Life Behind the Highlight Real

This week William and Sarah Huffman sit down with John Hodnett, a member of their real estate team, A Good Life Group.

In this episode, John chats about his journey before getting into real estate and how much he loves old-school retail. But the big wake-up call was when his marriage fell apart. He never thought he'd be there at that point in his life. That's when he realized that he had the chance to create anyt...

Join us on Life Behind the Highlight Real as we sit down with Carrie Chang, a St. Paul native and CEO of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Carrie's journey as an adoptee and her drive to succeed is a fascinating story of determination and resilience. She shares her childhood experiences, including her love for sports, music, and the saxophone, and her passion for reading The Wall Street Journal at age 13. Carrie al...

Aaron Bourdage is the owner of Northern Fire Grilling and BBQ Supply, a local barbecue shop in Minnetonka. Northern Fire Grilling and BBQ Supply offers everything you need for grilling and barbecue, including meats, seafood, rubs, over 100 sauces, grills, smokers, and heavy equipment for those serious about their grilling. 

Aaron was born in Duluth, Minnesota, but his family moved around a lot, including Colorado and New M...

This episode William and Sarah look at at 2022. A couple of minutes were dedicated to the business, but the majority of this episode was spent diving deep into a health journey they both started 2 years ago. 

Even though they both dislike the thought of working out, they accepted it as a part of their life, with reasons that go way beyond what you may assume.

This is a William and Sarah you may not have known befo...

Mark Neal spent close to two decades building an Ohio sports radio station from the ground up, and today he's going to share the story of how having nothing can be your biggest asset. 

It turns you into a creative, hungry, and hard-working scrapper. 

Which is how he built a young format into a powerful force in his market. 

Did we mention that Mark is also William and Sarah's neighbor? Oh yeah -...

We are nerding out BIG TIME with our buddy David Arbit this week. David is the Director of Research for MAR, Minneapolis Area Realtors. 

He's the guy that makes sense of all of the real estate numbers agents use to get you into homes. 

And this guy's passion for numbers goes way beyond Excel. It goes straight to getting people into their dream homes and making our cities strong. 

But before we g...

Dave Lawson returns to Life Behind the Highlight Real to finish up his journey to this point in his crazy life. 

In episode 45 Dave, Will, and Sarah took a deep dive into radio of the past and present. Dave spent over two decades as an on-air personality and talked about how what drove him into the business no longer exists. 

That left no time for thing Sarah was looking for -- how he met his wife...oh, and that b...

Ep 49: A "Compelling and Rich" Conversation with Will's Nemesis,  Matt Wandzel

Matt Wandzel is a real estate agent and bitter enemy of Will Huffman's. 

Even though Matt is a terrific human being, Will can't stand him. 

Why? It all comes out in this episode, along with:

5:45 Growing up in Golden Valley

14:08 Car accident -- no time for the emergency room

...

We are hitting on some heavy life topics today with our friend, Payton Barthel. Payton tells her story of abuse, drug addiction, treatment, relapse, and meeting the love of her life. 

You've already been introduced to Payton's family. In episode 28, we interviewed her mom, Jamie, about teen pregnancy, and her love for Sonic Chili Cheese Dogs. And in episode 2 we interviewed her sister, Jorie. 

Both inter...

Chad Jeske has dedicated his life to helping top-performing real estate agents grow their businesses through Twin Cities Real Producers. 

Chad grew up in Savage, MN. A farm-kid upbringing, and the only boy of five siblings.

Plus the only guest we've had on the podcast that has been shot, burned, and run over by a car -- all before the age of 12

Chad will fill us in on the details, plus we'll get...

Nick Bellmore, a Detroit area native, is a highly successful real estate team leader, but the road to get there was a bit bumpy. 

Rick shares his story of divorce when he was 11, bullied at 12, and kicked out of high school a couple of years later. 

He moves on to working in housing before the age of 18, building homes after graduating, and transitioning to selling real estate after doing the math of how much mone...

This is a part two interview with Kayla Dutton and in this episode, we dive deep into Kayla's struggle to start a family after her husband's near-death accident that left him without sensation from the waist down. 

This was a massive life change at such a young age. Kayla's advice for handling sudden change boils down to 3 things:

1) Family and support system. 
2) Focus on what's important....

Coming up today we have the "man behind the scenes" of Life Behind the Highlight Reel. Whenever you hear us say "Dave, edit that out," we are talking about Dave Lawson of Digital Legend Media. 

But far before Dave started consulting businesses on digital content, he had a long history in radio. 

So we are going to dive deep into Dave's history, including:

• What life was like growing up in the Detroit area
• A ...

This episode explores the past five years of A Good Life Group. The good, the bad, and the hilarious. 

The story begins at the Minnesota State Fair of all places, 5-years ago. The day Will and Sarah were forced to find a new direction. 

And they don't hold back as they share the details of the call and the stress that followed over the next few days. 

Today you will find out how they landed on their business name A Good Life Grou...

Victoria and Sarah met while working at JC Penny in Coon Rapids and have been friends ever since. 

Born in California and stayed there for a whole six weeks before moving to Minnesota. 

After her dad got arrested (details in the podcast) at the University of Minnesota, the family was forced to regroup which included sneaking out of Minnesota in the middle of the night. 

Later in life, Victoria's drea...

Sarah met Artemisa met after both were nominated for Female Realtors of the Year. 

During that ceremony, Sarah realized that she knew nothing about the other nominees, so she set up a lunch, and the two have been friends ever since. 

"You can see and experience people online, but until you meet them in person, it's different."

Artemisa is a heavy hitter in the real estate industry selling 300 homes last year. 

300. 

...

Born in Wisconsin but raised in Minnesota, Alex Maeckelbergh wanted to carry on the family tradition of education by becoming a teacher. But that changed shortly after going to college when she realized it wasn't for her. 

"I love kids, love them to death. But doing it for a career was a very different story. And now having kids of my own, I cannot imagine. God bless teachers who are parents as well."

So the search was...

Ed Kaiser is General Counsel for RE/MAX Results, the guy that deals with all of the legal stuff that affects our industry. 

Beyond that, Ed is just an interesting dude. 

He's a Duluth native, a former athlete with big dreams, and a man that met his wife at a restaurant that haunts Sarah (guess which one?)

Today we get Ed's story and uncover some nuggets that we never knew about the man. Nuggets that make a guy with such a se...