thing is, it allcomes down to relationships.
You're talking about 20conversations a day.
It's like, what are you talkingabout?
(23:40):
You're talking about thingsthat create relationships.
You're building the know, likeand trust factor, and the great
thing is it doesn't have to be aconversation about real estate,
because every single person isa potential client.
Everybody needs a place to live.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Everybody needs a place to live and I know more
about the people that I call andtheir families, where they go
on vacation, where they're goingthis year, who graduated from
college.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You remind me of that scene in Erin Brockovich, the
one when Joy Roberts is standingthere and the lawyer says to
her you don't have files.
And she's like ask me, do youknow which scene I'm talking
about?
And she's like oh my God, youhave to watch it.
I'll find the clip and send itto you.
So she's did you see the movie?
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Okay.
So Julie Roberts is standingthere like with her low cut, you
know whatever, and there's thisattorney, all dressed, with her
hair pulled back and uponperfect lips, and she's like
your files are a mess.
And Julie Roberts says or AaronBrockovich is like, ask me
anything.
And she's like you can'tpossibly remember 600 phone
numbers.
And she goes Johnny Mays do,born in this.
(24:49):
And then she starts reading offall these stats had this
surgery, had this surgery?
Likes to swim, does this?
And she goes it's like the best, and that would be you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
That's funny yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I'm going to send that to you the next time it
comes across my feed.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, you have tag, you you have.
And that's the thing.
It's like people always ask mewell, what do you say to people
and what's your script?
I'm like, well, there's certainthings that you need to ask
people, if they're buying or ifthey're selling.
They're different questions,obviously, I said, but the most
important question is peoplewant to know, is that people
(25:27):
want to be heard.
You know there's like 7% thatare drivers that just want you
to get to the point that therest of them want to be heard,
and so it's developing thatrelationship and rapport with
somebody.
I had a closing this year.
I showed Miss Bonnie at mycomputer with me when I went to
her house Point Breeze, federalStreet 20, forget 2300 something
(25:53):
.
Anyway, I said Miss Bonnie, doyou know how many times we spoke
on the phone over the last fiveyears?
She said no.
I said well, I called you 121times.
Oh my God.
I just listed a property inFairmount on Meredith Lois.
We called Lois in the lastmaybe six months, 39 times.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Because you don't get the people on the phone, so you
just dial in and answer.
You don't always leave themessage.
Depend on the person.
This lady, she's 82.
I'm not leaving her a messageevery time I call.
Right, I'm going to catch her.
When I catch her she's likebusy.
She's winding down her businessat 82.
God bless her a littlewhippersnapper right but, the
(26:41):
point is is like all aboutdeveloping that relationship
with people, and when they'reready, they're ready, and
sometimes I'll say, look, Idon't want to be a pain in the
ass.
So you know, can you just tellme when I should call you back,
because I'll touch base with youthen.
Well, we're not going to doanything, maria, until 2026.
(27:02):
Probably this spring.
Cool, I'll touch base with youin the fall around the holiday
time.
Let's see how you're doing.
Wish you a happy holiday.
I'll talk to you then have agreat summer have a great fourth
A lot of people are nervous tomake these calls.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
but what you're saying resonates because two
things One, what you're sayingis my thought of sales as
service sales, as problemsolving.
Right, when you approach it inthe way that you're there to
help them.
You're there to listen, askquestions, listen, see what they
need and come up with asolution.
Be the solution right.
(27:37):
Use the tools in your tool belt.
And sometimes it's listingtheir property, sometimes it's
telling them to get a fill loanso that they can fix the leaky
roof and they don't have to moveright.
So when you approach it assales as service sales, as
problem solving, it's easier topick up the phone because you're
not coming with that salesy,pushy vibe.
And the other thing is whichpeople don't really talk about
(27:58):
that much or talk about enoughis what do we get from the
relationship?
What do we get from thoseconversations?
Because those conversationslight me up.
I just talked to one of my pastclients the other day.
We're getting ready to listtheir house in in the fall and
they moved out to the suburbsand they're renting out their
house and I had a 20 minuteconversation with her about
(28:22):
gardening and cleaning out thepool and how different it is,
and it was just such a greatconversation and we don't talk
about that enough and I thinkthat would agents paid attention
to that, about how fulfillingit is not just to get the sale.
