EP. 45: How to Build a $100M Real Estate Business

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
thank you guys for tuning in.
I want to give a shout out toour sponsors for this episode.
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Uh, vit construction, uh, gus,vit.
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(00:29):
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(01:10):
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He's a high integrity guy.
He's got a great team aroundhim and they do some really high
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(01:32):
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Thank you so much.
Welcome to Northwest ArkansasInvesting Podcast, episode 46.
We have Mike Dooley here withus, brian Wagers, our new
co-host as of a few episodes agoand then Brandon, still back
from the parking lot fromepisode 44, trying to close a

(04:02):
deal.
He's back here in his fullgreatness.
Mike, we're really happy tohave you on.
Thanks for taking time out ofyour busy schedule to be here.
I just wanted to.
You know we keep it reallyrelaxed on here, but I love from
meeting you like I love yourmindset on all things business
beyond just real estate, and Iknow you've dove into a bunch of
different facets of businessand so I love your story.

(04:25):
I love everything you're aboutand your entrepreneurial mind,
and so I'd love to dive intothat here and first just give us
a 30,000-foot perspective ofwhat you do, what your roles are
right now.
I know you've got a lot ofplates spinning.
Could you do that?

Speaker 2 (04:40):
for us.
I might need to bring myassistant in here to help me
with my jobs.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
But actually I want to know about episode 44.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Did he close the deal ?
Is he allowed back in thepodcast, if he?

Speaker 1 (04:49):
actually closed the deal, is he?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
still negotiating.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
If he tries to meet me down here at my phone, is
that closed?

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Hey if it's a good deal maybe you should present it
here.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Maybe we'll swoop in.
Is, is it?
A lock or is it half locked?

Speaker 4 (05:03):
It's half locked.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'recompeting right now, so we'll
see what happens.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Brandon sweat bullets right now.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
If you're in the podcast, if it's half lock
negotiating, you should be theone to get it done.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
Do you need to?

Speaker 2 (05:15):
provide some tips, we'll get some tips on here.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
This is what we're going to talk about.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
No, but today I actually just started December 1
.
I've got to get my title right.
I created my own title.
Basically it's like you've gotto make it easy.
It needs to be like sales bossor something, but it's not that,
it's a director of strategicgrowth.
So I have Keller Williams 28offices.
I think we have 7,000 agents infive states.

(05:40):
That's incredible.
So it's just pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
What was your title right before?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
that.
Oh, and here's the thing you'lllearn with real estate and
businesses, you don't ever getrid of that title.
You still have that job too, noI mean the job I do here in
Northwest Arkansas is chairmanof Keller Williams.
So I think we have 350 agentstoday, seven offices.
We are in Oklahoma too.
They always remind me.
I always say Keller Williams,northwest Arkansas.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
They're like we're in Oklahoma too, what spot in
Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Still well, okay, yep .
So we have about eight, eightagents there, so doing good.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
So dive us into a couple of your other things.
I know you got some other stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
The easy sign is a patented which I didn't know.
I don't know about you guys.
I was like, oh, this is awesome.
Like Shark Tank, I got a patent, I got an idea.
You know, you don't get itright away.
It takes like 18 months laterand you're like, how much am I
still spending every hour?
It's like, oh my gosh, it'slike you could still not get
your patent.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
That's the crazy part .
There's money in the patent, Iguess that's to your point.
Shark Tank, that's like why oneof that's a lot of that you
know.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
equity, I guess up front you know one is a patent
pending just basically means,and you submitted the form, you
don't actually have anything.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
And I was like oh, you learned, you learned time,
you know so really you don'tever hear those kevin or larry.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
He's like patent pending.
Tell me more.
You know they want to know.
Do you have it?
Which is cool, so interesting?
So that's the easy sign.
Right, and I'll tell you.
Originally I invented that.
I went, I bought our buildingand I know I got our list.
I'm gonna get into somecreative financing and stuff so
I got some for you hopefully.
Yeah, but our Bentonvillebuilding and there was 400 of
these wood signs and if you'rein real estate you know it's
like they're everywhere.

(07:14):
Yeah, the dudes never gonna usethat sign ever again.
It's like it's falling over,like get rid of it.
You know, I mean dump.
So we invented that to make itthe Kia sign, basically.
Not that I wanted to think,like you know, not that a Kia is
, but cheap or it's reallystable, right, but you can fit
30 on the same footprint thatyou can have one wood one.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Hey, brandon has a Kia, don't be hating on that.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah right, that's as best as it can be, kia's always
looking at you Sorry foroffending the Kia guy.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I'll just say a fun thing too that I love about what
you guys are doing in realestate and all that stuff.
I actually just had a lunchwith someone that I admire and
is awesome and made a greatliving.
But if you think about whatwe're doing, we have no ceiling.
And I think that's the coolpart too, where someone said,
hey, join our company, join ourteam, do that, you can be an
owner here.
All right, well, well, tell memore you know.
So I did start out as fivepercent and 10 and 15, so now I

(08:08):
own about half of kellerwilliams, northwest arkansas
that's which is cool.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
You know how many agents is that we were actually
just talking about, like whyit's so important to have sales
as a skill, life skill, you know, when it comes to investing,
when it comes to brokering,these guys killed it last year
at a very young age.
You know the top what top.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
We're both in the top 50.
Brandon sold to almost 22 and ahalf million, I sold 20, so I
mean 4,000 agents.
You said about that somewherein that right?
How many?

Speaker 3 (08:36):
are it and the Keller Williams 353 or?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
something, yeah, yeah .

Speaker 3 (08:40):
So there's 10% yeah, there's such a huge mark I mean
relative.
There's always that you got tolook at the market share.
The thought market share is 10%.
Yeah, there's such a huge.
I mean relative.
There's always that you got tolook at the market share, the
total market share.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
One, I think I'm like 10, you kind of get excited,
but then you also go wait aminute, 90% of the other
business is not done by you.
Yeah Right.
So there's a little bit of thatwhere I go.
Okay, I'm working on myfive-year goals for our
organization and I'm like, hey,percent market share, what does
that look like?
Wow?

Speaker 3 (09:01):
yeah, what's your objection to that question too?
Because we're talking about,hey, you know, 4 000 agents.
That's too many.
I better not be a common agent,like what I actually don't
think.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
I actually think we can.
We can have more because thinkabout, in some ways, though I
always say there's really about100 really doing anything, 20
million, 22 million you startgoing through the list, you know
, you start going through who'sreally doing the units.
I mean, my wife should reallybe on this podcast.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
She did my 80 deals last year.
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
She doesn't want me to get her number, but it's like
$41 million.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
You want a house by the lake.
I just started calling herbecause of our relationship.
She's like, oh damn.
I was like yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
But I think too when I think about her.
For instance, she's really goodat follow-up, staying in
process, project management, andit's like I'm not good at that.
So I think once you figure outtoo and something I would tell
you guys in general is just atlunch I always go- oh, you know
what?
Warehouse.
I'll handle that deal myself.
Here's what happens.
I don't follow up with thepeople.
They get mad at me and it'slike, hey, aren't you this big

(10:02):
star?
And I'm like, well, I'm notreally good at owning something
end-to-end I've actually neverdone a real estate transaction
end-to-end ever.
Some people have the school ofthought that says, oh, you need
to go through the 200 tasks toclose a home.
I've actually never done it.
I hired a transactioncoordinator day one, even before
I even had those licenses.
That's smart.
I was like, wait a minute,you're $275 or $300, whatever it

(10:24):
was, you're going to do mydeals from now on Well worth it.
Now in our organization we havesalaried people, which is just
awesome.
That's what they love doing andthey're really good at.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Why am I going to do?

Speaker 2 (10:39):
that I'm going to screw it up.
I'm going to do a $10 milliondeal and then actually go to
closing all the way with all thepaperwork, all the mortgage
documents, all the titledocuments, all the paperwork.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
So there's 200 tasks is what we say to close a home.
Sounds like a due diligencetask list 100%.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, and people forget that.
They usually do just seeclosing.
They maybe see a little bit ofmortgage stuff, but somebody
actually making sure you'recompliant that we're not
actually going to jail either.
That's why I'm like hey ifthere's a risk for me to do that
, I'm not doing that.
So I've never done it.
But there's some school ofthought that says you should
know everything about it.
I actually don't agree withthat because it's like, hey, you

(11:18):
drive your car now but youdon't know how the engine was
put together.
You don't know how the tailpipewas put on.
My dad would say you shouldknow how to change the oil.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
I'm like there's $17.99 places I can just pull up
.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Jiffy.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Lube hey, seven minutes later.
You're like see you later.
Yeah, it's like someone saidyou should learn how to file
your own taxes.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
No, thank you.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
You should have a good title company, you should
have a good contractor.
You know, yeah, you might beable to bring some stuff
in-house, but at the same timeit's going to limit you.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
For sure.
I think that's the mostimportant business tip that you
know I've learned over the lastfew years is to focus on the
things that you're the best atand that you know produce the
most for you or anybody aroundyou.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Who not how 10x is easier than 2x.
Yeah, I mean, I think those aresome great books.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
I was just going to throw out 10x versus 2x and I
love it.
I'm actually doing again anaudible.
I read it the first time.
Yeah, If you think about thattoo, so it's like, all right,
you both did 20.
It was awesome, yeah, what if Idid one warehouse that was 20
million.
That'd be insane.
And someone's like, well, howdo you do that?
Well, warehouses are sellingevery day.

(12:25):
You're just not doing them.
You know what I mean so you justthink about it too, it's like,
well, $10 billion.
If you really think about it,so we're 10% market share, so we
just hit a billion.
So how much other business wasdone by somebody else?
If you think about it?
So you're asking about the4,000 agents.
I think there's always room formore people and more talent,

(12:45):
and what you guys are doingchallenging it too.
I'll tell you, when I started,nobody was over 50 million.
This was like a team or anindividual when I first started,
so like 2016, 17.
Then you started seeing peoplelike us.
I was like my goal is 100million.
No one's ever done that for 20years or whatever.
But you had to realize I guesssome of it too.

(13:09):
There's amazing great agentshere.
But I had to go outsideNorthwest Arkansas to see what
people were doing in Scottsdaleand Miami and Tampa and these
places.
Some of them are doing $2billion.
These are teams, not evenbrokerages.
So then back to 10x versus 2x.
You go wait a minute.
I thought I had a big businessor a big organization.
You start going well, notreally.
Go wait a minute.
Yeah, I thought I had a bigbusiness or big organization.
You start going well, notreally, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
These are teams doing that.
Yeah, I think that's prettycrazy when you think about it,
that's nuts I mean, I think whatand I didn't watch it for the
drama, but ryan serhan orwhatever in new york I want yeah
, sir he has a really good booktoo.
I watched the netflix thingbecause, like, I had to skip
through parts because it's a lotof drama.
But I'm like, oh my gosh,they're saying $100 million,

(13:49):
it's $10,000.
For sure, and so a lot of whatyou did.
It's just like okay, people inNorthwest Arkansas were just
maybe a little behind.
They need to open theirceilings up.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Well, some of it we weren't on the radar.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
I mean 2016, the average price was 200 grand.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, now we're 450, you know 425, depending, so
think about it.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
I used to watch that show when I was getting into
sales, like to get me hyped up,like doing exactly what you were
talking about.
Oh yeah, this $25 millionpenthouse and just and then they
would flash to the commissionon that and it was Like man and
they're like wheeling anddealing and such a such a
motivating thing for for salesand especially for real estate.
But I wanted to talk aboutBrandon and Zach's answer to

(14:30):
that same question.
Brandon was like the bar islower, like you know, especially
in the service industry.
Like if you get really good atsomething, like you can, you
know there might be 4000 peopledoing it, but how many people
are getting after it and gettingreally good at it?

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Yeah, I mean people with high integrity and people
that do what they say they'regoing to do.
There's not many, basicallyanybody.
You know I've got a lot ofbuddies that will say they want
to be in a certain industry orwhatever.
They want to go off and dotheir own thing in a certain
industry here in North CoastArkansas, certain industry here
in North-East Arkansas, and Itruly believe I mean, and I
think it's when you get out intothe business world you see that

(15:06):
there's an abundance ofopportunity for people that are
willing to get after it andprovide value to people.
And so I mean, yeah, just likein our businesses and real
estate, there's plenty of peopleinvesting, there's plenty of
people selling real estate.
But to do it at a high level, Ithink takes high integrity, it
takes just kind of getting afterit.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Honing your craft.
You guys are doing it now.
I mean it's actually brilliant,because it's like bring people
on, tell me all your greatsecrets.
Okay, great, let me write allthose down.
Episode 46, I just learned from46 other people how amazing and
how they're top 1%, becauseyou're not going to get in a
podcast and say, trust me, weneed like 17 pages of all the
things I've failed.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
I want to make sure I say that too you don't want no
one to listen to and just go oh,it was easy.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, but how great is it?
Most of the time on podcasts,you're getting their top five
ideas top five awesome thingsgoing.
Great, I like that.
I like that.
Yeah, so I would.
People aren't willing to honetheir craft.
We were just talking aboutyou're at your home gym you
could sleep in.
You're waking up at 4 am towork out at 5.
Well, your body is the biggestthing, obviously, your mind and

(16:12):
learning.
We're talking about reading 20,30, 50 books.
Well, the other 4,000 peoplearen't doing that.
That's the difference, I thinktoo, is they're honing their
craft and themselves.
Because I had a boss say know alittle bit about a lot, yeah,
so think about this If someoneflies in to they're from
Bangladesh somewhere and they'relike, hey, I want to buy a $40
million warehouse, and it's like, well, what's made there?

(16:34):
Well, hats, actually is areally big thing.
So you know a little bit abouta lot?
Yeah, well, you can helpyourself bridge the gap to build
a relationship to going.
Okay, I read in a book.
Or I know one time outdoor cap,whoever it is they got their
cash for $4.73 there inBangladesh.
Well, now I connect the dotswith someone too and I can build
a relationship.
I think that's why you read andthat's why you do it.

(16:55):
You're like, oh, you noticethey have a shirt or a brand.
You're like Patagonia, theygive away.
What is it All December?
I think all their proceeds goaway to charity.
When you think about thosethings, that's connecting the
dots and that's where I thinksales, the salespeople, that are
the pros, like you guys.
It's like, hey, you can be good, but the 10x versus 2x, you're
only going to work a little bitharder.
You're going to 20 millions.

(17:17):
You're ceiling forever.
Yeah, you guys.
Two, three billion dollars,there's no ceiling for you.
You're young too, you knowright, I'm kind of like crap.
I wish I was a little bityounger.
That's why I wanted to be onepisode 48, because I'm 48.
Can you bring me?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
back.
Yeah, yeah, we could, we couldflip some more.
That's a great point you made.
Brandon and I and brian and Iwe've talked about and even when
isaac was on here uh, isaacjohnson, we were saying I was
like we started this.
I like I don't even really knowwhat direction it's going to go
, but I do know this it's beenable to involve us in a sphere

(17:50):
of people that we typicallywouldn't be able to be involved
with.
I'm able to provide you with 10social media clips for yourself
, with some other stuff, and say, hey, can we go on and pick
your brain, if anything?
We're like and we've seenthrough episode, episode 1
through 48.
We have created new sphereswithin just by having a podcast.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
It's like I'm not making, I mean we're losing
money doing this, doing thisright now but, like currently
currently, we can't wait to talkabout our sponsors later.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Thank you, guys very much uh, but it it allows you to
intermingle with people thatyou typically wouldn't be able
to.
I want to go back, just so youcan go.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
I want to pause one second.
This is why Brandon wanted thispodcast.
So then, that way he can makenegotiations and he gets me or
he gets someone else he's likehey, remember you on my podcast,
I want to move up the list.
Multiple offers.
He's like yes, we're pickingyour offer.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
This is brilliant.
I knew you were smarter than me.
It's not just a podcast, it's asocial media page Instagram,
NWA, Investing Podcast on Instaand then website coming soon.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Of course, yes, I wanted to go.
You said 2016, 2017, correct?
Was that when you started withthe Colorado Williams?
How did that even?