They would be more apt to geton the phone and make those
calls.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, it's the developing of the relationship
over time.
So when they are ready, you arethe person that they call hands
down.
And if you did not and here'sthe thing, and I don't get every
single one right If you in themeantime provide value right,
provide inspiration, aspiration,be a real person.
(29:01):
Nobody wants to hear you know.
A recited script.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Nobody.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
At any given time.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And who would want to be the person making those
calls.
That's what I'm saying.
It's not just about the deal.
It's like when we pick up thephone or bump into somebody or
talk to somebody, that's thecashier at the pharmacy and we
start.
I'm genuinely interested inpeople.
I'm going to tell you a quickstory, because this is exactly
(29:28):
what I love about this businessand this life.
I was in an Uber months ago andthe funny thing is I hardly ever
take Ubers.
I ride my bike everywhere.
But this day I forget why I hadto take an Uber and I took an
Uber.
I get in the Uber and I starttalking to the driver and it
turns out it was like aWednesday, it was like a Friday
(29:49):
and I had a new pre-licensureclass starting on Monday.
We started talking and the nextthing, you know, she tells me
she wants to get a real estatelicense.
Do you know?
She was signed up and in myclass by Monday and she's signed
up with my agency and she's oneof my.
Like it turned into that from aconversation with an Uber
driver.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I 100% believe it.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
It's the most amazing thing, and that's to me that is
the art of allowing, Becausewhen you put it out there that
you're just genuinely interestedin people and you just want to
talk and you want to connect,magic happens.
And I didn't have to advertisefor her to come through my
school, I didn't.
You know, it's just therelationship thing.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
It's just a relationship thing, a hundred
percent.
It always comes down to that,you know, and I think today it's
even more important to havethose strong relationships,
whether it's you know partners,whether it's partners, whether
it's colleagues in the industry,it's just internally in your
office and the world's going alittle bit nuts.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I just don't look, I can't even.
I'm in a bubble down the shore.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Well, the bubble is not here.
So even just clients people arewhy is my house not sold?
Well, because houses don't sellin five minutes.
That's why houses take fourmonths to sell.
We're in pretty much an evenmarket now.
So you know, in most markets,in Philadelphia metro market,
we're pretty much in an even,except for some small pockets.
You know, like up on the mainline but for the most part we're
(31:21):
pretty much in an even, exceptfor some small pockets.
You know like up on the mainline but for the most part we're
pretty much in an even market.
So it does take longer and Ithink that you know also telling
people up front the expectationof like the future pace and an
(31:42):
agent Look, you're not going tolearn this business in six
months or a year, it's like afour year, like you're going to
college.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Right, I'm still learning.
I always learn something newevery day.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Every day, every day.
So you have your real estate.
School is rocking and rolling.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, well, we're on summer break.
I have I took and this is I amso glad I did this and I missed
out on some connections withpotential students who wanted to
take summer class, but I reallyneeded a reset.
I really needed to just sort oftake some space and build some
things and put my back togetherand put my life back together
(32:27):
and next class I don't teachagain until October.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, I took the whole entire semester.
Bless you, except for CE.
I'm doing a few CE classes forGPAR.
I just added some CE classes,but I think the first CE class
I'm starting is in September, soI took the whole summer off.
Awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Awesome.
Good for you and your cohort.
You have 10, 11 in there, yeahthey're like 11.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
And so how does that?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
work.
Do they?
They're in real estate schoolor they're in?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
training.
So all of them have finishedschool and a few of them have
passed their state exam andbecome licensed and the rest are
in the process of passing theexam and they're all signing up
with settle down.
So we've been doing a lot oftraining company events.
We did a big photo shoot theother day for our website, so as
soon as their license comes inthey'll go on the website.
(33:21):
So we did a reunion.
It's just the greatest group ofpeople.
So we're doing that and theyall work together.
And, um, I hired or brought onanastasia duan.
I don't know if you know her,but she came on and she's going
to be working with them as thehead of agent success.
So it's the two of us and she'sgoing to be the day-to-day and
(33:42):
we're just building somethingreally amazing.