Speaker 2 (19:00):
come to be.
So Valentine's Day, 2016.
Okay, I didn't know we weregoing to talk about this.
Let's cancel the show now.
Nine years ago, yeah, so I'mactually going my ninth year,
which is crazy, and I still feellike I'm one of the new guys.
Really, if you really look atit, you know, which is just wild
.
So I was about to turn 40 in2016.
We were about to have oursecond kid, okay, and I said,

(19:21):
hey, I told Cody, I said I'mgoing to tell my kids and every
kid and everyone be whoever youwant to be, you could be awesome
, no ceiling and dad has aceiling.
I'm at a job which is a goodjob.
It was good, though it wasn'twhat we're talking about.
It wasn't great, it wasn't goodto great, it wasn't all that
stuff.
I said I'm going to be 40.
This is not going to be my life.
I want to do somethingdifferent.

(19:42):
And I listened to a podcast orYouTube or something that said
the top 1% 24% of theirportfolio is in real estate.
Wow, so wait a minute, there'ssomething to this you think
about now, fast forward.
you think about all the taxsavings, all the things you can
give, you can do, and all thewealth building.
But I would not trade it forthe world.
I would just tell everyone allthe time I love this industry, I

(20:02):
love what we're doing.
Every day I'm like a new dealor a new thing.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
I'm like wait a minute just so you know my wife
hates me for this, because everytime I say I could buy that
it's like a hundred milliondollars, I can figure out a way
to put a group together.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's the cool part, I think, is that there's no
ceiling to your mind either.
I'm always like I can figurethat out, we can make it happen.
It's always a yes, so I gotinto it, though my father-in-law
is an amazing builder here,mark Smith Construction.
You probably never listened toa podcast, but still much plug
to him.
He's awesome, he's been buildingfor 50 years and I said, hey,
I'm going to leave my corporatejob and I'm going to get into

(20:38):
real estate.
Would you be interested inmaybe building some specs and
maybe I sell them?
I think he thought Cody wasnever going to let me get my
real estate license.
He was like, sure, we'll havecoffee and do all that stuff.
And I was like I got my realestate license and he was like
basically I was just joking, hebuilds three big houses at a
time, does a great job and it'sa good thing.
We're not probably workingtogether.

(20:58):
But Cody joined two years afterme.
It was kind of funny.
One story to that Wow, CarterClark, awesome guy, whatever,
Wiker, good dude.
Did I say Carter Clark?
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
Carter.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I was thinking Long Real Estate School and then I
got confused.
I was like Brandon Long, but heapproached.
I was like Cody, you'd be greatat real estate, you should get
into it.
I was not in real estate.
I was not in real estate and hebrought it and presented it and
I was like you got all theskills you know, you're a good
listener, all the things youknow.
So she didn't get into it.
But she worked at KimberlyClark and they had layoffs, yeah

(21:31):
.
So she was not laid off, butthey let her do it voluntarily.
I said hey, come sell one housea month.
Yeah, she's like you, sold meone house a month.
I was like I can't help it ifyou're competitive and you want
to win.
But that was kind of our goal.
But yeah, just to get into realestate and I think, when I met
some of the leaders that I'mworking with today, I've only
actually been at Keller Williamsand I just think there's some

(21:52):
amazing other brands out there.
I really do.
I think you have to find yourculture and your home for you.
I don't believe Keller Williamsis for everyone.
I think you're going to find aplace where you like your people
, kind of what you guys aredoing.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm kind of jealous.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
You're having fun, we're actually working right now
, All of us are right and we'rehaving a good time.
But I just think too.
You found a spot where you saidhey, you can own part of this
office, you can maybe own abuilding, you can own hot
springs, you can do all thisstuff.
Do you do that?
Well, I just listened to thatperson.

(22:24):
He said do this, do this, dothis.
And I just followed the steps.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
That's so good.
I did the exact same thing.
What would you say yourknowledge was on real estate
before you made the jump in 2016, 2017?
I thought, about this podcastand I and I love them to death.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
They actually were never.
They were not crazy wealthypeople or whatever, but worked
really hard, really good givers.
My dad actually said when Iwent to Florida State so I'm a
Seminole he said, why don't webuy a townhouse and a friend of
yours will pay the rent and pay,you know, and I'm not paying
for it, basically.
So I bought a townhouse in 1998, which is crazy and I,

(23:05):
literally we bought our land.
So I have nine acres insouthwest Bentonville and I 1031
half of that five acres from mytownhouse in 1998, 1031, and we
just bought it in 2019 to beDooley Farm.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
That's great.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
So it's like the real estate really did follow me
from then.
Wow.
So it's like you know so theluck happened.
That's great.
So it's like the real estatereally did follow me from then.
So it's like you know.
So the luck happened.
You went to Florida State, Idid, and then how did you not
know that we're not all friendsanymore.
I knew it was Florida.
I don't see you doing that.
Everyone knows what a?

Speaker 2 (23:33):
big today.
What a big Razorback.
I am you converted.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
It's hard to keep up with sports period, but I don't
know where I was going with that, so FSU.
Then you got this townhomewhile you were still in college
or this was after college.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
I was still in college, yep.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
And then you 1031'd out of the townhome or you
1031'd into the—.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
So I moved to.
Tampa.
Then I moved to here, alwayshad a tenant in there, so I
didn't sell it until 2019.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
Which is crazy?

Speaker 2 (24:03):
You still own property in Florida, no, but
next is 30A is the next, it isyeah, you know, so we'll put it
out there.
So May 2026, I'm going to buy a30A place, so I'll turn 50.
Yes, so it's all just layingout the goals and just saying
it's kind of funny, I actuallycould have bought it last year.
A lady said I always we ownerfinance, just so you know, if

(24:25):
you ever meet with me, that's myfirst question.
And owner finance is downpayment.
I usually start there it's alittle softer, and then thinking
, oh, like an owner finance thewhole thing, we own or finance a
down payment.
And they always think becausethey don't really know, no one
really understands it.
99, 100% of people don'tunderstand it.
And I was like tell me more,you're still going to get paid,
you're still going to have asecond mortgage on the property.

(24:46):
It's actually a win-win-win forall of us and I wasn't ready
for her to say yes.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
So last year she said yes.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
but then my wife, cody, she was like I'm not ready
yet, so yeah.
So so 20, may 2026, I'm goingto go buy my 50th birthday
present.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Is it going to be that?

Speaker 2 (25:01):
girl, that same girl.
No, no, a different place.
Okay, and it was just through.
An agent met a lady and she waslike I think the days on market
were like eight months, whichis not really long in a luxury
place.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
But still I know it works, see back to, will I buy
it?

Speaker 2 (25:14):
It will work all the time, you know, yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
I like to go back too , because you're in like a
CEO-type role for KellerWilliams.
You know, on here it sayswhat's your biggest lesson
you've learned about leading ateam.
But I'd also maybe start withthat and then maybe give us
something for what's the biggestthing to derail a team and
something that you can do thatcould potentially negatively
affect or something you've seenthat negatively affects your
team as well.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
I'm glad you reminded me that I work at Keller
Williams, right.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
I never do this.
I didn't make sure I do this,I'm just lucky enough to kind of
be the face and hang out.
You know it's like there's alot.
I want to thank everyone thatworks at Keller Williams and all
the places that work with me.
They do all the heavy liftingand all the work all the time
Right, all the crazy schedulesand all that stuff.
So I want to thank them.
Yeah, but if I think aboutteams and I mean I've I've had
if you think of organizations2019, I was not our CEO chairman

(26:12):
.
I think I was just about to bea minority owner to buy 5%, but
I was our largest dual groupteam at Keller Williams.
2019 was probably like a toughtime a little bit for Keller
Williams and just kind ofoversharing some of that.
I think we didn't have localleadership necessarily.
We didn't have.
We were humming along for solong.
I mean, it's one of the largestorganizations in the world.

(26:34):
You know what I mean.
You got a hundred and seventythousand agents.
It's like sometimes you got toa point, too, where I think you
said, let me just put a flag in.
It's like Keller Williams,everyone's going to come.
You know, I think we got to2019, and other disruptor
organizations came in.
We're doing a good job, goodcultures and all that stuff, and
I threw the eye off the ball.
Yeah, so I would.
It's like we probably weren'treading enough books.

(26:55):
We weren't talking about it.
We were just going.
Ah, they're going to list withus because of Raquel Williams.
I think that was a good kick inthe butt actually, for all of
us really, too, to remindourselves too.
Like no, I don't care whatbrand you work at If it's called
Banker Weikert, whoever it is,colliers there's all great
companies out there.
They're actually listing withthe person first.

(27:15):
So I think that's something tothink about, and your brand, too
, can be something that helpsyou or hurts you, and I think at
that time it did Just becausewe weren't humming together, we
didn't have a good culture, weweren't having fun.
What you guys are doing rightnow, I would say too I want to
make sure I don't forget to dothis Any real estate people or
people listening out 8%, 10%,whatever it is the rate, it's

(27:37):
not like people are winning.
I heard you say you got yourfirst the Camden Crossing.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah for Elevate.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
I'm like you forget, I was a Florida State.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
But you have been still grinding every day.
You just didn't have a deal,yeah Right.
So I think that's some of ittoo.
I would just say I think that'simportant with any team is just
to be checking in.
Are you doing quarterlycheck-ins?
Are you doing monthly?
Are you feeling the pulse ofyour organization?
I think whenever you're just ifI was in 30A for a year and I
had no pulse, I better have abackup plan for leadership to be

(28:09):
running it or doing it, not me.
So I think that's something wethink about a team.
I think too many times Iactually attempted to do that I
went to do at one time and Ithink you had other companies, I
had like 11 companies at onetime.
Just so you know.
Do not do that.
And I've said this before.
At one of my staging company, Ihad a mentor say this Whatever
company you have, pick yourthreshold.

(28:30):
So the staging company, so mythreshold number, is if I'm
going to be in any company, Ihave to make $250,000 or more.
If it can't make that quickly,I don't want to be in that
business.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
And I think before 2019.
We talk about that a lot onthis NWA Investing Podcast is
figuring out where your dollarper hour is and hiring that out,
and I think that's yeah, youalready have that Like am I
going to do this new venture?
But that doesn't just come likelike.
You can't start with thatmentality.
You have to work really hard tofind out what you're really
good at and you have to worklike OK, I'm going to do the

(29:01):
things I'm really good at, orI'm going to hire out the things
that aren't my dollar per hour,but you have to like, push it
to the limit to figure out thatwhat your maximum is, and then
then you can start doing that.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
It's a buy box, but for business, yeah.
So I think just knowing, andalso, what do you like?
Well, I don't really know howto decorate.
I'm not a designer.
I just thought I was going toget lead flow on listings, yeah,
and I realized we weren'treally getting.
All we were doing was basicallygiving it away to be able to
get the listing we already had,right, so, if you think about
that.
So what he said, though, ispick your number.
So now, any business, I said,can it's lost too, and I think

(29:34):
you just got to go quicker andjust say OK, let me look at the
P&L, let me look at the people.
Can this person help me get towhere I'm going?

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, and I think that's important Do you see,
with your organization I knowI've seen it with my dad with
owning businesses being andwe've transitioned into
millennial and now we're in GenZ, into this younger workforce
them seeing your face around,workforce, them seeing your face

(30:01):
around Do you feel that's big?
Because I saw my dad would takelong vacations and the
workforce back home would getapathetic because they feel like
they're not around.
They're just big man,overbearing, like.
What's your thought process onthat?

Speaker 2 (30:10):
I think it's a culture and how you hire them.
If you're like, hey, we believein four vacations a year, one a
quarter, you know whatever itis, and you lay that out in the
beginning.
Actually, I think, too, the oldschool way, which I'm kind of
in the bubble, you know, I'm 48,I'm a little bit of both.
I actually show up every day.
I'm actually the first personin the office every day, all the
offices, if you will.
You know, I turn on the lightsand all that stuff.

(30:31):
I could work really fromanywhere, but I like going in.
It's just a system for me.
I think it is nice for peopleto see the person, see the face.
I think it's, you know, and Iget on maybe too much on our
private Facebook groups and I'mlike, hey, I got another idea,
and they're like here's 97 moreideas.
Yeah, and I think about thatfrom a leading a team too.
If you want the leaders, theother people, to lead, sometimes

(30:53):
, though, you just need toprovide the idea or plant the
seed and then pull out.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
There is a balance, I think too, especially if you
don't have a company especiallyfor sales a good, like we were
talking about sales on the lastepisode and a good sale a
company that you're going to dosales for, is not going to get
in your way.
They're going to support you todo what.
Whatever is best for you tomake more sales like that, that
is one of the best companies toget.
For what?
No matter if you're sellingreal estate, whether you're

(31:17):
selling solar panels, logisticsa company that is going to get
out of your way or and not onlyget out of your way you want
someone that's going to supportyou, not someone just say, hey,
give, give me 20 of the checkevery month, but have all the
tools, all the systems.
What you need or what you don'tneed is huge.
And then having a structurelike the structure has to be
incentivized for the person whois investing, who are selling,

(31:40):
where the more work or the moremoney they're putting in it,
it's more incentivized.
Well, you're transactional thenright.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
It's not a relationship.
We're not investing in eachother.
So you were, you were goingdown a good path earlier.
I'm gonna give you credit forthis too.
Now you were saying to knowwhat you're good at.
Yeah, so it's true.
So, also, whenever I work with,it's like what do you want to
bring to the table?
You don't just want to bringsome of your organization.
It's like, hey, we're going todo everything for you.
You're just going to come andbe a number.
No, like, hey, make ourpodcasting better, make our

(32:07):
social media better.
Like, add value.
If someone can go to anorganization, you're brand new
and you can add value and say,hey, I know how to do TikTok
better than anybody, even thoughI don't know how to sell real
estate, but I can show you howto do this and then we can learn
together and we can growtogether.
That's what I think right now,today, if I look at my
organization, our culture, it'sdoing a really good job.
Now I think too, maybe before2019, you didn't have to work as

(32:31):
hard as far as culture Today.
I think you really do.
I wish you really do.
Yeah, you asked about youngergeneration some of that.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
How do you think you got to check in more?
Yeah, and how do you like you?
You went with the face to faceas far as you as a leader.
How do you feel about face toface doing business in northwest
Arkansas?
How do you think that'simportant?
Could I do business on videocalls all day, or do you think
it has more weight?
You know being more in face.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
I think it's a mix.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we'reyounger generation, sometimes
too quick to text.
Sometimes I did 97 texts.
I could have done a four-minutecall.
Understood where you're at, youknow, because sometimes some
texts I read I'm like they'repissed and then he's like
high-fiving me later.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
I'm like I'm confused .
He might be talking about meright now For sure, yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
I think that's something.
And two, you don't know whatthe other person's going through
the world.
I mean, I get like 100 texts anhour almost.
I have ungodly amount of texts,yeah.
So I have to skim it reallyquickly to try to respond or try
to get at somebody or move.
Yeah.
So sometimes if you don't havetime to really read something
and you send me like 97paragraphs, I think it's
something else.
I'm a three bullet point person.
Yeah, three bullet points.

(33:39):
That's all you know what I mean.
And then if I need to digdeeper, do that.
I think that makes informationflow easier.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
It's an art form it really I feel like it's an art.
It's not a science.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yes, for the record.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
See like I'm a bullet person?