It's the cool, it's just magicwhen you see how this group I
don't even know where they camefrom and we're just building
something really amazing.
It's the cool, it's just magicwhen you see how this group I
don't even know where they camefrom and their stories are
always like oh, I was going towait to start school, but then I
clicked on something andsomething and they ended up in
the right place at the righttime, and now it's just this
amazing group that's so cohesive.
(34:02):
I've never had such an amazinggroup before.
It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
It's all about what we attract.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
All about what we attract.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
That's not.
That's what it comes down to.
That's what it comes down to.
So real estate is still a goodcareer, right?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Absolutely.
It doesn't matter what themarket is If you approach it as
a people business.
If we're not in the business ofhouses, we're in the business
of people, and if you approachit as a people business, you're
always going to be fine alwaysthere is a ton of business out
there.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
In fact, most people are not willing to do the work
that we were always willing todo and, and you know, I'd say
the market over the last 10years was very different than
the market 10 years before that,20 years before that.
So you get into a differentcadence and you have to adjust.
(35:00):
So for us, you know, it's thesame thing.
I like routine, I'm a routinekind of person.
So you know, that's why, like,getting out of my routine, as I
was telling you, has been goodfor me.
Stepping out of like the samething I do and taking a little
bit of a different approachfeels it's good, although it,
(35:24):
which sounds weird, right, like.
But I think that that's whenyou're, when you do things that
are different and uncomfortablefor you.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
That's when you can like expand yeah, it shifts
because it shifts your mindsetand if you go, if you, if you go
back to the beginning, which isthoughts become things.
How can you have new thoughtsif you're doing the same thing
every day?
One of my best, quickestsecrets to making stuff happen
(35:55):
is to declutter one shelf ordrawer, because when you do
something like that that's why Ilove this magic of watching my
house come back together andputting this kitchen in right.
I'm living in chaos.
I'm washing dishes in mybathtub, I'm sitting at my
dining room table, which ispushed up against the wall.
My house is filthy.
There's a worker I love him todeath in my kitchen right now,
(36:16):
next to me, finishing up things.
But I love it because everyminute that I watch something
happen, it shifts my mindset, itchanges things for me and new
thoughts come in.
If I walked in one day and itwas just completely done, then
it's like it hits you all atonce and it's great, but then
that becomes your new normal,whereas constantly changing and
(36:37):
I'm someone who doesn't likeroutine at all.
I like to be constant.
I feel very stagnant and flat.
It makes me almost feel toxicwhen I'm in too much routine,
like round hug day.
I'm the opposite, and that'swhere new ideas come in.
If you're feeling stuck,literally go declutter one
drawer.
You declutter one drawer andall of a sudden the whole world
(36:58):
will open up, your brain willshift and new ideas will start
to come, like that, and thenyou'll declutter another door
and another and the next thingyou know you're doing a closet.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
That's great.
You know, I always get my bestideas in the shower.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Absolutely.
It's because you're notthinking.
It's like a meditative stateAnytime that you can empty your
brain and meditate the bestideas.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
You know, my bike, my bike, my best friend at the
beach is my bike and in the city.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Do you ride in the city?
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I do not.
I'm scared.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I don't blame you.
It's scary, I do it anyway.
But I'm scared and like I don'tlike to put the helmet on and
stuff in the city because youknow I got this hair and Right,
I put the helmet on in the cityand to me, for me, riding is
better than looking for parking,so I'd rather and sitting in
traffic.
But anyway, I get it and NewBright is a perfect place.
(37:47):
Sometimes I just go on bikerides and meander and let my
mind wander.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
It's all about the thoughts become things, and
that's how we expand.
This has been a great episodetoday with you, janice.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
I love chatting with you every time.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yes, awesome and congratulations on your
continued success.
And you every time, yes,awesome and congratulations on
your continued success.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
And you as well.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
Thank you, your real estate company and your school,
and we'll have to check in withyou later in the year to see how
the cohort that's already upand running is doing.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
You'll be seeing them at the settlement table, so
you'll know they're amazing,they're on fire.
These are incredible.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I love it.
I love it and your energy isinspiring, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Have a great day, thanks.
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