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, I think that for me and what I see in my
business, it's who am I talkingto?
Do they need a phone call?
Or it's some person that's like, hey, if I get on the phone
with them, it's going to be 15minutes that I can't get off
Like I will purposely, you know,I'm not going to say who these
people are.
I will purposely not answer andbe like hey, I'm in a meeting,

(34:16):
but I'm just driving orsomething.
I need you to text me, and thentheir 15 minutes just got
condensed to three bullet points.
And then sometimes it's theinverse, where I'm like this
person is going to text me allevening.
I just need to be like dude,just what, what, what's up?
Tell me, tell me right now.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
I love.
You said that we had an agent.
Actually that was just likewhere's my time?
You're talk about dollar perhour.
They did a 30-day study oftheir time and they looked
through and they were spendinglike 50 percent of their time
just talking with agents, notreally about the deal.
It's like, hey, we already havethe deal.
And then it was still like, oh,did you see?
Let's see whatever you know theRazorback game, whatever and
it's like they really lookthrough their time study, yeah,

(34:51):
and they spent all their timejust talking more.
You already had therelationship.
It's not like you're buildingrelationship either.
Yeah, I think that's somethingto think through.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
I'm big on email, like I like being able to go
back on it and I like to be ableto execute.
Like I'll leave that unreadunless and someone called me,
you have the risk of it goinglong or I'm in the middle of
something else.
I could have be having tendifferent conversations and
email for, and I can only behaving one to one conversation.
Yeah, when you're on the phoneand sometimes that needs to be
had you know, complex talks youknow, but sometimes complexity

(35:20):
you need to have that on emailtoo to go back.
So there isn't any telephonegame or anything like that.
But I think texts are good too,so you can get that thought out
.
But sometimes phone calls youneed to.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
I mean if let's say you're a seller and I need to,
I'm calling you.
You need to hear my voice andit not be like, hey, I'm sending
you an offer and it's like,okay, if there's other offers
that come in, there's nopersonal connection, that ever
happened.
And so being strategic aboutlike in real estate sales and
just sales in general, like whenyou make the phone call, I'm
going to do it at the start.
If we're at a pain point, I'mcalling you, I'm blocking you

(35:52):
know I call it blocking theexits.
I'm going to make sure you'rehearing my voice when it comes
to blocking exits.
Now, when it comes to theintermediary, like paperwork and
stuff like that's TC, that'stitle, like call them, but
making sure you're hearing avoice on potential pain points,
I think is is really good.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Especially when you're first starting a
relationship to like you'refiguring out how each other work
and how you get get smootherand you're building that
relationship, you're buildingthat trust and making sure it
gets across.
And I just thought that's sointeresting, the face-to-face,
because in NWA it is reallyinteresting seeing Mike.
I'm going over for coffee and Isee Mike coming up for coffee
for, you know, meeting someoneelse and I think there is power

(36:29):
to that, like you know, seeingNWA people investing with other
NWA people.
Yes, we might get in some outof state money and that can
almost be a complaint frominvestors here, but we still
have power in the localface-to-face meeting.
Seeing each other holding eachother accountable Like I want to
do good on a job for youbecause you're going to have to

(36:50):
see me at the grocery store LikeI mean, that's a whole
different level of pressure tojust being being out there, but
I think it's also fun.
You can sit down with somepeople you do business with too.
But I think NWA still has thatunique dynamic and unique
advantage to the people that aresitting in Northwest Arkansas.
Yes, there's a lot of peoplehere, there's a lot of money

(37:10):
coming here, but you have anadvantage already, and that's
being in tune with the marketand that's having feet on the
market and being able to be inthe same room as someone and
face to face.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Of course we have that small town feel still yeah,
for sure.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
What's funny, you said that I was going to say
real quick, 2024 or no, 2023.
I had coffee at Heroes, a lotor different places, you know,
kind of close to my office, butI realized sometimes I wasn't
giving the person the eye to eye, the face to face Also, because
it's a small town, I might see10 people, I know, and the
meeting was for 30 minutes and Ionly gave them seven Because
you know you're talking to thetable too.

(37:44):
So one thing I was purposefulin 2024, actually, like we had
coffee.
You know I did it in my officeand we're going to have coffee
in my office, so we do it therein the conference room so that
way we can talk.
So I think it's something tothink through.
And one other thing you talkedabout teams anyone listening.
I sent an email it was likeDecember 15th to anyone that
worked for me or worked with me.
How do you want to becommunicated?

(38:05):
And it was funny 17 differentanswers.
But me as a leader, one of thethings is I do text a lot and
sometimes they can't follow thetext.
Now I actually have my textdelete after 30 days 'm.
Actually, if it's not done in30 days and don't text me again,
I don't need it like clean itout, get rid of it if you will.
Yeah, but my executiveassistant was like well, hey,
sometimes I can't follow, Idon't have them saved.

(38:26):
Who is that?
So sometimes she wants thingson email.
Yeah, well, you know what.
It actually might have saved mefour thousand more texts than
just having one email and thenshe could run with it.
Yeah, so that's anyone that'sstarting a team or has a team.
I recommend doing that.
Check in too to say how am Icommunicating, how am I doing?
Now, it might hurt sometimes.
Sometimes when I get thatfeedback, they're like well, you

(38:47):
suck at this, but it's good toknow, because you know what you
might've stopped something frombeing a problem.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
And that's something I wanted to touch on too.
That's something I wanted totouch on too.
I didn't know if it was on here, but we talk about systems a
lot on this podcast too.
When did you make theinvestment into an executive
assistant?
When was that in your journey?

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Probably way early.
My first one was a VA.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
VA.
Yeah, Yep, I think that's wheremost people start VA.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Yeah, I think, why I didn't stay with a VA for that
role for me.
Now I have a lot of VAs in ourorganization, I think.
For me, back to your point,Northwest Arkansas they're like
hey, meet at Springdale?
Well, they were scheduling mefor a meeting.
I might have one in Farmington,I might meet in Bella Vista,
and then later I was back in.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Fayetteville.
I'm like what the heck?
So there's some of that too.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
And sometimes, just knowing the well, you don't send
him a thing.
Call him Dougie, exactly.
So I think there's a little bitof that too.
Where also, where are you goingwhy?
I knew I always wanted to bechairman, or I always wanted to
have those opportunities, sosometimes I invested in myself.
I think that's something tothink about an executive

(39:50):
assistant.
It's like if you have the rightone, you're investing in
yourself.
One of our biggest problems wetalk about team and it's on
there is my wife and I'scommunication.
Sometimes, because I'mtraveling, she's doing real
estate, we've got the kids, wewant to be the super parents or
super people.
It's like, hey, be okay, you'regoing to fail, but let's at
least get it.
So our executive assistantactually just sent us all of
January, not everything we'redoing, but just like the big

(40:13):
stuff hey, going to be in StLouis, got to be here, got to be
there so we can kind of planlike who's doing kid drop off
and that kind of thing.
Well, it gives your brain asense to go okay, we got a plan.
We got our monopoly board forJanuary, if you will.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Let's go into um.
I would love these are allsoftballs right, nothing hard.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
I'm going to jump a little bit.
I'm going to say, becauseyou've touched on it two or
three times on, like how youkeep yourself sharp and
continually growing yourbusiness, and that's that can be
beyond books.
It could.
It could be what you're doingfor workout, what it has, how.
Give us like, a, a quick, likebackground dive into, like how
you keep my dually, continuingto be sharp and everyone around

(40:54):
you're not deteriorating, causeI think it'd be easy to
deteriorate mentally in thisfast pace, but you've built your
foundation up to a point where,like, hey, I have these things
I do.
This is how I stay sharp, thisis how I mentally, physically,
spiritually, like stay on theright path.
So, like, could you?

Speaker 2 (41:10):
write down a little bit of that for us and I'll tell
you 2016,.
When I started no one's doing apodcast, I mean look at you.
Guys started no one's doing apodcast.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
I mean look at you guys, you know what I mean.
We're in a fancy awesome studiomaking it happen.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
So I got to elevate, you know, 1% better every day,
so I'm looking at that all thetime.
So the goals for 2025 is 50books.
That's great.
Well, you know what Say I hit40.
Was that a failure?

Speaker 1 (41:31):
No, that's 40 more books than I've read 20 years
ago.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
So I think that's some of it.
And knowing a little bit abouta lot, I told you guys that.
But always when I'm in my, Ibarely actually listen to music,
which might sound lame.
That's awesome, but I gotpodcasts or I got a book going
or I got.
You know, I'm on calls, so it'salways educating myself and you
know what, when there's stuffto sign up for, I'm going.
Yeah, my, actually, I went to13 trainings and none of them

(41:55):
were here.
Wow, I went to Scottsdale,arizona.
I went to Orlando and I wascontinuing to learn about this
business.
Right now, if you interviewedall 4,000 people to your point,
you just said how many trainingshave you been outside Northwest
Arkansas?
I bet you it's like less than1%, yeah, so, if you look at it,
yes, we do real estate inNorthwest Arkansas, but
someone's doing it differently.

(42:16):
Think about the companiesPicasa, third Home, these other
ones.
If you would have been able tocreate that, you would have done
it.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I actually thatone of the houses that we sold
on the lake.
You know, I actually wasfiguring out a way to be able to
be a one-eighth owner of that.
Well, I would have neverthought about it.
Real estate.
People aren't talking aboutthat.
My wife was in love with thathouse, so I'm like I'm going to

(42:36):
make it happen.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
You know, I'm maybe not going to pay $10 million or
whatever it is, but I might beone eighth of that.
Yes, where?

Speaker 1 (42:41):
most people are going .
Well, that can't happen.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
How can that happen?
Well, it's because I'vetraveled throughout the United
States and I'm learning fromother people, learning about
companies.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
No, and here's the great thing is.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
I actually figured out.
You can actually make money.
I can be a one-eighth owner andmake money because you make
commission on every person.
The other seven people youbring to the deal you make
commission.
Then if you're the buyer andthe seller, you make commission.
Everyone wins.
We're allowed to say commissionon here, Bananas.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Yeah, you can.
Oranges you can, of course.
I love how the sales makes youbecome a problem solver.
Like entrepreneurship, sales,real estate, you have to be a
problem solver and you'll getget it way ahead for that yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
So staying sharp is books.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
And I like and something else that you made me
think of that like you're goingout to these seminars, these
events out of here, so one likeyou're getting out of your
comfort a little bit, goingsomewhere, you might not know
anyone, you might be the onlyperson you know, so you kind of
forces you to pony up, like youhave to start networking.
And you know mike is also theco-host of the northwest
arkansas commercial real estatemeetup.

(43:43):
So that's something we didn'ttalk about too and like I love
like those events.
You know rvs puts on goodevents.
You know there's a ccc events.
Like that's the goal of, uh,real estate networking like
something we haven't reallytalked about.
We could probably do a wholepodcast on that too, but
networking is so key, well, 59referrals we got last year.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Well, wait a minute, I invested in myself and
Scottsdale and Springfield andKansas City.
Now when they say, oh, I knowsomebody in Arkansas, no lie,
you know how many deals I getfor like Hot Springs or Mountain
Home or Little Rock, I can'treally.
Maybe there's someone I don'tknow or whatever.
I'm like, oh, I just need tohave agents in every single city
because they go oh, arkansas,they're thinking of you.
That's a win, investingyourself.

(44:23):
You did ask about this.
One thing that's a failure hasbeen it's been on my goal to be
way 180 for like 10 years.
But to me this is the year theytalk about.
Quitter's Day is January 17th.
I'm at least going to make itto January 18th.
No, but I realized that my bodythat's something too, I think,

(44:46):
as you guys are all young andshaped.
But I think as you get oldertoo, I think what you see look
at the people that have beenaround for a while Well, they're
just hustling and grinding anddrinking and doing all that
stuff.
It's like how do I think aboutmy body?
So it's not only my brain andmy mind but my body.
I got to be sharp, you knowwhat else too, if?
you're speaking and you'restanding up.
Do you want to look at someonethat's like 600 pounds?
You know what I mean.
They're disheveled, they don'thave the right clothes matching.
It's like you know what.
You're also a brand foryourself, too.

(45:07):
You're representing yourorganization, your family, so
that's something I'm reallyhoning in on in 2015 is actually
me as a brand.
So hey, if I want to be athought leader, well I've got to
look like a thought leader.
I can't be the guy to like dude.
Just so you know, I'm wearingthis hoodie.
You can probably see it onCody's like that's kind of
casual.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
So forgive me, but you have the bob caps so I felt
better.
I'm pretty casual.
We can be casual, yeah, I meanI think it's a walking
representation of yourself.
I love the aspect of taking.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
I think there is something more demanding when
you come into a room and you'remore physically fit as well, I
mean you can go as extreme asAndy Elliott, like the energy
you have to like, and as you getolder it's more and more
important.
So I think I'm in sales.
Like you said, it's how you doone thing, it's how you do
everything, and real estate too.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
So you definitely have to do 14, 15 meetings a day
.
I can't be tired.
I got the 15th meeting and the14th meeting it might be.
You know, Jeff Bezos, I'mmeeting with the future of that
Same energy and I gave poorenergy or whatever it's like
half the day.
Why have the meeting and then?

Speaker 1 (46:13):
then you go home and how do I bring that same energy
to my kids and my wife and I'mnot like, oh, tough day.
You know, that's something I'vebeen working on throughout the
years, trying, you know, tryingto figure it out in my late 20s
so that it's like, hey, I justhad a hard day.
But how do I sustain this towhere I can go home and give
tori the same time attention andlisten, because she's coming to

(46:34):
me with her day and I'm like, Ithink that's a big part we like
talking about is like ourrelationships with our wives and
vice versa, and like how muchof the dynamic that is and
everything's, everything in lifeis intermingled Sales, our love
lives, physical.
Like and being able to go homeand have that same intentional
conversation and be like actinglike she's like telling me I'm

(46:54):
about to get a $10 millionlisting and listening that
intentionally the same way.
I think it's an art as well.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
You see too many guys that they get the real estate
game right or they get thewhatever game right, but they
fail on the marriage or theyfail on the fitness or whatever,
and you really can't have itall.
You just you got to kind ofalign the priorities and figure
out the system.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
So I love how you were talking about, you know,
having an outside perspective.
When you were talking aboutthat, my brain was going what
would happen if a top salesagent from Los Angeles were to
move into Northwest Arkansas?
They would be like, see ya,like I'm going to be the top
agent this year.
Everyone's not doing dah, dah,dah, dah, dah, dah dah, because

(47:37):
they're they're over thereimplementing all these tactics.
I think you you have such agreat you know it's inspiring me
to go to some of these outsideconferences and stuff.
But if you take someone fromlike Phoenix, la, new York, and
you go NWA, you're here for ayear, I bet they'd freaking kill
it.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
I promise you they'd kill it Well, it wouldn't be
necessarily even by talent, itwould just be time on task.
So here's another thing is goto any brokerage in all of
Northwest Arkansas by threeo'clock, it's not full.
This is what I would love too.
So imagine if you said you know, hey, you are 1099, you're our
boss, but you actually have toput in 40 hours at minimum.
You know how many out of the4,000 actually put in 40 hours?

(48:14):
It's very minimal, I feel like.
So if you look, there's acorrelation between the top 1%
and the effort.
There's some talent, there'ssome skill, they're honing it.
Iron sharpens iron, but still,if you really look at it,
they're putting in theactivities, and I think so.
Last year showed me too.
Now I was on a trajectory upuntil last year all the time 100
million do all that stuff.

(48:39):
Last year it kind of kicked mein the butt a little bit.
Some of that was because I didhave 11 companies in 12.
And it's like you get to apoint too are these really
businesses?
I realized most of them weren'tbusinesses, they were just an
extension of Mike Dooley.
Then you don't have a company.
So I think that's something tothink about when you think about
teams and businesses.
Do you have a business or doyou have one person?
So say I had Keller Williamshad to go to a hundred billion,
you know, in five years, oreveryone around me died.

(49:01):
Well, would you figure it out away for sure?
A hundred percent, you know youwouldn't have these other
little projects, you know.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Yeah, I love when you talk about 40 hours.
I'll have agents come to me.
I'm finally getting to a pointin my career where I feel like
agents are reaching out and belike how are you doing, what are
you doing?
I have agents come to me andeven in our office and stuff and
they're like you know how, whatare you doing?
Blah, blah, and I'm like, well,I show up every day at 8am.
I'm doing stuff before that andI'm I'm like the only person I

(49:31):
ever each other all the time.
We're always at the office, notto say you can't be at home,
but I promise you just likeshowing up.
A lot of agents go.
You know I can work part timeand make 150K, but part time
turns into 20 hours a week,turns into 10, turns into five
and it's like no, like I'm goingto be at minimum.
Putting 40 hours a week.
I mean it's terrible, but likeat 10 o'clock I might be like

(49:54):
looking up a home for somebody.
I mean putting an hour, so youhave to show up and treat it
like a J-O-B, because it is aJ-O-B.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Well, and 150 grand is not what it used to be either
, right, right.
So obviously this is aninvesting podcast, if you will
too.
Well, how many deals are yougoing to buy?

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Yeah, you know, maybe two or three.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
You know it's like well attempt to own or finance
something or have a balancesheet that banks like, yeah, we
can buy a $20 million thing.
I think that's something elsethat I think about.
You know, think about this run,you know that are going to be
on.
It's like, how do youcapitalize?
They say 80,000 and we broughtthis book, but I'll say 80,000
baby boomers are going to retirea day.
Wow, I think, if I really lookat kind of next phases and you

(50:32):
look at it, Name the businessesyou love right now.
I mean a perfect example Lookat Red Lobster.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
I worked there for four and a half years when I was
in college, you know, and Iloved it.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
I had a goal even then to make $100 a shift.
It was funny.
You know how my brain works, orwhatever.
It's like $100 a shift, youknow all the time, and I was
like you know, if you worked ata restaurant, use the person
that picks up, that's me.
So you like classify.
If you don't know me, that's me, I'm that guy.
No, but look at that.

(51:01):
It just took someone with afresh perspective to come in and
say, oh, you can eat shrimp, ifyou've ever seen his deal.
And he's like why are we doingthis?
We're making no money.
You know we're not gettingrepeat business.
So if you look at that, though,name out your favorite
businesses that you have in yourlocal market.
You're listening to all overthe country.
80,000 baby boomers areretiring a day.
How do you pick up one of those?

(51:22):
Maybe for nothing.
So if you're like, hey, youknow what, five, 10 grand a
month, I'll let you kick out asyour profit for the next 20
years, but I let owner financethe deal.
That's actually really whereit's at, I think, is we look at
businesses, and a lot of our.
If you look at commercialproperties, that is a business.
It's not really actually.
It's got real estate with it,but it's really a P and now it's

(51:42):
a business.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Yeah, I mean creative financing is a strategy that
I've used and that people use.
At one point I had theopportunity to pay off my house,
but I did not do that, you know.
I did the opposite andcontinued reinvesting and more
high cash flowing, moreproducing assets.
So I think what you weretalking about was figuring out
those ancillaries, like in yoursales, that you can delegate out

(52:08):
, like for you.
I saw what you've noted.
I saw you on facebook.
Like you have people you know,maybe go to your home and for
their, I don't, I don't show a.
Like you have people you know,maybe go to your home and for
their, I don't, I don't show alot of homes yeah, you don't
show a lot of homes anymore soyou've already done.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
It's beyond my.
I tried to comment on there.
I think it was like 50 bucks.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
I was like, and that's a win-win and that's
someone who wants to getexperience, to go out there, get
in some real estate and makesome money.
You know, maybe they're justgetting grinding and and so you
figure that out.
I think that's super importantfor me.
You know, I'm not a.
I didn't get into brokeragebecause it's trans.
I thought I was, you know, justa part of the transaction.
But for me a good broker issame thing I was talking about

(52:45):
CPA is worth their weight ingold.
I don't have time to follow upwith the owner of a 20 unit or
200 unit or you know all thesemultifamily.
You know owners, developers,landowners.
I don't have the time tocontinue to stay in touch with
them, see what their goals are.
Did they?
Did their goals shift?
Did their goals?

Speaker 1 (53:02):
not, I'm running these different yeah bird docket
for years follow-up calls.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
He didn't answer my first calls.
Am I tracking how many callsI'm making to him?
That's not my best purpose inmy real estate investing.
And so I think you find that,as you're growing in real estate
sales or disinvesting period,so definitely shout out to the
good brokers.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
For sure, Mike.
Give us a book or podcast youcan't put down right now and
that's going to transition intoyour top three books.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
This podcast, for sure it down right now and
that's going to transition intoyour top three books this
podcast for sure, but I didbring into the guys Main Street
Millionaire and Cody Sanchez, ifyou follow, or whatever.
I think she just thinksdifferently.
Yeah, and I think that's thattranslates to anything.
You know, that's what I thinkabout it too.
So it's like I even now look ata piece of real estate and go
OK, for instance, I wrote on mylist, I did a good year, I did

(53:55):
two good years and the buyer'snumbers weren't going to make
sense.
So I was able to slow down andsay, hey, seller, you own it
outright.
It's just like basicallyputting in a 401k, owner finance
half of it for five years,seven years, whatever it is.
Go talk to your wealthstrategist.
Came back and he's like yep,like yep, slam, dunk, you don't
have to pay taxes on the fullcapital gains yeah, I think

(54:16):
sometimes just taking a stepback, but I think this book, for
instance, if you don't followher, basically she buys american
businesses, if you will some.
So it's like laundromats.
It's like you know these thingsthat you need.
You talked about it too.
It's like you know what.
Well, people are still gonnaeat chick-fil-a.
They're still gonna eat some ofthese things too.
It's like I think that'ssomething that really intrigues
me going forward, yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Business investing is super interesting.
If I wasn't an, you know I am abusiness investor as well.
Now you know real estateinvesting and business investing
.
They have a lot of similarities.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
So that millionaire real estate podcast, which you
know, they wrote the bookmillionaire real it's actually
really good.
The thing that I like and thisis for any brokerage, any brand
is basically like every Thursdaythey just send you the
one-pager playbook, yeah.
So if you're like, I guesshere's something, actually a tip
I would share Don't do leadgeneration if you don't like it.
Why are you guys here?
Well, you like investing openhouse podcast?

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Well, me and Wim might all not be here, because
that's not our jam.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Now people make a great living off that because
they love it and they're good atit and they got a playbook for
it.
So I think figuring out onething I would share too is back
to like teams.
I think I have attempted to dolike a thousand things.
I should go.
Do I like it?
That should be a question youask Do I got it?

(55:40):
You know you're not the personthat wants to talk for four
hours on the phone and go ohgirl, I love those flat curtains
.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
You're like, that's not who you want to talk to.
A great point, because the thedraining conversations for me
come from uh, oh my gosh, thepaint color and blah, blah and
the vector's like yeah, numbersmake sense, we can change the
paint color.
Yeah, send me the offer, likethat sort of stuff, that's,
that's an energy, it's a boostto my energy per se.
Give us your bill.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
I was gonna say building your organization,
though you still need that pieceyes, so so you might go, that's
not me.
Maybe that is a buyer's agentor someone else, or maybe that's
your wife or whatever it is,and you're still a lead
generation.
You're doing the work.
That's the hardest part.
90% is a lead generation.
We capture the lead versussaying no, yeah, so if you

(56:30):
wanted to get to $200.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Like Brandon you're Brandon's really good at cold
calling.
Like I don't know if it givesyou energy or drains you, but it
probably drains you, but you'rea lot, I think you in any sales
job.
I think Brandon would have beenbetter than me and he does a
really good job.
I don't know how he does itwith cold calling and grinding
it out like that and I'm, like,very reliant on my sphere and I

(56:52):
turn my sphere and I'm very,very intentional about adding
people my database and followingup and I have systems and
processes for that.
So two different ways aboutgoing of what we're good at but
you found you're good at that,I'm good, you're probably good
at, we're probably somewhat goodat each of us, but it's
different ways to go about it Ilove the cold calling too,
because I was going to bringthat in, but there are some
times where you have to dothings that you don't

(57:13):
necessarily like.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
you know, like cold call you are getting ready to.
Well, this is year one.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
This is year one of I mean first full time year in
real estate 22 million.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
And so.
But you might have to do thatfor two, three, and then you
might transition into like, hey,I have this database built out,
now, I'm just going to turnthat.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
It's a skill too, I can tell you.
I've never heard you on thephone, but I've heard you on
this podcast and hear you speak.
You'd be nice to talk to.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
I'm a very subtle voice.
I think we have episode 47.
Every minute.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
This is really cool.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
And we'll critique him afterwards.
You've got to bring me back.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
I don't want to say that I don't want to do that,
and the thing about that, too,was that you you don't
necessarily like cold calling,but you're good at cold calling,
but I'm sure you like doingthings that you're good at.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
So you like doing things that you're good at, and
you got good at cold calling andyou're good at cold calling,
yeah, I mean there's honestlyjust thinking about uh, I mean
to start cold calling absolutelysucks every time, like just
picking up the phone.
But when you do it and you havea good conversation and you're
like have a potential lead thatlike is wanting to sell or
whatever, whatever it may be foryou like there's

Speaker 2 (58:23):
not a better high.
I'm like dang it, why am I notdoing this?
You're helping somebody.
It's not like you're like hey,buy these oreos today.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
You know, it's like hey exactly executing, like
that's like when you feel reallygood about executing, it's next
.
And that also reminds me of thefeeling like of a cold plunge
man, like I look at that thingand like I do not want to go in
there.
But then afterwards I'm like,man, I'm so glad I did that
cardio too, for me, like running, I'm like, nah, I'm in like a

(58:48):
mile one.
I'm like I'll just turn around,like I got stuff to do, I can
go get that done, you know.
And then I'm like, don't be alittle like, come on like what
are you talking?
about like 10 minutes is notgonna like you're gonna get 10
minutes of extra work, like okay, yeah, like it's that inner
dialogue of going and thenafterwards you feel great.
So sometimes you do have tolike push past those, build the
fire, yeah you were talkingabout, though, the future.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
I guess, if I look at northwest Arkansas, this
actually hasn't happened enough.
I feel like in other places inthe country mergers.
So actually what I was thinkingwhen you guys were talking,
it's like well, hey, you do havetwo different skills that
either you doesn't do or doesn'tlike doing.
Well, now you've got a $45million organization.
You're going to start to seethat.
So if you both doubled, now youhad a $100 million organization

(59:28):
Then just between the two years, you became the largest team,
one of the largest teams inNorthwest Arkansas.
Right, so I think, looking at,that too, and looking at that
happen.
That's happening throughout thecountry, not as much here, and
I wonder some of that is an ego,what is it?
You know there's some of thattoo, but if you think about it
too.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
I think a big part of it is to make sure like and
like whether you're merging withanother company, partnering up,
coming together make sure youguys are on the same page, make
sure the structure is correct,make sure you have roles and
responsibility.
I think, with any kind of like,it's something to be thinking
about as you grow, because youare going to need teams, you are
going to need executiveassistants, you are going to
need people.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
I think episode 100, we'll just all merge together.
You know, yes, yes, it's goingto happen.
Create a mega business.
No-transcript.
So if you look and it will makeyou sick if you see how much
time on social media you spend.

(01:00:25):
Yes, so for 2025, I put an hourand I've already found myself a
couple times to extend 15minutes.
It's a trap.
So having that it's like a.
It's been big I think about,like tools and time.
I'm always about time.
I would actually say this isold school.
But calendar, yeah, I actuallybelieve I'm more productive than

(01:00:45):
most people because I do.
I can put more things on mycalendar than can yeah, if you
actually don't have a structuredday or you don't have it laid
out, have to?
you look up and it's like hey, Idid two, what'd you accomplish
today?
Two or three things, yeah, whydid 17?
Well, multiply that times 365days?
Why just did 1700 more thingsthan you?
I don't care how much moretalented I am than you, just

(01:01:05):
even if half of those failed,I'm still 100x you well that's,
that's a see, that's afoundational thing for us that
someone listening to I wouldencourage.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
If you listening to this, if you don't have your
calendar set out, I know somevery high-producing salespeople
that go off a notepad and I'mlike, how do you do this?
But it's foundational for us.
But if you're listening, pleaseuse a calendar, put it on, get
stuff done.
And then I like this questionIf you could have lunch and it
can't be Jesus if you could havelunch with any historical

(01:01:36):
business figure, who would it beand why?

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Oh, great question.
But I was going to say back tothe Florida State it was Warren
Dunn's birthday yesterday.
Oh, okay, so I texted him happybirthday.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
That was pretty cool, so he responded back, which is
cool.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Oh, good question.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
There would be a few of them.
I actually think sometimes youcan.
Is that living?

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
or dead you said yeah , either.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Either or Hardly, I might even throw out people like
or don't like Jerry Jones, yeah, but I'll tell you the guy.
Think about it.
He's got the largestprofessional sport organization
in the world.
He's doing some things right.
The numbers are good.
The game came from nothing, ifyou will, you know, yeah.
So I think that's kind of cool.
He'd be someone I want to talkto and pick his brain for sure.
I think a lot of Shark Tankpeople Mark Cuban, I think would

(01:02:17):
be really good.
I just think you think aboutsome of those guys.
They're charging $500,000 for15 minutes or 30 minutes.
You know you think about it.
Obviously that's an investment,not expense.
I think that's something Iwould share with people.
They look at too much timeinvesting in yourself as an
expense.
You need to turn it on yourhead.
You need to say I'm investingin myself.
Once you learn a skill, you'renever getting rid of that skill.

(01:02:39):
So, for instance, five yearsago, maybe seven years ago, I
didn't know about ownerfinancing.
Well, how many deals happen inmy whole organization?
Because now I know about it?
I've done it, I've introducedthe concept.
How many agents in NorthwestArkansas that trained with me
know how to do this now?
Maybe 1,000 deals happened,because I'm just making up the

(01:02:59):
number, but still because beforethey would have been, it's dead
in the water, it's dead.
We didn't ask differentquestions, so that causes you to
think differently.
So I think you just cannot.
That's an investment.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
I think that's important Something I love that
you said investment it's morethan just spending money.
But my wife and I we took thisto date nights because she
always had the poverty mindsetof like, oh, we're throwing $150
away.
I'm like, no, what happens withthis $150 for a relationship?
And she's like, well, we have areally good time and the rest
of the week is great.

(01:03:28):
And so once a week now we spend$100, $150 on a nice dinner and
it's a great investment.
And so flipping that on itshead instead of we're wasting
$150 to like this is $150 ofquality time I don't get with my
wife throughout the week.
I'm able to wine and dine andwe're able to goal set and plan.
I love flipping it on its headand going I'm making an
investment rather than spendingmoney.

(01:03:50):
I think that's great.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Did everyone get their wife points?
I want to make sure that we allyou know I hope you're
listening to this brownie points.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
Mike, thank you for coming on the show.
Thank you so much.
It's it's just a blessing and ajoy to have someone on here
that's like I know.
I don't even have to look atthis cause, it's just like boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom, and Idon't have to think.
I really appreciate yourknowledge, wisdom and insight.
You obviously know what you'redoing and I'm thankful to have
guys like you around in my life.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
I appreciate it.
I appreciate you guys having meon.
I love what you guys are doing.
Keep kicking butt.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Hey, don't leave me behind either.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
You guys started with these $500 million.
Don't forget the little peopleon the way.

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On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EP. 45: How to Build a $100M Real Estate Business

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

All Episodes

EP. 45: How to Build a $100M Real Estate Business

Stuff You Should Know